Lycee Francais prepares for opening of new campus, adds new board members

With a dramatically larger student body expected when school begins Aug. 20, Lycée Français de la Nouvelle Orléans is putting the finishing touches on its new campus, particular with regard to its food service.

Meanwhile, as the school board seeks to create a stable governing structure over the coming year, its members appointed three long-time advisers to the school to join them on the board for a year.

Enrollment at the school is nearing 340 students for the coming year — up from 127 in the school’s inaugural year — and all the new teachers have been hired and arrived from France, reported general director Jean-Jacques Grandiere at a Wednesday evening meeting of the board. The school building is generally ready and being equipped with wireless Internet, but the staff is waiting for the furniture, he said.

Much of the discussion about the coming year centered on the creation of the school’s first hot lunch program, which will be overseen by the KIPP program and served by a vendor called Revolution Foods, at a price still being negotiated but no more than $3.25 per meal, said board member Paige Saleun. Breakfast and even dinner will be options, depending on demand, and she said she and other parents sampled the food Wednesday and found it to be fresh and high quality. The kitchen operations will be overseen by a new employee hired out of the school’s surplus budget, and the position will be advertised once the job description is finalized, Saleun said.

Finally, the board acted Wednesday night on a suggestion made by board president Jean Montes last month to fill vacancies caused by a series of resignations on a one-year basis by members of the school’s current advisory board: Jacqueline Simon, vice president of the Haitian Association for Human Development; Dan Henderson, a consultant with experience in technology and education; and Joel Vilmenay, president and general manager of WDSU. All three have been advising the school since charter was being drafted, Montes said, and they will help the board create the committees that will ultimately recruit new board members.

To read a record of our live coverage of the meeting, see below.