Failing public schools in Jefferson Parish? Let’s examine how the Gretna mentality contributes

Given the 24th Judicial Districts Courts are located in Gretna I suspect it was a simple matter of time before the phrases “Grenta Style” and “Gretna Mentality” would enter into the lexicon of the Slabbed Nation in the aftermath of the impeachment proceedings against Tom Porteous as the systemic corruption of the state and federal courts was laid bare for the country to see as the participants tried to explain their behavior away by saying stuff like, that’s the way it was done in the Grenta courthouse.

But alas Porteous is yesterdays trash and there are a new group of hogs looting the public purse and doing favors for themselves such as Jefferson Parish School Board member Mark Morgan, who we profiled the other day. Morgan comes from the cesspool that is the Jefferson Parish DA’s office as did his Momma, who evidently was a political hack in her own right back in the day. Not as commonly known about Morgan was that he was a collegiate student athlete swimmer who so loved his “root suit” he had it framed for use as office decor.

Pigs like Morgan could not ply their self serving trade driving the local school district into the ground without a higher political patron however and that is where Jefferson Parish Councilman Chris Roberts comes into play. Here on Slabbed we know Roberts best as one of the crooked Jefferson Parish pols that appeared on Anderson Cooper 360 nightly back during the oil spill pumping Bobby Jindal’s sand berm boondoggle as he was evidently cut in on the back end graft associated with the no bid dredge contracts.

So now that we have the players set up let’s review.  The Jefferson Parish School system is a notch about Orleans Parish, which was virtually completely looted before the state stepped in but that isn’t saying much. Like Orleans Parish Schools back in the day, the school board likes to micro manage and meddle in daily operations, most likely to protect their sources of graft. Last month School Superintendent Diane Roussel announced the administration discovered testing irregularities at Gretna #2 Academy where students were evidently being admitted despite not meeting admission guidelines. Now in Jefferson Parish it never seems to take long for the turds to float to the top of the cesspool and sure enough enter Mark Morgan and Chris Roberts, who have kids attending Gretna #2. Both denied exerting any influence to get their kids enrolled.

Then earlier this week the news broke that yes Virginia, Mark Morgan is a lying sack of shit as he did exert influence to get his progeny in Gretna #2 so I guess it should come as no surprise he is gunning for the messenger, Superintendent Roussel. And sure enough he is joined by Roberts, who sure is certainly acting as if he also influence peddled to get his kids into the Gretna Magnet school as this Fox 8 report illustrates:

When the superintendent of JP Schools first went public with alleged irregularities in admissions at magnet schools, she raised red flags about students related to public officials. Two students at Gretna Number 2 Academy are the children of JP Councilman Chris Roberts. He says his children went through the normal testing process.

“I asked for my children’s test scores two weeks ago because a media outlet requested them from me. I told them I had no problem with that. I sent a request in for those scores and have yet to receive a response,” Roberts said.

Roberts plans to attend the school board meeting to question the status of his records request, and to question the legitimacy of those conducting the investigation into the alleged irregularities.

“Those who are responsible for supervising the testing program in JP directly work for the Superintendent. These are the same individuals who are handling the investigation,” Roberts said. “I really think that it would be appropriate at this time to look to BESE for some direction and independence, to come in and sort all of this out.”

Roberts does the bob and weave well as the problems reported in the press are not related to the problems with the testing itself, rather the results were ignored if the child in question had politically connected parents. It gets better though as Robert’s jumps in to defend his buddy Mark Morgan as we continue:

Tuesday, Superintendent Diane Roussel sent out a release alleging her newly expanded investigative team found 43 new irregularities, in addition to the 40 found in the original investigation. The release was sent out on election day, as board member Mark Morgan faced a run off race to keep his seat.

“I think the timing was very suspect and that everything she has released over the last month was at a time where she felt would have been detrimental to an ongoing race,” Roberts said.

“I am very deeply concerned about the actions of the superintendent. They were clearly motivated to taint my election,” Mark Morgan said.

Of course the Morgan-Roberts solution is to suspend the superintendent and reinstate the political lackey principal at Gretna #2, which is eerily reminiscent of Robert’s fighting mightily to keep disgraced and soon to be indicted former Parish Attorney Tom Wilkinson on board in Parish Government while sending the lady who complied with the subpoenas and public records requests that brought Wilkinson down to the house. Grenta style politics is a hoot huh?

Now I’d like to address Mssrs Roberts and Morgan directly.  The best thing you guys can do for your kids is spend less time mugging it up for Tee Vee cameras pumping the taxpayer fleecing scheme de jour and more time reading to your young ones. That way the kids won’t need your help getting placed in schools where they do not meet the  admissions standards and kids who do meet the standards will not be deprived of the education opportunities they earned.

Given the new problems uncovered in the ongoing investigation I suspect we’ll be tackling this subject again.

sop