Education Guide 2023: Charter schools continue to flourish, add locations and expand campuses

Photos courtesy Dr. John Ochsner Discovery Health Sciences Academy and Dorothy Height Charter School.

Charter schools became the new normal in public education following Hurricane Katrina and many charter networks continue to add schools under their umbrellas. They’ve found success in creating smaller educational communities with more oversight in staffing as well as governance by a non-profit board.

According to the Cowen Institute, there were 71 charter schools in New Orleans during the 2022-2023 school year and even more in Jefferson Parish, although Jefferson Parish still has traditional public school options.

Declining enrollment at charter schools has been a topic of discussion; there are four New Orleans charter schools closing in the 2023-2024 school year, although several schools are adding grades: Hynes UNO will be adding fourth grade (K-4), Delores Taylor Arthur School will add eleventh grade (8-11), Elan Academy will add eighth grade (PK4-8th) and Audubon Gentilly will add seventh grade (K-7th).

Charter schools are open to all students in the New Orleans area, no matter their zip code. Two New Orleans charter schools, International High School of New Orleans, Lycée Français de la Nouvelle-Orléans, accept applications from students statewide.

While nearly all elementary and middle charter schools in New Orleans prioritize a percentage of their seats for students who live in the neighborhood surrounding the school, high school students enrolling in charter high schools do not receive geographic priority.

One of the most unique charter school models in the area is the Dr. John Ochsner Discovery Health Sciences Academy in Jefferson Parish, a partnership between health care system Ochsner and Discovery Health Sciences Academy, where half the seats are reserved for children of employees who work at Ochsner and who live in Jefferson Parish. Another 20 percent is set aside for children living in the nearby Shrewsbury neighborhood.

First opened in the 2020-2021 school year, the Dr. John Ochsner Discovery Health Sciences Academy will educate approximately 750 students in pre-kindergarten through 8th grade when it reaches full capacity this year and integrates health and sciences into the curriculum. It received a “B” grade from the Louisiana Department of Education during the 2021-2022 school year.

The New Orleans Military & Maritime Academy (NOMMA) charter school in Algiers is the only military/maritime open admissions public charter school in the area. It serves 900 cadet students in grades 8-12 as well as children of active military families. Earlier this year, NOMMA signed a $2.8 million purchase agreement for three parcels of land comprising over 10 acres, including over five acres of prime riverfront property, which will allow it to expand its footprint at New Orleans Riverside at Federal City.

Hynes Charter School, a long-standing high-performing K-8 school in Lakeview, broke ground earlier this year on a $28 million Hynes-UNO building which will open in fall 2024 on the Hynes-UNO Campus at 1901 Leon C. Simon Dr. on the University of New Orleans campus. It will serve more than 900 students in K-8 grades. The Hynes-UNO campus is temporarily housed at the Jean Gordon swing space at 6101 Chatham Dr. until the new school is constructed. It currently serves students in grades kindergarten through third grade.

Crescent City Schools, which oversees Harriet Tubman Charter School (grades 3-8), Tubman Montessori (PreK-2) and Dorothy Height Charter School (PreK-8), will add Mildred Osborne Charter School (PreK-8) to its network for the 2023-2024 school year. Mildred Osborne Charter School is a new school created by merging Akili Academy and Mildred Osborne Charter. The school will retain the Osborne name and campus in the Kenilworth neighborhood.

At Dorothy Height Charter School, thanks to a continued partnership with Verizon, Heart of America and Arizona State University, students are able to learn in their very own Verizon Innovative Learning Lab. The immersive media lab is designed to prepare students for future careers through encouraging entrepreneurial mindsets, social innovation and design thinking. Height was chosen to receive an Innovative Learning Lab in early 2022, and the completed lab was officially unveiled in February 2023.

Verizon provided the school with 3-D printing stations, virtual reality headsets, monitors and other necessary equipment for the lab, as well as ongoing training and support to ensure that the lab is of maximum use to the school and its students.

InspireNOLA, which operates eight local charter schools, will celebrate 10 years of operation during the 2023-2024 school year. It announced it will merge McDonogh 42 and Pierre Capdau Charter schools to form the Capdau STEAM Academy on the campus of Pierre Capdau in the Gentilly neighborhood.

In other charter school news, Lusher Charter School, a high-performing school uptown, will now be called The Willow School.

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