Kenilworth Middle adds students during 2011-12

Unlike most of the Recovery School District Schools in the greater Baton Rouge area, Kenilworth Science and Technology School, a charter school, added students over the past year.

The Recovery School District released to The Advocate unaudited Oct. 1 enrollment numbers for nine schools Monday, but did not have numbers for Kenilworth, a middle school in Baton Rouge that is independently run by the Pelican Educational Foundation.

Mark Lambert, whose public relations firm represents Kenilworth, told The Advocate Tuesday that Kenilworth had 521 students enrolled on Oct. 1, up from 479 on the same day in 2011.

By contrast, Capitol High was the only RSD-run school that added students — with 14 added over the past year.

The other eight RSD schools in the area lost students, with Istrouma High, operated last year by the East Baton Rouge Parish school system, losing 289 students, which is the most lost by an RSD schools. Collectively the nine RSD schools lost 853 students compared with a year ago.

Kenilworth was run by the East Baton Rouge Parish school system until 2009 and had 671 students in its last year of operation. Since Pelican won the charter to take over the chronically low-performing school, its enrollment, which started off at 447 students, has grown slowly over time.

Kenilworth is the last school taken over by the state for low performance that remains a charter school.

Seven other RSD schools were charter schools but reverted to more-traditional management in the past two years.

Every school year, the state takes official enrollment snapshots of all public schools on Oct. 1 and Feb. 1. The numbers drive state education funding, which is $8,733 per student in Baton Rouge, during 2012-2013.

Comments

1) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 18/10/2012

ANd one other point... "The numbers drive state education funding, which is $8,733 per student in Baton Rouge, during 2012-2013." I wonder is someone reading this doesn't come to the conclusion that the "state education funding" is actually money coming from the state. Nothing could be further from the truth... most of this money is local tax dollars... for a school that you have no one to call if there is a problem. When people called their local BESE rep, Chas Roemer, he ended up always finding a way to not meet with them. Wonder why. What is going on at Kenilworth that is so secretive that no one wants to tell us about the investigation? I can remember getting calls about issues, and bringing them up to trhe Recovery School District, and being told that "We like to let charter schools run their own programs." I,e, we aren't going to do a .... thing to ensure that they follow the law. I was lucky to find that a local report at Channel 2 was very interested in seeing to it that the laws were adhered to. Thanks Ashley! You can still see one of her videos on the problems at Kenilworth at http://www.wbrz.com/news/former-kenilworth- teachers-speak-out-against-charter-school-organization

2) Comment by Noel Hammatt - 18/10/2012

What I don' t understand is why the State Department of Education, which has been investigating Kenilworth since the middle of the summer in 2011, has not completed its investigation, and has not released the results on the investigation. The same group that runs Kenilworth lost its school in New Orleans after a series of rather traumatic events took place in the school. At the time, similar events were taking place at Kenilworth, but when the teachers who blew the whistle in New Orleans were summarily fired (along with the Department of Education people in Baton Rouge) teachers and Administrators in Baton ROuge clammed up, and would not talk. The media blew the story about Abramson into the public's view... apparently, without that happening, the Department of Education would never have let the public know! It has been reported, by none other than for former Assistant Superintendent of the Recovery School District, that Kenilworth too, was being protected by Pastorek and unnamed others. Interesting. I wonder what the Department of Education is hiding now?

3) Comment by WhoCares - 17/10/2012

Why does a single school have PR firm? Who pays for that? How much is that contract?