I have a few updates to share with you this month. First, our hearts are heavy to see the devastating flooding around so much of the state. We know that many in our charter school family have been affected by these floods, and we want to offer our support in the rebuilding process. If you’d like to help out, please click here for a list of several opportunities to donate funds or supplies. We’ll update this list as we get more information on ways to help.
Second, I am excited to announce that LAPCS has a new staff member: Neil Ranu has joined us as our new Governance Director. In this role, Neil will lead our efforts to support charter school boards through the Top Shelf program and customized training programs for boards. Neil comes to LAPCS from Adams and Reese LLP in New Orleans where he served as a transactional attorney, and he brings a wealth of experience in nonprofit corporate governance and legal services. You can learn more about Neil here.
Good governance remains as critical as ever to the success of the Louisiana charter school movement. The task before our governing boards — whether they’re individual charter school boards or the boards of charter school authorizers like local school boards and BESE — is complex and ever-changing. With the addition of Neil to our staff, LAPCS will continue to prioritize governance support for charter schools. I hope that all of you will have a chance to meet Neil in the coming weeks and months as we move forward in this work, and please don’t hesitate to contact me or Neil if you have any governance questions or needs.
As you know, this past legislative session was a particularly challenging one for charter school and public education advocates. Over the course of the session, we tracked over 100 bills, many of which were anti-charter, anti-choice, and anti-accountability — and we were enormously successful in ensuring that these bills did not make it out of committee. We recently shared our 2016 Legislative Update with our member schools, which details the critical changes to state & federal laws and policies that apply to charter schools.
We do this work for you. If you haven’t done so already, please renew your LAPCS membership for the 2016-17 year (or join us as a new member) to continue receiving direct support and members-only updates like from us throughout the year. More information on becoming a member can be found here; you may also contact Melissa Carollo with any questions about membership.
We look forward to serving you this year.
Caroline Roemer Executive Director, LAPCS