Students, parents frustrated as charter school forced to close in New Orleans East

By May 2024, a New Orleans high school will have graduated its second — and final — class of high school seniors, a blow shared by the school's small-knit community of students, parents and staff. 

On Monday, a unanimous vote by the Orleans Parish School Board rescinded the Living School's charter.

It will close it at the end of the school year, joining eight other charter schools that have closed or merged since 2018 because of low enrollment and poor performance scores.

"I'm upset. My daughter is saying, 'What do I do? Where do I go now?,'" said Giselle Bustillo, a Living School parent and immigrant from Honduras.

The school's strong population of Hispanic students and English language-learners brings a sense of comfort to her and her daughter, Genesis, who is in 11th grade. Genesis is a student ambassador, acting as a translator for Spanish-speaking students and their parents. 

Of the 180 students enrolled at the school, 26% are English learners, according to state Department of Education data. The state average is 5%. 

Bustillo said Genesis worries that attending a new school could lead to her being ostracized or bullied over her ethnic background.

New school options are also limited for Genesis, who is currently enrolled in a selective early college program in the evenings. Bard Early College in New Orleans offers tuition-free college classes for disadvantaged students that attend one of its seven partner schools. Living School is one of them. 

They also worry about transportation. 

“Those kids wait for the buses for so long, and then they become late for school,” Bustillo said, recalling issues when Genesis was in middle school at KIPP Believe.

Now she takes a city bus to school. The stop is a short distance from their home in the Little Woods neighborhood. 

A grassroots school

Living School opened in 2019 in New Orleans East in a space that was once home to a laser tag center off Bullard Avenue. It started with 38 ninth grade students, adding a new grade level each year. 

Living School CEO Stefin Pasternak said the school was born from a grassroots effort, when a group of educators and community members came together in the hopes of improving education. 

The school offers more than what you’d find at a traditional setting, Pasternak said, such as a focus on individual student health outcomes, rather than being driven by grades and test scores. 

“We wanted to build a school that supports health and wellbeing for all students,” he said. 

Shantell Alfred has two seniors that started out in that first group of ninth graders. Her daughter had a major stuttering issue that she feared would lead to bullying.

But that didn't happen when she got to the school that "builds you holistically" she said, and the stuttering has improved.

Her kids will be graduating in the spring.

"Both were so hurt when they found out," Alfred said. "You're moving on, but it's sad because you know what you're leaving is gone. What you helped build is gone."

Low test scores

The school board's decision came during its annual charter renewal and extension process that evaluates schools based on a set of criteria. 

The Living School was one of 12 others in the all-charter public school system up for review, with contracts expiring next school year. 

Two schools — Robert Russa Moton Charter School and Lafayette Academy — will be taken over by new charter networks. 

"These recommendations were not made lightly; they are integral to the prosperity of our scholars and the distinctive framework of our education system," Superintendent Avis Williams said in a statement.

At a board meeting Monday, Williams said state performance scores weigh heavily in the evaluation process, and that the Living School received the lowest SPS in the district and the state.

The Living School wasn't the only in the district to receive an F rating, but other factors contributed to the decision, such as graduation rates — data that isn't yet available for the school that just saw its first graduating class cross the stage. 

Doug Harris, director of the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans, said he recommends school systems prioritize student growth and how students are progressing rather than test scores. 

"Many schools, including this one, attract low-performing students to start with," he said of the Living School. "The school might be doing a pretty decent job catching them up." 

Officials agree changes are needed in the charter school accountability system. The district plans to roll out an overhauled evaluation framework next year that adds more weight to growth.

Pasternak said while they were disappointed in the board's decision, they'll be holding meetings over the next few months to discuss what's next for the school community.

"This is not the end for the Living School," he said.