Times Picayune

Making his first court appearance since he was indicted last week, Mose Jefferson pleaded innocent Tuesday to federal charges that he bribed the former president of the Orleans Parish School Board and sought to cover it up.

Mose Jefferson, the eldest brother and chief political strategist of embattled U.S. Rep. William Jefferson, was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on charges that he bribed Ellenese Brooks-Simms, the former president of the Orleans Parish School Board, to ensure her support for a computer-based algebra curriculum he was selling

Usually, Bruce Simms relies on reputation and word-of-mouth suggestions when choosing schools for his son, an eighth-grader.

The Recovery School District has assigned campuses to five start-up charter groups by tapping two unused district buildings, one under renovation; a couple of modular campuses; and, in another case, leased space owned by the Archdiocese of New Orleans.

The city's largest school district spends thousands more dollars per pupil than New Orleans public schools did before the flood, raising the stakes of an unprecedented overhaul of an American urban school system.

At age 15, Johnny lives in a world of rigid boundaries. Some exist to protect him. When his younger cousin leaves to meet his mother at the bus stop, Johnny, who is autistic, calmly locks the door after him, knowing he cannot go along.

The Recovery School District's first detailed operating budget -- due to go before the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education today -- relies on $15 million in revenue that the district has yet to collect from the Orleans Parish School Board and the city.

Shortly before unveiling its first complete budget in almost two years, the Recovery School District has received a $15 million infusion to temporarily ease a cash crunch. The district also anticipates getting another $58.4 million for school construction through new legislation in Congress.

Before the school day starts at Lafayette Academy Charter School, dozens of students spy Principal Mickey Landry planted in the middle of the street, greeting the arriving caravan of cars and buses with waves and shouts.

BATON ROUGE -- Louisiana State University Chancellor Sean O'Keefe announced his resignation Wednesday, ending his three-year tenure with the suggestion that he no longer had the support of LSU System President John Lombardi and key members of the system's governing board.

Deion Dedeaux sensed that sixth grade at Martin Behrman Elementary in New Orleans would be full of possibilities. A new school. A chance to improve his grades. A teacher who seemed like a father.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Doris and Donald Fisher Fund and the Broad Foundation will give several grants over three years to three local nonprofits: New Schools for New Orleans, New Leaders for New Schools and Teach for America-Greater New Orleans.

The Jefferson Parish School Board is poised to vote today on a comprehensive, conceptual blueprint for the school system, encompassing facilities, specialized programs and school configurations during the next five years.

As Mandeville ignited as a growth hot spot around 1990, St. Tammany Parish began its inexorable transformation from small towns amid the pine forests to the latest frontier of suburban development for the New Orleans area.

In the latest example of New Orleans education leaders pushing power out of the administration and into the schools, Recovery District Superintendent Paul Vallas said he aims to give principals authority