BESIEGED AMATO CALLS IT QUITS
Schools chief suffered utter loss of support
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
By Brian Thevenot, The Times-Picayune

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New Orleans schools Superintendent Tony Amato resigned Tuesday after losing the confidence, goodwill and support of elected officials from the School Board to Baton Rouge. He will leave June 30.

"I am convinced that the action I have taken is not only best for me and my family, it is in the best interest for the children that I came here to serve," Amato said in brief remarks Tuesday night.

Amato's inability to correct the system's chaotic finances ultimately led to his removal, said Orleans Parish School Board member Una Anderson, one of his closest supporters.

Most of the recently installed board members have complained that Amato acts unilaterally, won't give them information they need to make decisions, has made no progress in fixing finances and can't effectively manage staff.

The abrupt resignation came a day after one of the most divisive and raucous School Board meetings in the past decade, in which Amato's management was a consistent target of parents, board members and state legislators in the audience.

That was a far cry from eight months ago, when Amato enjoyed the support of politicians statewide, who pushed a law granting him unprecedented authority, and of voters, who trounced his enemies on the School Board at the polls. The superintendent decided to resign as a growing chorus of critics closed in on his shrinking circle of supporters.

When he arrived two years ago, Amato mesmerized audiences with inspired speeches and grand promises, including a vow to bring the fastest test score improvement of any system in the state. Amato will end his administration with a mixed record on academic growth, a nearly empty bank account and an administration riddled with key vacancies, particularly in top financial positions.

Anderson said Amato "fell on the sword of his inability to fix the finances" a week after it was disclosed, in the face of Amato's denials, that the system had edged dangerously close to failing to make payroll. In one stark example, one of his administrators rushed to City Hall on April 1 to pick up a check for millions of dollars in tax revenue and hand-delivered it to the bank, minutes before the deposit deadline, state Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot said. If that check would have been late, thousands of payroll checks would have bounced.

The school system is the largest employer in the city, with more than 12,000 people on the payroll.

Amato won wide praise for his keen knowledge and vision of academic reform. Anderson said in a brief statement that Amato's academic reforms, including the introduction of "cutting-edge" reading and math programs and teacher training, would serve the system for years to come.

Separation agreement

Amato ended his tenure as he spent much of it, avoiding public conflict and spending most of the day behind closed doors. At midday, he had his spokeswoman misdirect the media into a conference room, promising an appearance Amato never intended to deliver, as the superintendent scurried to a closed-door meeting with board members, attempting to avoid questions and cameras.

Three hours later, Amato emerged with a separation agreement that included no severance pay but a "nondisparagement" clause in an apparent bid to halt the public attacks. Board members announced and approved the agreement 5-0 without him present. Board members Jimmy Fahrenholtz and Cynthia Cade were absent.

Minutes later, Amato addressed an impromptu news conference

"I made it very clear when I came to New Orleans that my focus was on providing a quality education for all children," he said. "Over the past two years I have worked hard to keep my commitment to the city and to its children. As I pass on the baton, I wish the district well, the city well and all the children that comprise the New Orleans public schools the very best that life has to offer."

Amato and the board members surrounding him did not take questions.

The board named Ora Watson, Amato's deputy superintendent, as his interim replacement. Amato is the seventh superintendent in 10 years. He lasted two years and two months, nearly the same stint as his predecessor, Al Davis.

Amato's resignation came the day after a politically brutal School Board meeting, where Amato said nothing in response to series of public attacks, including criticism from two state legislators -- and former allies -- who all but called him incompetent. State Sen. Ann Duplessis, D-New Orleans, went so far as to recommend that the board fire him.

Week of turmoil

The meeting followed a week of disastrous news for Amato and the system, including the revelations of the cash crunch affecting payroll and freezing all spending; the release of an internal investigation showing Amato's subordinate, Steve Freeman, ordered workers to board up Amato's house before Hurricane Ivan, then asked workers to lie to cover it up; the shooting of an Alfred Lawless High student; and demands from state Superintendent Cecil Picard that the system turn over its finances to outsiders.

Even Picard, who has been one of Amato's closest allies, would not defend his mishandling of the finances.

"They need some professionals in there, and they need them immediately," Picard said, adding that Amato failed to bring in qualified staff.

State Rep. Karen Carter, D-New Orleans, said Monday night that she had assumed the system was led by a superintendent with "appropriate skill sets, character and good faith" when she pushed through a legislative measure over the summer giving Amato unprecedented powers.

"Unfortunately, I stand here before you to say I'm not sure that's happened," Carter said, looking at Amato.

Amato, in a recent interview, had lamented the morass of competing interpretations to the state law, Senate Act 193, that granted him new powers. "Everybody's focusing on a line-by-line interpretation, fighting over contracts, fighting over who gets hired and fired, fighting over anything but education," he said. "What it's basically turned out to be in the eyes of many is a power struggle."

Before the Tuesday meeting reconvened after the five-hour, closed-door meeting, teachers union President Brenda Mitchell spoke of the huge hopes she had placed in Amato upon his arrival, only to see them evaporate.

She, like many others, had seen the writing on the wall the night before.

The turning point

"I can't honestly say I'm surprised because last night seemed to be a turning point. There has never been a public pointing of fingers at the superintendent like that," she said, dropping her head. "I'm also disappointed because I know his work in other school districts, and I've always maintained that he could turn around the academics."

Brian Sweeney, a leader in All Congregations Together, an influential organization of community churches, offered similar praise for Amato's academic prowess.

"There's abundant evidence of his extraordinary commitment of time and creativity focused on curriculum, academics and kids," he said. "On social occasions, what he chose to talk about was academics and kids. This is a guy who with his wife adopted three kids."

Amato came to New Orleans from Hartford, Conn., in February 2003 after a strong record in improving test scores there, though during a fairly short tenure of 2½ years. He resigned there, also under pressure, after the city's politicians got fed up with his constant shopping for the bigger, better job.

In accepting the job in New Orleans, Amato downplayed the system's problems as nothing different than he'd seen in Hartford, and for 12 years before that, as superintendent of one of many districts that comprise the New York City school system.

He would soon change his tune, beginning to tell the public he'd never seen dysfunction and corruption like his staff and federal investigations were uncovering. Though Amato never publicly attacked the School Board that hired him, many of his allies did, charging them with stymieing his reforms for the sake of protecting patronage and contracts. The board countered -- ultimately without success -- that the failings of the system were Amato's alone and that he hid vital information from them.

State politicians and local voters sided overwhelmingly with Amato.

New board, old complaints

Months after the elections that tossed out Amato's critics on the board, the five new board members who replaced them pledged varying degrees of support for Amato.

Newly elected board President Torin Sanders said during his runoff campaign: "The relationship between the board and the superintendent still needs a great deal of work. . . . I'm committed to being a part of reconciliation."

Right after her election, board Vice President Lourdes Moran said the results prove that voters shared her concerns about the old board.

"I'm not the only one who felt a passion about the situation," Moran said, adding that voters are "tired of that arrogant attitude."

But the new board members, led by Sanders and Moran, have echoed the old board members in their criticism of Amato.

Veteran Principal Florida Woods, waiting at Tuesday's board meeting for the announcement of Amato's departure, concurred with most observers' view that Amato had boundless potential to innovate academically but failed on his managerial duties and to communicate with and delegate to front-line staff. But she added that the system's rank and file need to move on with its own reform plans, not whatever some outside reform group or passing superintendent offers.

"We need to take responsibility and create our own task force," she said. "This has been a roller coaster."

Martha Carr contributed to this report. Brian Thevenot can be reached at bthevenot@timespicayune.com or (504) 826-3482.

New Orleans' School System in Disarray
New Orleans' School System in Downward Spiral With Poor Test Scores, Bankruptcy Looming
By ADAM NOSSITER, The Associated Press/ABC News, April 19, 2005

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Apr. 18, 2005 - Dozens of employees indicted or convicted on corruption charges. Tens of millions of dollars unaccounted for. Eight superintendents in seven years. Rock-bottom test scores. Shootings, sirens and police uniforms, often. The threat of bankruptcy and bounced checks, constantly.

In the dismal gallery of failing urban school systems, New Orleans' may be the biggest horror of them all.

"Urban districts, in general, will often have problems with instruction, with finances, with operations," said Michael Casserly, executive director of the Council of Great City Schools in Washington. "But they don't always occur at the same time. And New Orleans is really facing a three-front challenge."

New Orleans "is almost a national scandal," said James Harvey of the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington in Seattle. "The consistent gossip about favoritism and corruption is extremely troubling." And the city has become "murderers row for superintendents."

The latest crisis in the 64,000-student system broke two weeks ago. First, teachers nearly missed a paycheck, the system was so broke. Then, the state threatened a takeover. Finally, the superintendent, a reformer from New York who, like many before him, entered with grand plans, was forced out by a school board disenchanted with his reform ideas.

Superintendent Anthony Amato's fate was sealed last week at a board meeting crackling with racial hostility. Much of the hooting was directed at him and his white supporters in the school system, which is almost 94 percent black.

Financially, the school system is a "train wreck," Louisiana's top government watchdog, legislative auditor Steve Theriot, told lawmakers in Baton Rouge. No one knows for certain how much money it has, or how much money it owes.

At the glass-and-steel school administration complex across the Mississippi River from downtown New Orleans, FBI agents and other federal and state investigators have opened an office to pick through the evidence of graft.

Just last week, a payroll clerk was sent to jail for stealing $250,000 she had kept her job with the New Orleans schools, even after being indicted on charges of stealing from a bank. A year ago the district's insurance manager pleaded guilty to taking kickbacks. One of the bribe-givers was former Mayor Marc Morial's aunt.

In February, the U.S. Education Department said nearly $70 million in federal money for low-income children was either not properly accounted for or misspent. State officials said one reason is that for years, teachers and principals wanting promotions to more lucrative central office positions have been put into accounting jobs for which they are not qualified.

"There is not one accountant working in the accounting department," Theriot said. "There's not one in the trenches."

State and federal officials are demanding that every aspect of the district's finances be turned over to an outside accounting firm. The locals are balking, but they probably cannot resist much longer: Washington and Baton Rouge, which give New Orleans over half its $577 million budget, have the upper hand.

Meanwhile, morale in the beleaguered teaching corps is sagging.

"We're constantly hit by these disasters," said Leo Laventhal, a French and Spanish teacher at one of the city's magnet schools. Often, colleagues at his school never receive their paychecks. And it is no use complaining: "We call the central office, and nobody answers the phone," Laventhal said.

Long ago abandoned by this city's middle class, the schools in New Orleans are in sad shape academically. New Orleans accounts for 55 of Louisiana's 78 worst schools. More than two-thirds of the school system's fourth-graders do not have basic competence in math.

In the sagging old neighborhoods of New Orleans, the schools are dilapidated cinder-block buildings ringed by barbed wire. Outside one earlier this month, a student was shot in the neck. Afterward, his schoolmates at Lawless High mugged for the TV cameras and walked nonchalantly over the medical debris left behind by paramedics.

At last Monday's raucous school board meeting, a plan pushed by whites to expand an academically successful magnet school was shouted down amid cries of racism.

Yet one scholar said the plan advanced by the latest superintendent to be forced out could have led to the salvation of the district.

"That may be the one thing that could draw the middle class back in to New Orleans," said sociologist Carl Bankston of Tulane University. "The root of the problem isn't the superintendent, or the school board. It's a school district without much of a middle class at all. I would say that's at the heart of why the school system is so bad."

New Orleans school system facing layoffs, possible growing deficit

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BATON ROUGE, La. The financially plagued New Orleans school system won't have the backing of the state's top auditor for a plan to borrow up to 50 (m) million dollars to keep up with payroll and ongoing expenses.

Legislative Auditor Steve Theriot told lawmakers today that the system's finances were in such disarray that the system's deficit from last year may grow to 19 (m) million dollars.

Adding to the bad news, school system officials say they may have to lay off anywhere from 500 to 800 employees to stay within budget this year.

School Superintendent Anthony Amato resigned yesterday after two years at the helm of a system with persistently failing schools, the shadow of a corruption investigation that predates Amato's hiring and a financial crisis that only seemed to deepen.

Ora Watson, deputy administrator for operations and academics under Amato, has taken over as interim superintendent until a permanent successor for Amato is selected.

Watson said the school system is overstaffed, and she will be looking at cutting employees to save money. She said layoffs wouldn't be focused on teaching staff.

Amato's favorite projects facing the ax
School officials say deep cuts are needed
By Brian Thevenot, nola.com, April 19, 2005

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Continuing on a path of cost-cutting and ceding financial control, New Orleans school officials Monday accepted the services of a state consultant as its chief financial officer, formally signed a $1.3 million contract with a company to manage its finances, and offered more specific prospects for cuts to schools and academic programs.

After revelations this month of a cash shortage, followed by the resignation of Superintendent Tony Amato, officials made clear that their fiscal problems have now gone well beyond poor bookkeeping, which they hope outside help will help straighten out. The cuts needed to repair the finances of the New Orleans school system will go wide and deep, including those to school and academic programs, school officials said.

Interim Deputy Superintendent Ora Watson said she will likely deep-six Amato's plans to restructure or expand several schools, most notably plans to create kindergarten-through-eighth-grade campuses and expand signature schools to 11th grade. The K-8 plan and signature schools, which are small, specialized campuses, were two of Amato's cornerstones for system reform.

Campuses face closure

Two weeks ago the system learned it could run short of cash before the end of the year. That revelation prompted state demands that the system turn over its finances to outsiders. In the face of mounting criticism, Amato announced his resignation last week.

That left the school system in the hands of a relatively young School Board and Watson, formerly Amato's executive administrator for academics and operations. Watson has moved quickly to announce cuts to the system's faltering budget, though she said none is set in stone.

The signature schools, as well as many traditional schools, may be merged or eliminated next school year, Watson said.

Some traditional schools have just 200 or 250 students, she said. Closing or combining those campuses could save the system substantial money by cutting administrative and support staff as well as transportation and security expenses.

Canceling plans to create K-8 campuses will save the system up to $2.8 million, money needed mostly to modify elementary campuses, Watson said. Some of those plans were already put in place, with eight failing middle schools scheduled to be phased out in the 2005-06 school year. In addition to the money saved, academic research into eliminating middle schools in favor of K-8 campuses is conflicting, Watson said.

Watson said she didn't buy into Amato's reasoning that moving teenage students to elementary schools necessarily helps them. Amato had long argued that point, citing research saying keeping young teenagers on elementary campuses creates more continuity and a more nurturing environment.

Now the system has the added pressures of finances to consider, Watson said.

"The bottom line is, first, that we have to do the best we can for our middle school students; second, do it in the best (building) space available; and third, do it in a way that's financially feasible," she said.

'Everything's up in the air'

School Board President Torin Sanders cautioned that the public, though understandably eager for answers on the future of specific schools, needs to be patient. Successful plans will take more than a few days, he said.

"Everything's up in the air, and that's a good thing," Sanders said of Watson's plans. "We're not going to stick with anything just because we've done it, and we're not going to go with anything just because it's the latest fad."

Other financial changes include a required 10 percent across-the-board cut to administrative departments. Watson said she would let department managers decide where to make the cuts, but she would later rule on their suggestions. She also will review every contract that draws money from the general budget.

Watson said no cuts have yet been made, and the system would strive to limit the cuts to academic programs and expenses.

As they work to straighten the books, Watson and the board will rely on interim Chief Financial Officer Grover Austin, who recently retired from the state legislative auditor's office. His services as CFO were offered Friday by state Superintendent Cecil Picard.

Austin has been in New Orleans under state contract, helping the system cobble together documents to support its spending of $71 million in federal grants that the federal government has questioned.

Austin will work with managers from Deloitte Consulting, whose $1.28 million deal was made official Friday. Sanders said the School Board would ensure the consultants provide value for the money.

"We're not going to let a day go by without documenting their progress," he said. "We're going to see work and invoices so we know what we're paying for."

The 90-day Deloitte contract could end up costing much more with allowances for travel, expenses, additional staff and additional duties for executives paid for at rates of between $150 and $250 an hour, according to the contract. The company estimated another $260,000 to $325,000 in costs, not including the per-hour executive fees.

System officials are looking at bids from consulting companies who will manage the system's finances for up to two years after the contract with Deloitte runs out, part of a deal with the state that also included the 90-day contract with Deloitte.

The state opened six bids for potential long-term managers Monday. Though Deloitte had been expected to angle for the deal, it submitted no bid.

Deloitte will be paid for by the system but, according to an organizational chart in its contract, will report to a state-appointed oversight committee, which reports only to Picard.

The chart includes no role for the School Board or Watson.

"I would say that's a bad chart," Sanders said.

Watson said she didn't really care who gets what title and what authority -- provided the work gets done.

"I don't think there's going to be any problem with the relationship," she said. "I'm not concerned about who reports to who, or if someone tells the state something they don't tell me. I'm just concerned how much work gets done. My ego is not involved."