Eleventh grader Niko Rodriguez has only been attending New Harmony High School for a few months, but he’s already thinking about where he’ll have to transfer for his senior year. It’s not by choice. Last month, the governing board for the charter school, which has been operating for seven years and had just moved into a new location on St. Claude Avenue, voted to close it at the end of this school year.
“It’s just really nice to be here and it was kind of a bummer, because I was kind of hoping to be here my senior year so I can graduate from here and kind of just go where I need to,” Rodriguez said. “I can’t do that now.”
New Harmony, one of a small number of charters in the city that are overseen by the state rather than the Orleans Parish School Board, voluntarily relinquished its charter with the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education, a move that was formalized during a board meeting last week. Its current charter was set to expire in June. In a letter to BESE, executive director Joshua Washington said the school made the decision to close because it would not meet the state’s charter renewal requirements. The school received a ‘D’ letter grade from the state for the 2024-2025 school year, and renewal required a ‘C’ grade…