This story was first published by Verite News.
Teachers, students and supporters of the Leah Chase School packed Thursday night’s Orleans Parish School Board meeting to ask that board members vote to keep the school open as the district’s only traditional, direct-run school.
Underenrollment and a projected deficit that is expected to grow in the coming years have prompted the board to question the school’s viability.
The board was scheduled to vote on one of three options for the school for the 2026-2027 school year, including ceasing operations altogether. But board members ultimately decided to delay the vote.
Six of seven members voted to put off the decision until early January, with board member Gabriela Biro abstaining. No board meeting date has been set yet.
The vote came despite community outcry against delaying. A January vote to close the school could leave families scrambling to find new schools, since the first round of the district’s open enrollment period closes on Jan. 23.
As for how to fund the financially struggling school if it’s kept open, the board was split on using the money from the district central office budget to subsidize its operations, and members failed to secure an internal funding solution for the school. However, board members unanimously voted to establish a separate sustaining fund for the Leah Chase School to accept private donations.
During an hour-long public comment period, supporters, including family members of late chef and civil rights figure Leah Chase, expressed their support for keeping the school open. They expressed distrust of district leadership and said students are well cared for at the school.
Erica Lara, an English-language learning teacher at Leah Chase, said the school provides high-quality education for students with special needs and English learners. Lara and the other teachers in attendance wore black shirts that said “Save our school,” “Don’t be a quitter,” and “TLC strong!”
“Our children in the Leah Chase school were hurt academically,” Lara said before they came to the school. “And every single one of our teachers there are caring about them.”
Superintendent Fateama Fulmore brought three possibilities for the future of the Leah Chase School to the board.
In the first option, the school would remain open as it is now, with slow integration of additional programming funded through donations. In the second, the district would expand the school’s full-time arts programming to attract parents. Fulmore has said in previous board meetings that funding the school’s long-term future would lead to layoffs at the district level. The third option would close the school at the end of the current school year.
At the beginning of the meeting, Biro made a motion to amend the night’s agenda to add a $1.5 million donation to the school for board consideration.
The motion needed a unanimous vote to be considered, but board members Carlos Zervigon and KaTrina Chantelle Griffin voted against considering it.
The donation would have come from Karen Oser Edmunds, whose grandchild attends the school. Oser Edmunds said in a letter of intent that the donation had two restrictions: that the board vote to keep the school open at Thursday night's meeting and that the funds be used only for the Leah Chase School.
The failure to consider a vote on the donation prompted anger among attendees. The school is in Zervigon’s district. Eames and Biro, who have said they are working on fundraising for the Leah Chase School, said they have alternative funding sources they will bring to the board at a later date.
Board members disagreed throughout the meeting on how to proceed with fundraising and the school's future. Zervigon said he voted against the motion to consider accepting the donation because of the restrictions, and that he didn't consider it to “an honest contribution.”
Later, after the crowd repeatedly called him out for the decision, Zervigon introduced a motion to accept the money without restrictions, which was added to the agenda and passed unanimously.
But because the offer was contingent on the donor’s restrictions, it does not appear that the vote will have any effect.
“You can’t accept an offer that was not made,” said Chris Edmunds, Karen Oser Edmunds’ son, whose child is a Leah Chase student. “This is free money, and y’all not taking it.”
During Tuesday’s budget and finance committee meeting, the district’s chief financial officer, Nyesha Veal, said that around $2.9 million of the $3.8 million start-up costs to operate the school expired in June 2024 without being used, and that the board would need to vote again to reallocate them to the school.
Board member Leila Eames, a vocal proponent of the school, introduced an agenda item to amend the board policy and transfer $2.9 million from the general fund back to the Leah Chase School.
“These were funds that were allocated to the school,” Eames said. “I am simply asking that we get the money originally allocated for the school back.”
Board members Biro, Eames and Nolan Marshall voted in favor of the resolution, while Olin Parker, Katherine Baudouin, Griffin and Zervigon voted no. The resolution needed five votes to pass. Griffin said the funds were intended as start-up costs and should be used only to add more grades at the school, not for current operating costs.
Parker, the board's finance chair, said there was only $3.1 million in districtwide reserves and that withdrawing $2.8 million would leave an inadequate balance.
The lack of a board decision on the school's future and on securing both internal and external funding during the Thursday meeting prompted outrage and frustration among attendees.
“It’s very disappointing to leave here tonight and not have peace of mind to a solution for all of us who deserve it,” said parent Negette Valcour during public comment.
“It’s not fair to us, it’s not fair to the teachers who show up like a village that we need.”
This story was written by Safura Syed and produced for radio by Aubri Juhasz.
