JP Morrell Receives Key School Board Endorsements
Today, Orleans Parish School Board members Ethan Ashley and Carlos Luis Zervigón announced their support for former State Senator JP Morrell for City Council At-Large, Division 2. Their support is based on JP’s commitment to expanding educational opportunities for kids in crisis, broadening extracurricular programs, and creating partnerships to combat juvenile crime.
“This City Council took the opportunity, while negotiating the new Harrah’s contract, to redirect almost $1.5 million of dedicated funding away from at-risk youth during a time of crisis for our kids,” said Carlos Luis Zervigón, Orleans Parish School Board Member, District 6. “Because of the Council’s action, critical funding for the Travis Hill Center (school at the Youth Detention Center), the Resiliency Center and the Truancy Center was cut. We want to be partners with the Council in solving the surge in juvenile crime, but the disconnect between the need for funding to support our children and finding solutions to crime is jarring and disappointing. JP knows that meeting the needs of our kids requires collaboration between city government and schools.”
Orleans Parish School Board Member, District 2 Ethan Ashley said, “JP gets it. He’s the son of a 30-year veteran New Orleans Public Schools teacher and principal. Our school system needs to be supported, and we need to expand services to kids – not have the City Council redirecting money away from them.”
Ashley continued, “In order to stem the tide of juvenile crime, the Council needs to do more to stabilize our families and provide critical programming for our students when they are outside of the care of our school system. JP will fight for more equitable funding for NORDC to provide more programming and partnerships. JP won’t rest until our juvenile courts have all the funding needed to provide wrap-around support for our pre-adjudicated youth. And, when our youth are convicted of a crime, he will not give up on them. He will make sure to fully fund educational programming for these children. It’s no coincidence that surrounding parishes, where councils and school boards work together, have better outcomes than New Orleans, where we don’t work collectively to prioritize our kids.”
As a legislator, JP accomplished so much for us:
He championed legislation to return Orleans Public Schools to local control.
He expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) when he chaired the Senate Revenue and Fiscal Affairs Committee.
He fought for a modernized Juvenile Justice System in Louisiana based on national best practices (“the Missouri Model”).
He increased educational opportunities for incarcerated kids.
As our next City Council At-Large, JP will work for us:
JP is the only candidate in this race with an actual plan to fight crime.
He will lead the fight to fully fund our recreational and after school programs through NORDC and non-profits throughout NOLA.
He will be a partner in tackling transportation challenges and expanding RTA opportunities for our students and their families.
He will lead the fight to regulate internet access as a true utility and work to create a low cost or free municipal internet option for working families. The COVID pandemic has shown us the sporadic and expensive internet access is unfair and inequitable. All families need internet access yesterday. JP will fight to deliver it.
He will work with the OPSB and non-profit partners to expand Career and Technical Education and meaningful work experience opportunities to give students a leg up when entering college or high-wage career pathways.
He will find opportunities and funding to expand early childhood education.
“I’m extremely grateful to Carlos and Ethan for their support,” said Morrell. “We are united in creating more opportunities to share resources and ideas to improve education in New Orleans. We need this collaboration now more than ever, especially when we are facing tremendous challenges in education, opportunity, and the threat of adults luring our children into criminality.”
Morrell continued, “It’s beyond my understanding how the City Council can claim to acknowledge the challenges facing our youth and victims of juvenile crime, while undermining the funding to the very institutions that are the safety net for the most at-risk kids. The hypocrisy is breathtaking. Any argument pitting the funding of these schools against early childhood education is as hollow as their similar excuse when they tried to defund the libraries.”