North LA districts oppose letter grades for schools

School boards in Caddo, Bossier, Webster and DeSoto Parishes are united in an effort to ask lawmakers to repeal a state law requiring the assignment of letter grades to public schools, according to this report from KTBS-TV in Shreveport.

Opponents fear the letter grades, required under a law adopted last year, will unfairly label schools as failing.

Perhaps the best understanding of the controversy was expressed in this comment posted under the KTBS story:

This is the state's way of pushing for charter schools. Under this system,
charter schools (as well as private schools) are exempt from accountability. As
we all know, the charter system is a joke. With this scoring system, Only magnet
schools will score a "B" or above. The best neighborhood schools would receive a
"C." Most schools would earn a "D" or "F" based on their current scores. Once
all the schools appear to be failing, the state is going to scream for charter
schools. I'm not an outsider saying this, I really do know what's going on and
we should be outraged.

When good intentions go wrong

The Caddo Parish School Board thought they were doing a good deed in creating a $200 gift card that teachers could use to purchase classroom materials. But administering a program like that can cause problems, especially when use of the card is limited to two vendors.

Shreveport Times reporter Icess Fernandez has the story here.