Lusher Charter School

Infobox School
name = Lusher Charter School
motto = Celebrating cultural diversity through high academics and the arts
type = Public Charter School
grades = K–12
district = New Orleans Public Schools
established = 1917
address = 7315 Willow Street
5624 Freret Street
city = New Orleans, Louisiana
state = LA
zipcode = 70115
country = U.S.
information = 504-862-5110
505-304-3960
website = [http://www.lusherschool.org/ School website]

Lusher Charter School is a K-12 public charter school located in New Orleans, Louisiana. Lusher is chartered by Advocates for Arts Based Education (AABE), which acts as the board for the entire school. Lusher School has two uptown campuses; the K-5 program is housed at the Willow Street campus and the middle and high schools are both located at the Fortier campus on Freret Street.

General Information

History

Lusher was founded in 1917 and for its first few decades only taught grades K-6 at its Willow Street campus. Then, in 1990, Lusher moved its sixth grade class into the unused Carrollton Courthouse building on South Carrollton; the school then expanded to include seventh and eighth grades while keeping the Willow Street campus for its K-5 program.In 2003 however, the school began discussing the possibility of opening up a high school. In 2005, the school applied to the Orleans Parish School Board to become a charter school and open up a high school for the following school year but on April 11 of that year, the charter was denied. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina however, the school’s second attempt at gaining a charter was successful. Lusher Charter High School opened its doors for the first time on January 17, 2006 with 48 students and only 9th and 10th grades and six high school only teachers (one for each subject: math, science, social studies, English, French and Spanish). The high school was housed at the Carrollton Courthouse with the middle school for its first semester. Due to space limitations at the Carrollton campus, both the middle school and high school had to find a new home. In August 2006, both schools moved to their new Fortier campus on Freret Street (about four blocks from Tulane University’s campus) which had previously housed Alcee Fortier Senior High School before it was closed.In 2008, Lusher's first senior class of thirty-five students was offered over two million dollars in college scholarships and included three national merit winners and a semifinalist for a Presidential Scholarship in the Arts.

Administration

*Principal/CEO - Kathy Riedlinger
*Elementary Principal - Barbara Nelson
*Middle School Principal - Brenda Bourne
*High School Principal - Wiley Ates

Project Pride

The core value system of Lusher consists of a set of four rules known as “Project Pride” which was conceived by principal/CEO Kathy Riedlinger and is used in all grades from kindergarten up through the high school.
# Be Kind
# Be Responsible
# Respect People & Property
# Do Your Best Work

tudent Government

Constitution

The Lusher Charter High School Student Government Association is organized by a constitution which has been written, ratified and revised by students since 2005. The preamble to the current current constitution, ratified by the Student Body on May 5, 2008 states::"As active and concerned members of Lusher Charter High School and the Lusher community, for the purposes of giving equal and fair representation to the students at Lusher Charter High School, ensuring our continuation as active members in our community, promoting school spirit, securing the safety, trust and education of the students, providing a basis for academic and artistic achievement and keeping Lusher Charter School in good standing with other schools and the community, we do herby ordain and establish this document as the constitution for the Lusher Charter High School Student Government."The constitution mandates the existence of "a Student Council which shall act as the primary governing body of the SGA and Student Body" (Article I § 3). Article II § 1 states that the Student Council shall consist of:
*An elected Student Body President
*An elected Student Body Vice President;
*An elected Student Body Secretary;
*An elected Student Body Treasurer;
*Three elected Class Representatives from each graduating class;
*Two appointed Class Representatives from each graduating class;
*The Class President of each graduating class; and
*The Class Vice President of each graduating class.

2008-2009 Student Body Officers

*Student Body President - Meredith Massey (Class of 2009)
*Student Body Vice President - Cora Parsons (Class of 2010)
*Student Body Secretary - Robert Logan (Class 2009)
*Student Body Treasurer - Evan Gist (Class of 2011)

Clubs

Lusher High School has many different clubs and other student organizations spanning a broad array of interests. As of September 2008 the high school has sixteen officially registered clubs.

Creating a Club

As stipulated in the High School Club Policies, each club seeking official recognition from the school is required to submit a completed club charter proposal to the Club Committee of the Student Council which then either approves and vets the proposal to the administration for final approval or returns the proposal with comments to the club founder(s).Each charter proposal must include five essential pieces of information:
#Mission: What is the general purpose and focus for the club (i.e. to promote community service, etc.)?
#Justification: Why is this club needed now at Lusher Charter School? How will the club be able to uniquely address its mission as stated in #1 more effectively than other existing clubs? How would this club enhance student life at Lusher? How would this club help the school overall?
#Membership: What is the potential projected membership? How will the club recruit a diverse group of members?
#Sponsorship: What faculty members are interested in sponsoring the club?
#Affiliation: Will the club be affiliated with any national organization or other outside groups?

List of Clubs

The current list of recognized and established clubs (as of September 2008) is listed below:
*STOMP (dance team)
*Film Club
*SciFi Club
*KEY Club
*F.E.M. (Feminism Empowerment Movement)
*French Club
*Natural Hair Club
*Urban Farming Club
* [http://pandora.tcs.tulane.edu/lusher/CharterPress/charterpressdiluvian.cfm Lusher Post-Diluvian (student newspaper)]
* [http://www.lusherpodcastproject.org/LPP/Podcast/Podcast.html Lusher Podcast Project]
*Psychology Club
*Culinary Club
*Fellowship of Christian Athletes (F.C.A.)
*Gay-Straight Alliance (G.S.A.)
*National Honor Society
*SALSA (Students Advocating Life without Substance Abuse)

External links

* [http://lusherschool.org Lusher Charter School website]
* [http://www.lusherpodcastproject.org Lusher Podcast Project website]

() 06:02, 28 September 2008 (UTC)