Hi! Has anyone had kids at both Newman and St. George’s? I’d love to hear comparisons, based on your experiences. I’m interested in how students treat each other, whether families are inclusive, academics, and whatever else you think is relevant (that you wouldn’t hear on a tour or see on a website). Right now, I know more about St. George’s (and it’s all very positive!) Thank you!
I had a wonderful experience attending an all-girls school in another state, and I’m interested in McGehee for my daughter. (She is in kindergarten.)
It seems like the class sizes are much bigger in lower grades than they are once girls get to high school. I’d love to hear any context about this. It seems like a good number of girls leave. Any input on why, where they go, etc? (Or, if I’m wrong about this, I’m ready to learn.) Thank you!
I looked through the subreddit and didn’t see a related post but if there is one, please let me know and I’ll delete this one!
Is there any advantage to applying to the NCAP Main Round as soon as it opens November 2? My child will be going to kindergarten next year and we have a two schools in particular in mind, but one of them doesn’t even offer any tours until after the app is open. Doing more research tonight and I’m seeing quite a few schools don’t have tours until after November 2, so I feel like then it doesn’t affect your placement, but then I didn’t know if maybe you could modify your application to change your ranking before it closes in January.
Anyway, experienced parents / public school educators on this subreddit, does applying earlier in the process increase/affect your chances of getting a school, or do you just need to apply by January 22?
Hi there! My husband and I moved to Uptown at the end of August. We have two daughters (our oldest is 2.5 and youngest is about to be 1)!
We love New Orleans so far and especially Uptown, but I have had trouble finding activities for both my kids. I take them to the zoo very often as we have a membership and it’s easy to walk with them, but am in search of other activities.
I would also welcome any advice on how to meet other moms in the area with young kids! Since we have two and their naps don’t align, I am at home a lot until the afternoon so we haven’t been able to do the mom walks or morning events.
Any advice or guidance would be greatly appreciated!
Two of my children were recently awarded LA Gators. I am very happy to unexpectedly receive the funds, but trying to navigate schooling for this year. I will have to withdraw them from public school. My oldest is in 4th grade and does much better on a small group setting. Im trying to decide on home based learning and doing an online curriculum, private schools that are on the list (Ursuline, etc) or a hybrid school. My other child is in Kindergarten at Audubon French Immersion. She is doing well, but I don’t want to miss out accepting the Gators Grant. She is gifted and needs additional support, so I was going to test her for Willow next year.
Has anyone had a good experience with a private school that accepts Gators? Any thoughts and experiences is appreciated. Thanks
By removing a crucial part of the early intervention team from the equation, our most vulnerable children are at risk for missing out on beneficial early intervention, school systems may lose a vital component in the process of proactively planning for early childhood student needs prior to their entry, and communities will ultimately be impacted by limited access to an invaluable resource that allows them to thrive. Please read the information below and consider reaching out to let your concerns be known and get answers to critical questions. From a provider:
Please share with everyone!
🚨 LOUISIANA FAMILIES — IMPORTANT EARLYSTEPS UPDATE 🚨
Today, SPOEs(System Point of Entry) across Louisiana were told that their current contracts will end April 1.
This is a significant statewide change. SPOEs are the local teams that help families move through referral, intake, evaluation, eligibility, IFSP development, and into early intervention services.
When we are talking about babies and toddlers with developmental delays or disabilities, timely services matter.
During today’s meeting, staff stated that they were not aware of public hearings, stakeholder meetings, or outreach to parent advocacy groups before these changes were developed. Louisiana’s published Early Steps policy says that policy updates require broad stakeholder input, public notice of proposed changes, and public hearings for public comment.
Families may want answers to questions including:
➡️ What will replace the current SPOE system?
➡️ How will the transition work?
➡️ How will Louisiana prevent delays in services?
➡️ What happens to the experienced local staff who already know these families and communities?
➡️ What opportunity were families, providers, advocates, and the public given to participate in the process?
For anyone who wants additional information or wants to ask state officials about the changes:
📞 Rep. Barbara Reich Freiberg
(225) 342-6945
District Office: (225) 763-3500
hse070@legis.la.gov
📞 Sen. Royce Duplessis
(504) 568-2741
SEN05@legis.la.gov
📞 Bruce D. Greenstein
Louisiana Department of Health
(225) 342-9500
📞 Blake Miguez
(337) 519-8720
You can also contact your own Louisiana State Representative and State Senator and request information about the EarlySteps SPOE contract changes.
Questions you may want to ask:
“What is changing with Louisiana EarlySteps and the SPOE contracts beginning April 1? What will replace the current system? How will timely services for children be protected during the transition? What public and stakeholder input occurred before this decision was made?”
This affects the people who work within the SPOEs, but most importantly, it affects the babies and families across Louisiana who depend on timely early intervention services.
❤️ Birth to three matters.
❤️ Early intervention matters.
❤️ Timely services matter.
❤️ Local SPOEs matter.
❤️ Louisiana families deserve clear information about changes affecting their children.
The new Children’s Resource Center is meant to offer a more hands-on experience, said Morgan Hanrahan, the center’s manager and the head of early literacy at the New Orleans Public Library.
Before the renovation, the center looked like a regular library branch that featured books geared toward children, Hanrahan said. Now, there are fewer stacks and more play areas. That’s to curate it to the needs of children aged five and under, and to reinforce the five facets of early literacy: reading, playing, talking, singing and writing, Hanrahan said. She hopes the building will be “very loud,” unlike a traditional library.
Last year, the 118-year-old building on Napoleon and Magazine closed for renovations, which cost a little more than $700,000, giving the library time to transform the space. It reopened on Tuesday, and a formal ribbon-cutting and opening ceremony is scheduled for Saturday morning.