http://www.nola.com/timespic/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-27/120383479459360.xml&coll=1
This past weekend's New Orleans Schools Fair was intended to provide parents of more than 32,000 New Orleans public school students with a one-stop shop to learn about the dozens of schools that will be open next fall, including charter schools and schools run by the Recovery School District and the Orleans Parish School Board. When only 30 people attended, Recovery School District superintendent Paul Vallas lamented what he described as a poor outreach effort to make parents aware of a new streamlined application process that covers most of the city's public schools. "If you provide choices, but nobody knows there's choices, is it really a choice?" Vallas said. "Freedom is information." "We should have standing room only . . . because there are more choices than this district has ever offered in the past. Before this window closes, we need to get the word out. People should be begging for those common application forms," Vallas said. Sixty-nine schools set up booths at the fair organized by the Urban League of Greater New Orleans, offering information about their programs. The deadline for the new common application was set for February 27. Vallas has called for pushing back the deadline until more outreach can be done.
Source: The Times-Picayune
Date: 02/25/2008
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