Dr. King Charter School

Dr. King Charter School, also known as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School for Science and Technology,[1] is a K–12 charter school,[2] in the Lower 9th Ward, in the 9th Ward, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The school was named after Martin Luther King Jr.[1]

In the 2006–2007 school year King students attended the former Harney School, as King had been damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. At that time, over half of the 450 students attending Harney had attended King pre-Katrina. King, which re-opened in 2007, was the first Lower 9th Ward school to do so after Hurricane Katrina. In 2007 Doris Hicks, the principal, said that over 600 students registered to attend King in the 2007-2008 school year.[1]

In 2009 Darren Simon of the Times Picayune said that Dr. King, "one of the city's higher performing schools without admission criteria," "is seen as a symbol of rebirth in the Lower 9th Ward."[3]

A February 2009 State of Louisiana count of the school stated that the school had fewer than 5% special education students, below the 5% number recommended in a state board of education guideline and the 12.3 Recovery School District average. In June of that year Hicks said that the most recent figures sent to the state count the special education population at 6% and that the school is conservative in assigning students special education status, giving them after school tutoring and Saturday school to see if they improve, before labeling them as special education students. The State Authorized Oversight Committee recommended that the school's charter be renewed. In June 2009 the charter was renewed without a plan to increase the numbers of special education students.[3]

In 2012 the school graduated its first senior class.[4]

In 2015 the school signed a contract with New Orleans Public Schools, making it the first to return to the district's authority since Katrina.[5]

Student body

As of 2011 the school had 782 students from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.[6]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Stokes, Stephanie. "MLK school reopens in Lower 9th." Times Picayune. Sunday June 10, 2007. Retrieved on August 4, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Admission." Dr. King Charter School. Retrieved on August 4, 2012.
  3. 1 2 Simon, Darren. "BESE renews MLK's charter without provision to up special needs population." Times Picayune. Wednesday June 17, 2009. Retrieved on August 5, 2012.
  4. ↑ "LOWER NINTH WARD SCHOOL TO GRADUATE ITS FIRST SENIOR CLASS." Dr. King Charter School. Retrieved on August 5, 2012.
  5. ↑ Dreilinger, Danielle. "'Historic': First Katrina state takeover school returns to New Orleans control" (Archive). The Times Picayune. April 14, 2015. Retrieved on December 19, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Doris Hicks." National Assessment Governing Board. Retrieved on August 5, 2012.

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