Grassroots Organizing

Many efforts are underway in the Crescent City to combat charter schools. Teachers, wrong fired, are outraged because they have been replaced by inexperienced teachers who can’t effectively teach in the classrooms. Parents are infuriated and fed up with the complexity to register their child in school, and the lack of choice that policy makers say is non-existent. Both parents and teachers are outraged that BESE and the Recovery School District has a focus that is aligned with getting more charter schools in, leaving the children to suffer the consequences.

These grassroots organizations take a stand to actively promote the values of the communities they serve in reference to keeping culture in the classroom, protesting proposals to create more charters in the district, and working to create public schools that are taught and run by people in the community who are experienced, not outsiders.Screen Shot 2014-12-19 at 2.53.34 PM

The New Orleans Parents’ Guide is a grassroots organization that helps navigate parents through the charter process, but more importantly, mobilize and rally parents together for them to learn about education reform initiatives. The process of applying to a charter school is so difficult in New Orleans and this program establishes workshops in communities to educate parents about how to enroll their children. 1pcprc-logo

The Pyramid Community Parent Resource Center seeks to help create discourse centered about special education in the New Orleans school districts. Often, charter schools don’t have the resources necessary to educate and cater to the needs of children with disabilities. This organization goes on the ground with campaigns and protests to request more resources for special education, and to stop public leaders’ policies of “dumping” special needs children and instead seek out ways to cater to the needs of special education in the city.2Screen Shot 2014-12-19 at 3.15.21 PM

The Guardians Institute is a school in New Orleans that also participates in community activism. The school seeks to engage members from the community through workshops and activities in African and Native American cultures. The school also hosts workshops for parents and students to learn more about African American and Native American culture. The school, and the organization has been an advocate for keeping African American and Native American history and culture in the curricula for New Orleans public schools.3

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United Teachers of New Orleans. After the move to the Recovery School District, thousands of African American teachers were wrongly fired. This organization continues to rally for keeping experienced teachers in the classroom, and creating a classroom where students can grow. The organization is now a network for former and current teachers to find more information about the lawsuit that was filed against the state, in addition to any marches or rallies protesting the RSD’s treatment of teachers, or refusal to listen to teacher, parent, and student input.4

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Transplant Educators for Justice is a group of new teachers to the area. One of their signature projects, the New Teacher Roundtable, allows for new teachers to share their experiences within the classroom, and become motivated to “keep on keeping on.” These teachers admit and recognize that they often come from areas of privilege, and firmly believe that if it recognize it, and seek to build a meaningful relationship with students. 5

Lower 9 School Development Group
This is a collaboration of many grassroots initiatives in the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, an area with abject poverty and high violence. This group of grassroots organization strongly believe that every child deserves a quality education in their own community. The collaboration has taken a stand against the Recovery School District who ordered 4 of the 5 schools in the area to be demolished, and often, not replaced.

Community Education Project of New Orleans
This group is a grassroots organization networking parents, teachers, and students. The group, of course, promotes the need for true, meaningful reform. The group does workshops and other events, like Slam Poetry and Jazz Nights, to mobilize the community and get them involved in the culture, and what they can do to keep it alive. This group occasionally works with teachers, particularly new teachers, explaining the context of education in Louisiana, and why so many students are disadvantaged.

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Conscious Concerned Citizens Controlling Community Change (C-6)6
This grassroots organization particularly focuses on activism and protests against the Recovery School District. The picture, to your right, shows the group, along with other grassroots organizations, protesting at the home of Leslie Jacobs, an influential voice in the education policy in the city. This group has been featured in the media as widely opposed to charter schools. Read more about them here.

Coalition for Community Leadership in Education
The Coalition for Community Leadership in Education is a group of community members, teachers, parents, and professionals who actively voice opposition toward the Recovery School District and the Louisiana Board of Secondary Education. The distrust the two organizations and the way the application process for charter schools work.


1. [Photo]. Retrieved December 17, 2014 from http://neworleansparentsguide.org.
2. [Photo]. Retrieved December 17, 2014 from http://www.pyramidparentcenter.org.
3. [Photo]. Retrieved December 17, 2014 from http://www.guardiansinstitute.org.
4. [Photo]. Retrieved December 17, 2014 from http://utno.la.aft.org.
5. [Photo]. Retrieved December 17, 2014 from http://www.tejno.org.
6. [Photo]. Retrieved December 17, 2014 from http://www.theneworleanstribune.com/main/local-groups-stage-weekly-protest-to-highlight-injustice/.
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[Photo]. Retrieved December 8, 2014, from: http://apps.npr.org/the-end-of-neighborhood-schools/