The Orleans Parish School Board

If you'd like to run for the Orleans Parish School Board, you've got another day or two to qualify.

The Times-Picayune is reporting that many incumbents are electing not to seek reelection and that there appears to be little interest amongst potential challengers.

The article is interesting to read. It would appear that people don't seem as interested in the school board because it doesn't represent as firm a political stepping stone as it used to.

As the power of the OPSB has been gutted and ceded to charters and the RSD, board members have become disenchanted with their ability to make news for the purpose of furthering their own political ambition.

According to the article and the unsubstantiated buzz I've been hearing, power brokers are questioning the necessity of the OPSB altogether.

Here's what I think:

The OPSB is still extremely important for two glaringly apparent reasons:

First, because the RSD is meant to be a temporary bureacracy empowered to steady schools administration while a unified New Orleans school district is planned and established. The OPSB will be necessary to administer the schools after the RSD is disbanded to give way to a unified district.

Second, the OPSB should be the bureaucracy charged with administering Orleans Parish schools because the OPSB is actually directly accountable to the voters of Orleans Parish. The RSD brass serves without regard to public opinion or voter accountability. Anyone that suggests abolishing the OPSB in favor of more autocratic control for the RSD should be greeted with skepticism.

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Yet, for me there is an even more intriguing reason why this OPSB election is so important.

That typical stepping stone politicians are passing on running for the OPSB presents an extremely rich political opportunity for local progressive reformers to step in and make real noise in this city.

The next OPSB can make Orleans Parish schools the vanguard of progressive cirricula. The next OPSB can insist on transparency from the RSD and Charters more effectively. They can advocate forcefully for the reunification of Orleans Parish public schools and set the foundationf for an eventual transfer of power. While the power of the body has indeed been reduced with the rise of the Recovery School District, it is not powerless. It is still a pulpit. These are still critical leadership positions that we, as citizens, must fill with qualified candidates that represent a progressive vision for public education.

One way or another, for this city to survive, citizens must take responsibility for electing more honorable and visionary leaders than those that have routinely violated the same people they have sworn to serve.

UPDATE:

Check out which OPSB district you live in by checking out the maps on the OPSB's cumbersome website.