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LSU Shreveport explores charter school options

Kate Archer Kent

LSU Shreveport is preparing to hire a consultant to conduct a feasibility study on whether it makes sense for the university to open a charter school.

Chancellor Larry Clark says it’s not the first time this idea has been tossed around. But now the LSUS Foundation is putting up funding for a consultant to formally explore the idea of creating a kindergarten through eighth grade charter school on campus.

Clark says it would serve the community and not be exclusive to high-achieving students.

“It may be, at the end of the day, the consultant would say, maybe not. But, we hope that the answer would be yes, and that there would be a role in which our education faculty would be engaged, our students would be engaged, and it could be something where we could serve the Shreveport community,” Clark told Red River Radio.

Clark maintains the university doesn’t have a penny of discretionary funding to dedicate to such a project. But he says the university has valuable land, and that could be helpful in a partnership with a company that runs charter schools.

“We have the ability to begin in a little bit stronger situation because of having the land already, and we will use the land as a means to potentially attract others to collaborate with us with that being our contribution. Fortunately, the land has significant value,” Clark said.

Once the consultant is hired, Clark anticipates a report should be generated in three to four months. He says it is conceivable that a charter school could open at LSUS by August 2016.

Chuck Smith brings more than 30 years' broadcast and media experience to Red River Radio. He began his career as a radio news reporter and transitioned to television journalism and newsmagazine production. Chuck studied mass communications at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia and motion picture / television production at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has also taught writing for television at York Technical College in Rock Hill, South Carolina and video / film production at Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport.