Superintendent and the NOLA-PS School Board on Their Legal Responsibilities

Dr. Fulmore and Members of the NOLA‑PS School Board,

The laws governing public education in Orleans Parish place serious, non‑negotiable responsibilities on both your offices. These responsibilities cannot be delegated, ignored, or overshadowed by administrative convenience. They are written into Louisiana statute, and the community expects you to uphold them fully.

The Law: NOLA‑PS Must Operate Failing Schools

Louisiana law is clear: When a school is failing, NOLA‑PS must operate that school.   It cannot be handed off to another charter operator. It cannot be outsourced. It cannot be shuffled from network to network.

The district is legally required to take direct responsibility for the school’s operation. This statute exists to protect students and communities from endless cycles of operator turnover and to ensure that the public system remains accountable for the schools under its jurisdiction.

This responsibility belongs to both the Superintendent and the Board.

Act 687: New Authority, New Accountability

With the passage of Act 687, the Superintendent now holds unprecedented authority to close, consolidate, relocate, or reconfigure schools mid‑contract even schools that are stable, improving, or deeply rooted in their communities. But this new authority does not diminish the Board’s responsibility. In fact, it increases it.

Under Act 687, the Superintendent must determine whether the district is in a state of overcapacity, using specific, measurable criteria:

• fewer than 75% of schools are at least 91% full,

• and most campuses enroll fewer than 675 students.

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If those conditions exist, the Superintendent may recommend closures or consolidations. But recommendations are not final. The Board is the governing body.  You are responsible for evaluating whether those recommendations are justified, lawful, equitable, and aligned with the needs of the communities you serve.

Your Shared Responsibilities Under the Law

1. Uphold the statute requiring NOLA‑PS to operate failing schools.

If a school is failing, the district must run it. You cannot approve a plan that hands it to another charter operator. You cannot allow Act 687 to be used to bypass this requirement.

2. Demand full transparency and data behind any closure recommendation.

The Superintendent must present actual enrollment and utilization data not summaries, not interpretations, not selective metrics. The Board must require it. The community deserves to see the evidence.

3. Apply the law consistently across all charter operators.

If overcapacity is the justification, then every operator must be evaluated using the same standards. No exceptions. No selective enforcement. No political shielding.

4. Protect communities by requiring meaningful engagement before decisions are finalized.

Your own optimization policy mandates coordinated announcements, meetings, and targeted communication with impacted families. The Superintendent must execute this. The Board must enforce it.

5. Exercise your authority responsibly.

The Superintendent can recommend closures. The Board can reject them but only with a two‑thirds supermajority. This means both offices must scrutinize every recommendation, challenge assumptions, and ensure that decisions are grounded in law, data, and equity.

The Community’s Expectation

Superintendent and Board Members, the community expects you to uphold all of your legal responsibilities

not just the ones that are convenient.

We expect you to protect schools that are improving. We expect you to enforce the law requiring district operation of failing schools. We expect you to demand transparency, consistency, and fairness. And we expect you to act in the best interest of the communities that have depended on these schools for generations.

We are watching. And we expect you to meet the full weight of the responsibility these laws place on your offices.