The chief of New Orleans’ largest charter school network told her high-powered public relations firm to stall on providing details a reporter was asking for. The reporter was me. The school network was KIPP New Orleans and the New York-based crisis communications consultant was being paid to finesse a situation the charter network’s leaders appear to have anticipated could be explosive.

In a short email exchange addressing my questions, New Orleans CEO Rhonda Kalify-Aluise directed Goldin Solutions’ representative to avoid a “tit for tat” with me.

“Ok, will ignore this...” John Eddy, the Goldin Solutions representative, wrote back. 

According to emails I obtained as part of a public records request, the charter group was trying to figure out how to respond to my reporting on a topic that had the potential for fierce community criticism and was actively awaiting final approval. KIPP had decided to close Douglass High School after the city’s enrollment lottery deadline — that much had been established when I spoke with Eddy on the phone the morning of March 17.

In my 15 years reporting on education in New Orleans, when a school closes the next question is whether the district — which prides itself on “school choice” — will allow students to choose their new school. I asked Eddy.

Eddy responded via email, stating the charter network could move all Douglass students to Kennedy’s campus.

"We have space for every student who select (sic) FDHS or JFK as their first ranked school. We've been actively working to move students from an outdated building into a Tier 1 modem facility and as the financial and enrollment conditions became clearer, we made this decision now to ensure we can strengthen our school community for the long term."

But that was not the question. 

“I appreciate the context of the rankings,” I wrote back, “but I still want to know why the decision wasn't announced before the enrollment deadline. What ‘financial and enrollment conditions became clearer’ in the last month?”

That was the party line the network was using to explain why the closure vote wasn’t publicly announced, let alone noticed on the charter school board’s March 12 agenda. The network has refused to elaborate on what so drastically changed in the 24 hours leading up to the meeting that the closure vote did not make it on to the board’s meeting agenda. Or why the charter board didn’t wait an extra 24 hours to call a new meeting. 

I had given Eddy, based in New York, that additional “school choice” context.  

“The New Orleans school system prides itself on being a district of choice and families choose schools for many reasons, including academic, extracurricular and location,” I wrote. “If a family chose Douglass based on proximity to their home, this announcement coming after the enrollment deadline does not allow them to choose a school closer to their home.”

I closed my email with the question I ask after school closures.

“Will families be able to change their NCAP enrollment rankings?”

NOLA-PS Common Application Process (NCAP) is the rebranded OneApp — one of the first central measures the district initiated to quell yearly enrollment chaos in the expanding charter school system. Each year, families apply to the city’s independent charter schools through the centralized enrollment lottery. Families can rank up to 8 school choices. 

I wanted to know whether KIPP and NOLA Public Schools would let Douglass families choose their new school even though the normal deadline had passed. If not, the timing of KIPP’s decision, and OPSB’s subsequent approval of it, would automatically shuttle Douglass families to KIPP’s other high school, John F. Kennedy High School.

Eddy forwarded my enrollment question to Kalifey-Aluise with the following:

“Please see below,” he wrote. “My gut is we likely don't want to provide any further details but please let me know your thoughts?”

She replied: “yes....we may wait to see what the NOLA PS enrollment team says. We have a call with them at noon. But I agree that a tit for tat with her isn't helpful.”

Thanks for reading ~ comments, questions and tips welcome at [email protected]
Stay tuned for more from this batch of records.