Governor Edwards, the image of the school bus in flames is meant to shock. It is a metaphor for the suffering of our children.  Our children are being robbed of their childhoods. They typically have 12 hour days, being bused across town because they can not attend their neighborhood school. Our "universal enrollment system," called the One App, actually robs our parents of real choice. The One App appears to be choosing schools for parents based on economic status. These policies primarily impact children of color. This is Racism.

 This fragmentation and stress is hurting our children in ways that can last a lifetime. Our families are being robbed of the sense of community that a neighborhood school supports.

At the same time, we have  Act 91 which "returned" our schools to our school board "in name only." Our elected school board has no fiscal or operational oversight over almost 60 "educational entities."

All of this situation is unacceptable. We believe the following changes will help make our community whole:

1. Children have first choice to attend their neighborhood school, rather than being bused across town.

2.Students are not forced to ride un -monitored buses from as early as 5:30 AM to as late as 6 PM.

3. Since the One App has been implemented, transportation costs have increased from $18 million to $30 million. These millions of dollars currently diverted to bus companies, must be returned to  our schools. These bus companies are mostly owned by out of state or multi-national corporations.

4. All our schools, which are being "returned" to our elected school board by Act 91, for the first time since Hurricane Katrina, must be made fiscally and operationally accountable to our board.

 Governor Edwards, we look forward to  supporting you as you use the remedies available to you to correct these injustices.

Please see these links. The links include two videos created by parents and community members about  our transportation racism issue. The article, "Everything Wrong with Charter Schools on Display in New Orleans," was written by Bill Quigley, a civil rights lawyer and activist, after the NAACP community forum held in New Orleans, spring, 2017

.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZUuDwhvxwQ&feature=youtu.be​

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-P6kll6LjJA​

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/04/25/everything-wrong-charter-schools-display-new-orleans