quote:
A charter school for children with dyslexia was given the green light to open a new location in Jefferson Parish this week after the state’s Board of Education approved the move despite debate over whether the school, which already operates other campuses throughout the state, has demonstrated a history of improving student outcomes.

In a unanimous vote Tuesday, board members approved the construction of a new Louisiana Key Academy. The campus, the location for which has yet to be determined, will have grades 1-8 and is slated to open next August ahead of the 2026-27 school year.

Before voting, some board members questioned the charter operator’s readiness, pointing out that Key Academy’s campus in Baton Rouge received an “F” grade three years in a row under the state’s school grading system, while its northshore location received two “F” grades. The Key Academy in Shreveport also received an “F” for the 2023-24 school year.

“I have questions about allowing a school to expand with these low-performing scores,” said state board member Sandy Holloway, who made an unsuccessful motion to delay the vote, saying she wanted more time to review the school’s data.

But representatives for Louisiana Key Academy said that the grading system isn’t necessarily indicative of the school’s success, pointing out that the charter accepts students with learning challenges who are often already behind their peers and helps them improve. The charter's ultimate goal is to bring students to a point where they are prepared to reenter a traditional classroom setting, a representative said.

Louisiana Key Academy “is taking students that are grade levels behind and starting over with them,” said former state Rep. Joe Marino, no party-Gretna, an outspoken advocate for the charter. “Academically, you might not see them performing at the highest level, but [the school] is filling a need for specialized education.”

The Jefferson Parish School Board previously denied the charter's application. As a result, administrators asked the state to authorize the school instead of the local board.

Louisiana Key Academy is a tuition-free charter school founded in 2013 by Laura Cassidy, wife of Republican U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy. It was created to support students with dyslexia, a lifelong neurological disorder that affects someone’s phonological processing, meaning their ability to speak, read and spell.

Students, who can attend the academy through grade 8, are tested prior to enrollment and receive 90 minutes a day of small group reading instruction.

While a state evaluation of Key Academy found the charter to be strong on many fronts, with the school meeting 100 out of 105 standards for recommendation, the evaluation also raised concerns about the school having what it described as low academic expectations, noting that the charter’s board members “appeared to accept low outcomes given the school’s student population.”

"School leaders acknowledged areas for improvement and cited general action steps,” the evaluation says, “but responses lacked specificity and depth – particularly regarding academic improvement and leadership capacity – raising concerns about their readiness to lead a successful school.”

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There are a lot interesting layers here.

Bill Cassidy's wife (former surgeon) founded this charter school for dyslexic kids in 2013. The charter network now operates three schools, one in BR, one in Shreveport and one on the northshore. All 3 schools have earned multiple F letter grades in recent years from the state.

The charter network wanted to open a school in Jefferson Parish. The local school board did not approve the school after considering the low performance of its existing schools, so the charter network petitioned the state for a state charter. The state unanimously approved the charter.

If the charter movement is often promoted as a way to regain local control of a school - what are your thoughts on this charter network circumventing the local school board's decision to get approval?

Also curious about people's thoughts on having shifting academic expectations depending on the students, i.e. students with dyslexia should be held to lower standards than students without dyslexia.