New Orleans Parents' Guide to Public Schools

New Orleans Parents' Guide to Public Schools

Charter School Operations Guidebook

The Charter School Guidebook is intended to provide charter school leaders and administrators with essential operations information. NSNO has attempted to capture all local, state, and federal regulations that affect charter schools while also highlighting operational best practices in areas such as budgeting, human resources, and special populations.

Charter School Operations Guidebook (PDF, 697KB)

Charter School Legal Guidebook

This handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the major areas of law that are relevant to charter schools. It may be used as an internal guide for school leaders as they draft school policies and procedures. This handbook may also be used as a companion guide to an NSNO-led legal review. These legal reviews are led by an NSNO staff member and overseen by lawyers from Jones Walker, Adams and Reese, Akin Gump, and Citigroup. To learn more about free legal reviews for public charter schools in New Orleans, email Neerav Kingsland at neerav@nsno.org.

Charter School Legal Guidebook (PDF, 356KB)

Matching Board Members and Charter Schools

Training governing board members often is cited as a critical factor in developing high-quality charter schools. Yet charter schools must first find board members with the skills, time, and aptitude to serve, which is an equal if not greater challenge for many charter schools. In this promising practice profile, the National Resource Center on Charter School Finance and Governance describes the board bank established by New Schools for New Orleans to recruit, train, and place governing board members in the city’s charter schools. To learn more about NSNO's process of matching volunteers with charter school boards, please email Neerav Kingsland at neerav@nsno.org..

Matching Board Members and Charter Schools (PDF, 941KB)

Charter Board Service Information

This document answers frequently asked questions regarding service on a charter school board. It also provides you with questions to ask school leaders in the process of becoming matched with a charter school. To learn more about NSNO's process of matching volunteers with charter school boards, please email Neerav Kingsland at neerav@nsno.org.

Charter Board Service Information (PDF, 166KB)

Charter Board Member Qualifications

Every public charter school is governed by an independent local board of directors and it is the board of directors that ultimately holds the school's "charter". Charter School Board members assist in creating and governing schools that enable New Orleans children to achieve the highest academic standards. Board members must share a commitment to the school's mission and the vision. They must be dedicated, passionate, and entrepreneurial individuals willing to volunteer their expertise, connections, and time to governing a public school. This resource is a more in-depth look at the qualifications and responsibilities of all school board members. To learn more about becoming a board member of a public charter school, email Neerav Kingsland at neerav@nsno.org.

Charter Board Member Qualifications

Charter Board Member Application

We greatly appreciate your interest in serving New Orleans children – serving on a charter school board is a tremendous way for concerned New Orleanians to help revitalize the city – and we're thrilled that you're willing to give your time to this effort. To become a member of New School for New Orleans’ bank of potential charter school board members, please click here and complete the online application.

Trainings for Existing Charter Boards

New Schools for New Orleans believes that effective school boards are essential to both the operational and academic success of a public charter school. Because strong boards will lead to excellent public schools, New Schools for New Orleans offers free governance trainings for all public charter schools in New Orleans. Below are short descriptions of all past trainings as well as the handouts used during each training. For more information, or to sign up for a future charter board training, please contact Neerav Kingsland at neerav@nsno.org.

Board Overview Training - 5/20/2006 (PDF, 512KB)
This training provides members of public charter school boards with a general overview of the roles and responsibilities of board members. The goals of this training are to provide attendees with an understanding of the top 10 characteristics of highly effective boards, the roles and responsibilities of a board and of a school leader, the key elements of effective board structures and bylaws, who makes an effective board member, how to improve board meetings, and the elements of a board-level action plan.

Board Matchmaking Training (PDF,160KB)
The Board Matchmaking Training provides information about how to interview and select new members for your charter school board.

Charter School Fundraising Training - 2/01/2007 (PDF, 2.6MB)
The Charter School Fund raising Training teaches board members to create a fund raising program from scratch.

Finding, Recruiting, and Retaining Excellent Board Members - 5/29/2006 (PDF, 178KB)
This training not only prepares board members to recruit, select, and retain a highly effective team, but also how to dramatically improve the effectiveness of your board meetings.

How Successful will your School Be?- 9/25/2008 (PDF, 104KB)
This training will help board members evaluate how well their school is doing academically and assist in the creation of a set of board and management goals for the year.

New Charter Bootcamp Training - 4/11/2007 (PDF, 141KB)
The New Charter Bootcamp Training walks through the steps of transitioning from a founding board of a charter school to an effective governing board of trustees.

Partnering with, Supporting and Evaluating your School Leader - 10/21/2006 (PDF, 391KB)
The Partnering with, Supporting and Evaluating your School Leader training teaches a board effective methods for developing a strong relationship with the school leader, creating a school leader evaluation, and making the distinction between governance and management.

The Board's Role in Academic Excellence - 9/20/2006 (PDF, 202KB)
This training teaches boards how to set annual goals that support academic success in their school and uses case studies to show how governance can effectively help a school rise to academic excellence.

Evaluating Board Performance (PDF, 125KB)
This training is a roadmap to dramatically improving charter board effectiveness. Included are the top ten characteristics of effective charter boards, as well as the key components to successful board evaluation, and the elements of an effective Governance Committee. An “expectations” checklist will help every charter board member fulfill his or her duties, and ideas for sustaining a strong board are included as well.

Governing for What Matters Most (PDF, 125KB)
This presentation will help your board toward creation of an Academic Excellence Committee, whose key components are described in this training. It also includes sample charts from KIPP and other successful charter schools that you can use to create your own management-level and board-level goals to becoming a high-achieving charter school, and lists sample questions on accountability and assessment procedures to which all charter board members should know the answer.

Charter Boards 101 (PDF, 125KB)
This session, offered annually by New Schools for New Orleans, is designed to orient new board members of charter schools, refresh more seasoned board members, and entice prospective board members to get involved. This comprehensive overview includes the characteristics of highly effective charter school boards, the roles and responsibilities of a charter school board and of individual board members and distinctions between management and governance.