environment

Lead contamination in soil at Audubon Charter temporary campus prompts parents’ petition

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The site proposed for Audubon’s temporary campus has lead contamination in the soil of the playground area exceeding federal standards by 10 times or more, prompting some parents to insist the entire site have the lead removed before their children arrive next fall. Audubon’s Broadway Street campus is slated for a renovation project that will require a temporary campus for students for two years and, unable to find an existing building that would serve the purpose, officials are considering building modular buildings on a vacant lot in the Lower Garden District. The site previously held several houses, and OPSB consultants told parents in late March that their demolition probably left the soil contaminated, prompting the need for lead testing that was already underway. In a March 31 report included in a May 9 update on the project on the Orleans Parish School Board website, investigators said they found lead levels in the soil ranging from 660 to 7,700 parts per million in every tract of the playground area they tested, well in excess of the 440-ppm federal standard for play areas or even the 1200-ppm standard for non-play areas. The investigators’ initial recommendation was for either short-term remediation in the playground through planting fresh sod atop the contaminated soil, or for more permanent solutions such as soil replacement or a concrete covering.

politics

Lusher, other charters seek joint legal strategy to negotiate with Orleans Parish

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The governing board of Lusher Charter School met with an attorney for an hour and a half in closed session Monday evening, coordinating strategies with other charter boards regarding the Orleans Parish School Board’s operating-agreement renewal process. For Lusher and many other charter schools, this year’s renewal process is the first since Orleans Parish granted their charters five years ago in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, said Blaine LeCesne, chair of the Advocates for an Arts Based Education governing board that operates Lusher Charter School. Lusher officials have been vocal about their frustrations with the process since consultants said their performance made them eligible for a 10-year renewal but the school board offered them a shorter seven-year contract. Now, a group of charter schools that belong to the Eastbank Collaborative of Charter Schools are banding together for a greater voice in the process, “negotiating collectively” for a standard operating agreement from Orleans Parish, LeCesne said. The Lusher board spent about 90 minutes Monday evening in a closed-door executive session with attorney James Brown of Liskow and Lewis, and LeCesne said afterward that they were discussing the strategy for those negotiations.

schools

State budget cuts may scuttle International School’s pre-K plans for next year

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State budget cuts for education will likely prevent the creation next year of a new pre-kindergarten for 4-year-olds at the International School of Louisiana, officials said Wednesday night, but public early-childhood education remains a part of the charter school’s long-range plans. The school had applied in February for a grant to join the LA-4 program, which aims to expand the pre-kindergarten offerings for families that cannot afford pre-school around the state. ISL officials had hoped to pair that state-funded program with a sliding-scale tuition program into a full 4-year-old kindergarten next year that anyone could attend. Deliberations over next year’s budget, however, suggest that the LA-4 program is likely to suffer budget cuts, ISL Head of School Sean Wilson said he was recently informed. More than likely, it will only receive enough money to continue funding existing programs, without any expansions next year, Wilson said during Wednesday night’s meeting of the ISL board.

blight and demolition

New bed-and-breakfast proposed in antebellum Lower Garden District house

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An antebellum mansion on Constance Street could become the Lower Garden District’s latest bed and breakfast after the neighborhood association gave the owner its blessing Monday night. Homeowner Matt Ryan told the Coliseum Square Association that he spent about four years renovating the historic house at 1431 Constance, which was built in 1852 by noted New Orleans architect Henry Howard. Ryan has given previous consideration to operating bed-and-breakfasts in the past, and Ryan said he has decided that the income it would bring would help him defray the expenses of the renovation and the upkeep. “If taxes go up or insurance goes up, we’re going to be in really bad shape,” Ryan said. Ryan said he would live on the house’s third floor, leaving room for two suites downstairs and two in a small side cottage.

church

Audubon parents voice safety concerns at proposed Lower Garden District campus

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Neighborhood residents and Audubon Charter School parents got a first look Tuesday night at plans for the school’s proposed temporary campus in the Lower Garden District and began voicing concerns about the safety of the neighborhood, before a sudden downpour flooded the area and forced an early end to the meeting. The school is proposed for a vacant lot bounded by Orange, Constance, Annunciation and Richard streets. According to plans shown by project management firm Jacobs/CSRS during a Tuesday evening meeting at the nearby Sixth Baptist Church, the site would essentially comprise three similarly sized buildilngs, a playground and a parking lot. The cafeteria and administrative building would run along Constance, one class building would run along Orange, and the second class building would sit next to the first near the center of the lot. Engineers are proposing a drive to be added through the center of the lot from Annunciation to Constance, and partially reopening Constance, which is now closed there.

city government

36 hours Uptown: NOPD marches against Riverbend crime; Lower Garden District hears about school site

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Amid the usual complement of civic meetings, this week marks the return of the NOPD monthly marches against crime with a Tuesday evening march through the Riverbend. Also on Tuesday evening, Audubon Charter School will present its plans for a temporary campus for the next two years in the Lower Garden District. See our calendar listings below for full details and links. Monday

City Council Cable and Telecommunications committee. 10 a.m., council chambers, 1300 Perdido St.

blight and demolition

Uptown charter schools plead their buildings’ cases

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Most of the hundreds of attendees who turned out for a meeting on the future of Uptown school buildings wanted one of four things: renovations for Sophie B. Wright Charter School, a permanent commitment for Samuel J. Green Charter School, the reopening of the Mary Church Terrell campus in Gert Town or a new school in the Hoffman Triangle.

The former Allen School building on Loyola Avenue, meanwhile, is being sought by three different charter schools: Lusher, Audubon and the New Orleans Charter Science and Math High School, its current occupant.