On Friday, Aug. 8, Benjamin Franklin High School and the United Teachers of Franklin, a chapter of the United Teachers of New Orleans, finalized their fourth collective bargaining agreement after 15 bargaining sessions held between November 2024 and July 2025. The new contract, effective through April 15, 2029, expands parental leave, addresses health and safety concerns, limits workloads for student support services, clarifies progressive discipline and evaluation processes, and increases compensation.

A wave of panic is spreading through immigrant communities, especially in families with children in our schools.

In case you aren’t engaged with what’s been happening in New Orleans public education for the past 19 years, all but two of our public schools are now privatized, which means their operations are contracted (or “chartered”) to private, nonprofit organizations. These 72 schools are run by 37 private operators – some subsidiaries of national charter school groups, some homegrown. Each charter operator has a board of directors, but these boards are not publicly elected.