Recovery School District S.O.S.
Arthur Ashe School slated for demolition. Photo by Sarah Elise Lewis.
Some citizens have been monitoring the Recovery School District here in New Orleans and are raising serious and immediate concerns.
In a three part series, I examined the record of RSD Superintendent Paul Vallas at his previous position as head of the Philadelphia School District. There were some things there – no-bid contracts, budget shortfalls, and a less-than-transparent 1.5 billion dollar capital building program – that might call for immediate answers regarding an increasingly suspicious situation here in New Orleans.
Alan Gutierrez has already explained in an earlier thinknola post, that the Recovery School District is putting the community through a farce of an input process for the Master Plan. Given that the District has already received demolition permits for several schools, it appears to many that a Master Plan is already in place and that the public planning phase is just for the sake of vanity.
The RSD will tell you that these buildings are beyond repair and now represent neighborhood blight.
Karen Gadbois shows pictures that may indicate otherwise.
She also alerts us to another troubling connection.
One of the two firms hired to develop the Master Plan might better be remembered as the firm that bilked U.S. taxpayers out of $365 million in Iraq rebuilding contracts in exchange for numerous construction failures.
Read parts 1, 2, and 3 of my series on Paul Vallas.
Also check out The G-Bitch Spot’s coverage of issues involving the school choice process here and here.
Concerned citizens should be on alert. Help demand accountability and transparency.
You can find contact information for important RSD officials here.
Please leave your comments in the Recovery School District Questions forum.
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