Petition for Chana Benenson

Petition for Chana Benenson to be the next CEO of LFNO.

We believe the CEO who can best execute the LFNO vision and lead LFNO to the future we all want it to have is the one who already has had proven success and a track record for developing a high school in New Orleans.


In the Fall of 2012, a large group of parents joined with our great French teachers to form "Rebuilding Trust: A Working Group" and engaged pro-bono legal counsel to represent the group in a Grievance Letter to the State Board of Education because the LFNO Board of that time was jeopardizing the school by handling day-to-day operations after all of the former administration had left or been pushed out. The end result was an entirely new LFNO board, and a new CEO, Keith Bartlett. Under his leadership, and the team he hired, we have seen our school chart a new course and thrive as we had hoped.

Now that he is retiring we are at a similar cross roads where some change is inevitable. Our young, dynamic, and growing school has to meet both the French and Louisiana standards. As we prepare to take the next step of starting a high school and actually becoming a true Lycée, it is imperative that we hear the voices of our great French teachers once again. With a much lower percentage of the faculty coming from the French national education system now (just under half), their voices have been muted, but are even more important for this critical next step in the school's history.

We believe that this is an ideal time for the Board to hire an seasoned local charter school leader with experience creating an innovative and unique high school with high marks, to ensure our grand mission is attained. It is also important for continuity of our current success and vision to maintain the great staff that has been put in place by our current esteemed leader, Keith Bartlett. Ms. Benenson has a proven track record when it comes to starting a high school from scratch. She has years of experience managing a multi-million dollar charter school budget while attaining the school's lofty goals and supporting the entire staff. Furthermore, we sincerely believe this school, at this stage, cannot afford to loose both the CEO and a large portion of the teaching and administrative staff.

Thank you