Posted on 09/06/2005 6:19:29 PM PDT by angkor
Found this in the Google cache, the minutes from a June 5 meeting of the Orleans Parish School Board.
The Board members had a very specific discussion about releasing school buses to the City Of New Orleans for hurricane evacuations.
Sorry for the length, but it does provide some valuable insights, e.g., what took the City so long to conclude this deal? They'd been talking with the School Board for at least a year.
http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:-NDJWqbkSEUJ:www.nops.k12.la.us/content/board/minutes/2005/bmin060905.pdf+%22school+buses%22+%22new+orleans+parish%22&hl=en&client=opera
Orleans Parish School Board 3510 General de Gaulle Drive New Orleans, Louisiana 70114
A Committee of the Whole Meeting of the Orleans Parish School Board was held:
Thursday – June 9, 2005
Hurricane Preparedness
Ms. Bartholomew: President Sanders indicated that he wanted this on the agenda because of the Hurricane season. Last year when schools needed to be closed, department heads were unclear because a lot of our school records are still in paper format and not in electronic format. So they didn’t know the proper procedure to follow with maintaining records. In addition, President Sanders also indicated that the City would like us to work with them. If a hurricane should come to the City in order to save the school buses, those assets, the City had asked if we would loan the school buses to be utilized for those persons in New Orleans. A lot of the citizens of New Orleans do not have transportation and have no way of evacuating from the City if a hurricane should come this way. He had been talking with Dr. Kevin Stephens from the Health Department because the Red Cross said that they would not commit to opening any shelters in the City of New Orleans if a hurricane comes this way. It would be all for naught. They wanted to utilize school buses in order to transport those persons out of the City. I believe that the City had agreed to indemnify and hold harmless the School Board if any of those persons got hurt on the buses because that was one of my concerns. But after speaking with Ms. Bowers, who had spoken with certain persons at the City as well, they indicated they would release us of any liability. He wanted the Board to be aware of what the City is doing with hurricane preparedness and I guess initiate the proceeding for the Administration to start taking steps now before we get on the door steps of a hurricane. How are we going to preserve students records? If you cannot come back to the City, the children will need those records to go into new schools in other States or other Parishes. She is here now; he can speak to it.
Mr. Sanders: I first noticed that this current policy, 3651R, a 16 page policy, looks like it was drafted in July 1989. I don’t know if it has been reviewed since 1989 but it probably could withstand review on that sake along. It has a lot of titles in here in terms of people in positions and I wonder if those same titles and positions are still operable. The larger issue is not with the records and that is a major issue. The children are even more important in terms of making sure they are safe. We know many of our children and families don’t have transportation and even though it is a City responsibility to plan for emergencies and hurricane preparedness, we need to look at working even more cooperatively or seeking a more cooperative relationship with the City on behalf of the students that we serve. I did talk with Dr. Kevin Stephens in the Health Department of the City. It is our interest to get buses and other vehicles that we may own out of the City in the event it is being evacuated. So those buses should not be empty. It was also his suggestion and call that they should be filled with families and children that may need a ride out of City and may perhaps designate certain high schools in different neighborhoods as staging grounds for families to go to should the need arise for an evacuation. The City is working on arrangements with different Civic Centers in Houma and depending on where the hurricane is coming from, where we need to go. They are making arrangements with institutions in those areas such as Baton Rouge, Mississippi, or Hammond to wait out the hurricane. I just wanted to bring that to your attention. In the last two years we had evacuations and with this season it is predicted to be another big one. With last year’s storm, Mr. Jerome Smith over in the Treme’ area said there were a lot kids who were just stuck there. They were going to break into or were willing to get in one of our schools in order to be safe. We completely understand. I informed him that a school would not have been a good place to be if a hurricane did come. Only about four or five of our schools would really withstand a category three or higher hurricane. Using our schools as shelters is really not an option. Getting out of the City is the best option. We need to find ways to facilitate that for the kids we serve. Even though it is not our primary responsibility, as such, we need to facilitate those relationships.
Mrs. Landrieu: I just wanted to remind you that if we are going to include buses, which are not part of this plan, then we need to include the personnel and communication with personnel.
Ms. Bowers: We have been meeting with City entities about the hurricane preparedness and we have talked to them about our buses. We still have not defined how many they want. They have agreed to indemnify the School Board for using the buses. They said if our bus drivers volunteer then they will make arrangements to take the families of the bus drivers and offer them secure places. They are talking about having City Officers on buses also. There is a good bit of planning that is underway. Benita Cochran and the head of transportation and the head of Security have been participating in these meetings, too. We are trying to stay on top it. This does need review. Ms. Cochran is reviewing the Facilities plan.
Mrs. Landrieu: Ms. Bowers, please also include in here fuelpreparations.
Ms. Bowers: Okay.
Mr. Sanders:Is there a committee within our school system that will revise the policy? For this month’s meeting, will we be able to have a revised policy?
Ms. Bowers: Yes.
Mrs. Anderson:I acceptably agree that human life is first but the data is important. Who do we ask? Do we ask the Superintendent to ask IT to look at the issue of preserving data and is that being looked at already?
Dr. Watson:Not to the extent that it probably should. All of our SASE and student data is within the Technology so that is safe. But some of the written documents in the schools, the older documents, need to be protected. But all grades, all enrollment, all health records are completely being taken care of by the Technology
Page 13 Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes June 9, 2005
Department. We do have things like books and other things that would be perishable in the schools. We do our best to make them safe in the event of a hurricane. I do want to assure you that the School District has worked with the City and worked with other entities within the community over the years when we are facing a hurricane. But we have always volunteered the use of our buses to evacuate citizens.
Mrs. Cade:I know that this policy is a little out dated. As the Chair of the Policy Committee, I will be getting with my Policy Committee, so that we can go through it and update it. Even in it’s present state, I would like to request that the Administration go over with your staff. All staff personnel should become knowledgeable of what the policy and procedures are
Flooded buses bookmark
How much do you want to bet that her name is Phyllis Landrieu (Senator Landrieu's queenlike aunt)?
It looks like Mrs. Cade dropped the ball. Who is Mrs. Cade? Do we know anything else about her other than that she is a School Board Member?
I've read it several times.
Phyliss Landrieu showed up late (that's in the full minutes) and then assumed complete control of the meeting. That latter part is obvious even in the excerpted text above.
Yes, it was Landrieu who effectively stonewalled the City's request to include NOPS school buses in the City evac plan.
In June of 2005, and probably at every turn in previous years.
So in July, Alvarez and Marsal came in to manage the business end of school system and the OP Board Members essentially abandoned their posts with many tasks left undone. Was this a very expensive temper tantrum?
Found some information that peaked my interest and thought I'd register and share.
Tony Amato used to be the New Orleans Superintendent. He resigned mid-April 2005. His last day was June 30th. This would mean he was still Superintendent during the time when this board meeting in question occurred. Anyways, lots of problems are going on in the school system - especially money - huge lack of money. Probably why they got that mangement company to take over. They barely made payroll sometimes.
Amato was apparantly liked publically but not so much by the board who tried to get him out months ago unsuccessfully. Eventually they were able to get him out - mostly due to financial issues it appears. But maybe there was a 'straw that broke the camels back'? If so, I think it was Hurricane Ivan. An internal investigation revealed that Amato had utilized school resources to board up his house before Hurricane Ivan and then asked people to lie about it.
So, what effect - if any - did these events have on the school board when they were discussing the plan to utilize school resources for evacutiing residents? Hmm....
Here are a few articles - I'm sure there are more.
http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2005-04-19/politics.html
http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/frontpage/index.ssf?/base/news-3/111337354323370.xml
Keep digging! We may need to right a screen play with all the stuff we're pulling up!
If you read the full text of the minutes (not the hurricane planning excerpt I posted above), you'll see one of the first questions is whether they could get the Superintendent to attend the meetings.
Since you say he resigned in April and left June 30, it's logical to conclude that he'd stopped attending meetings at some point, but was still being paid.
But even in the excerpt of the minutes it's clear that Phyllis Landrieu was running the show.
I'm inferring that, but not sure.
Local N.O. reporters would I'm sure have covered the precise aftermath of the takeover.
In the articles I've read, it's eminently clear that A&M was completely running the schools.
Then the first thing they should have done was to dig through the minutes of June's board meetings to tie up any loose ends.
Proof that the implementation aspect of the evacuation of the carless was NOT in place, at least as of June, and that Senator Landrieu was well aware of this shortcoming. "If Mr. Bill was aware,..."
bump
what's the story about Nagin sending buses after the hurricane to the Hyatt Hotel first to rescue the white tourists? I heard of it but can't find any articles about it.
I saw it reported on Fox News. It might be up on their website.
.....If a hurricane should come to the City in order to save the school buses, those assets, the City had asked if we would loan the school buses to be utilized for those persons in New Orleans. A lot of the citizens of New Orleans do not have transportation and have no way of evacuating from the City if a hurricane should come this way. He had been talking with Dr. Kevin Stephens from the Health Department because the Red Cross said that they would not commit to opening any shelters in the City of New Orleans if a hurricane comes this way. It would be all for naught. They wanted to utilize school buses in order to transport those persons out of the City....
GREAT FIND angkor!
1. Any way these minutes can be routed to Major Garrett at Fox News? This certainly ties into the Red Cross/Access Denied to Superdome story he's looking into. Doesn't Tony Snow have a FR account?
2. Is the Landrieu mentioned in the minutes here any relation to the Lt. Gov and the Senator Landrieu? If so, wow.
3. Amazing Find. Bravo Zulu.
Boy. She was in a tough spot. Drivers, radios, gasoline - this is getting WAAAY too complicated.
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