| Voter's Guide, 2020 Fall Elections, New Orleans
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| Position | ORLEANS PARISH SCHOOL BOARD, District 4 | | Name | Leslie Ellison | | Party Affiliation | Democrat | | Profession | Administrator/Realtor | | Present Employer / position | Gideon Christian Fellowship International | | Length of residence in Jurisdiction | 54 | | List of educational institutions and degrees | Southern University at New Orleans, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration
Delgado Community College, Associate of Science in Business Administration
Oliver Perry Walker Senior High School, Graduate
| | Prior elected and appointed positions | Orleans Parish School Board Member, 2013 - Present
Orleans Parish Democratic Executive Committee, 2016 - Present
Democratic State Central Committee, 2016-2020
New Orleans Police Department, Police Community Advisory Committee – Appointed (prior)
| | Civic involvement and affiliations | Democratic State Central Committee, Office “A”
Tunisburg Square / McClendonville Homeowners Civic Association – President
Kiwanis Club of Algiers - Member
Southern University at New Orleans Alumni Association - Member
Algiers Neighborhood President’s Council - Member
Louisiana School Boards Association - Member |
Questions specific to the position
| 1. Describe your view about school board oversight of charter schools. What changes do you believe are needed to improve performance?
| As an elected governing body, the Orleans Parish School Board is responsible for overseeing and holding the Superintendent accountable for the performance of Charter Management Organizations and school performance. The board oversees the budget and taxpayers’ dollars, establishes policies surrounding academic performance and accountability, and ensures that resources are distributed equitably. In the days ahead, the school board will need to factor in resources and training for parents and schools surrounding technology—a need that has grown significantly as a result of COVID-19. | | 2. What is your vision and three top priorities for NOLA-PS for the next five years? What obstacles do you foresee and what steps will you implement to overcome them?
| My vision is to see parents have more quality schools to choose from and to see schools performing at A-B levels. We can attain this by replicating and increasing models of school success. My top priorities are to: replicate and increase the number of high performing schools; oversee and hold the superintendent accountable for CMO and school oversight; and maintain strong fiscal oversight over taxpayers’ dollars. This can be accomplished with greater communication and collaboration form all stakeholders. | | 3. In the Accountability Framework, there is no indication of any input from faculty members. What are your thoughts about giving teachers more input to decide how their performance is judged?
| I support maintaining open lines of communication with all education stakeholders | | 4. What approaches will you implement to ensure that the needs of special education students are fully met?
| I believe that we can provide greater diagnosis, remedy and intervention approaches for our special needs and exceptionally gifted students. | | 5. Last year some students were unable to graduate because of improper management of graduation requirements by school administrators. Do you think these issues could happen again and, if so, what steps would you like to see implemented to prevent this?
| I will continue to support policies and actions to hold schools and Charter Management Organizations accountable. |
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