ENCORE Academy will close at the end of the current academic year, after New Orleans public school officials decided not to renew the charter for the 11-year-old, art-based school in the 7th Ward.
It was the only one of 13 renewal applicants not to gain the endorsement of schools Superintendent Avis Williams. The School Board on Tuesday unanimously backed Williams' recommendation.
“None of this is easy,” Williams said. “A lot of reviewing data, many conversations and grappling with how do we move forward in the best interest of the community and our students, and that’s a challenge because I know there’s not a single school in our district that’s not working to improve outcomes.”
'Things not measured'
Terri Smith, founder and CEO of ENCORE Academy, which enrolls students from age 4 through eighth grade, said the 7th Ward would be losing a neighborhood school, and she cited growth in this year's standardized test scores as a reason to renew the charter.
“ENCORE represents those things that are not measured – the mental health piece … the arts piece,” she said.
Students will finish the year at ENCORE and receive priority for other schools in the school system's common application process for 2023-24 year, as well as one-on-one support during the enrollment process. The school system will ensure ENCORE retains employees through the end of this year and will lend teachers support in finding a job next year, School Board President Olin Parker said.
How renewals work
Charter renewal decisions are based mostly on school performance scores issued by the Louisiana Department of Education, plus financial management and organizational compliance. Depending on their scores and progress, schools may be renewed for three, five, seven or ten years.
This year, because of effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the School Board let Williams perform a comprehensive review of all schools that did not meet academic renewal standards, said Rafael Simmons, the system's chief portfolio innovation and accountability officer. The review took into account factors such as enrollment, organizational leadership and school compliance.
Smith, however, objected that renewal applicant Audubon Gentilly and ENCORE had very similar scores last year. “The question is raised by my board and everyone else, including leaders across the city: How can you approve one school and not renew the other when it's very similar?” she asked.
Williams cited high parental demand for Audubon Gentilly and diversity brought by its Montessori and French programs.
Smith said ENCORE's non-renewal would force the school to default on a loan that the state Bond Commission approved, a move she said could effect whether other charter schools are able to sells bonds in the future.
“There are implications far beyond ENCORE and our small campus,” she said. “You also have to think about the kids in our neighborhood and think about are they really going to go to a better school?”
Other renewals granted
On Williams' recommendation, the School Board renewed charters for five years for these schools:
- Abramson Sci Academy
- Benjamin Franklin Elementary Mathematics and Science School
- Dwight D. Eisenhower Charter
- Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary Charter
- Rosenwald Collegiate Academy.
It granted a seven-year renewal to Frederick Douglass High, and one-year extensions to:
- Opportunities Academy
- Hynes UNO
- McDonogh 35 Senior High
- Living School.
One-year extensions are given in a school’s fourth year of operation, to determine whether it may complete its five-year term.
Four schools did not meet academic qualifications for regular renewal:
- ENCORE
- Audubon Gentilly
- Langston Hughes
- Walter L. Cohen, which withdrew its intent to renew last month.
Williams made Audubon Gentilly's three year renewal contingent on an improvement plan determined by the school system. Langston Hughes was renewed with a similar three year contingency. Williams said Hughes is in the second quartile for progress among New Orleans schools, and that enrollment exceeds the building's capacity.
ENCORE, however, has among the lowest progress measurement scores and declining school performance scores, Williams said. Enrollment was 18% below its target for the current year, she said.
Last year, 16.7% of ENCORE students had an out-of-school suspension and 22.6% of students said they do not feel safe at school.
More difficult decisions
Board member Carlos Zervigon said charter renewal decisions cannot be separated from the conversations about declining enrollment and moving charter programs into better school buildings. Parker added that “non-renewals will continue to happen” as New Orleans sees lower birth rates and higher housing costs.
Parker said the renewal process highlighted the need for a new accountability framework that reflects more than academics in schools.
“To me [Frederick A. Douglass] was much higher than a 'B.' In reality if you walk that school, if you see what’s going on there, they’re doing great work,” he said. “There is excellent work being done in our schools that is not reflected in the state accountability system.”
Editor's note: An earlier version of this story included an inaccurate statement from Superintendent Avis Williams regarding the percentage of students who felt safe at ENCORE Academy. That percentage was corrected on Dec. 1.