5 Baton Rouge charter schools granted second chance to make improvements

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - Five Louisiana charter schools were up for a routine renewal with the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board.

According to board members, two of those schools are doing poorly. The scores dropped during COVID at lots of schools. Now, these charter schools are below what their contracts expect of them.

It is not unique to Louisiana, since scores are down at schools nationwide. The board is giving them another chance.

“If you are a charter school and you are not improving in your scores, and you’re not improving the lives of students, when you come back, it’s going to be a totally different conversation, because we are not in the business of excuses; we are in the business of making sure that we can grow kids.,” said Dadrius Lanus, president of East Baton Rouge Parish School Board.

Charter schools are public schools run by private organizations that must meet the same standards as other public schools. If those standards are not met, the school could be removed from the school system.

The school board is considering changing the current guidelines to help schools like Emerge meet district guidelines. Emerge is a school that specializes in autistic children.

“One that will not hurt them but will benefit the school and will also benefit the students but will also give us a real true read of what’s happening at the school, so that when we do meet with them, we have an understanding of are you truly hitting your marks,” explained Lanus.

According to Lanus, the current system EBRPSB is using will eventually phase out, and the board will produce a new set of standards. The school board granted all five schools a three-year renewal, but another meeting will be held in April to discuss plans.

The schools will have to report their progress before the board quarterly.

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