








Plans to turn several New Orleans Public Schools into charter institutions could create some confusion when the district's nearly 3,000 students return to class in November.School Board President Torin Sanders and Interim Superintendent Ora Watson have decided four schools on the West Bank - O. Perry Walker High School, Dwight D. Eisenhower Elementary School, Martin Behrman Elementary School and Alice M. Harte Elementary School - will reopen Nov. 14 as New Orleans Public Schools, not charter schools.That announcement contradicts an Oct. 7 School Board decision to turn all 13 West Bank schools into charter schools and open eight schools in November. However, a week after that meeting, an Orleans Parish Civil Court Judge issued a restraining order against the OPSB to halt the charter school plan. The order was filed on behalf of Rev. Arthur Wardsworth, an Algiers pastor who said the OPSB violated an open- meeting law.Because the judge granted that restraining order, the School Board vote was rendered null and void, said Sanders, who voted against the charter school plan. And Dr. Watson is not sitting here and twiddling her thumbs waiting for a decision to be made. She's ready to open schools.Despite endless snipping among School Board members and outrage among parents and community leaders, no one has publicly opposed the charter schools idea. Sanders said his biggest problem was a lack of communication. He said School Board Vice President Lourdes Moran didn't notify the public, himself or fellow Board members Cynthia Cade and Phyllis Landrieu of the charter school plan before it came up for a vote Oct. 7.
