On Thursday, January 17, the Orleans Parish School Board suspended its own rules so it could re-elect an openly homophobic school board member as Vice President. Despite the vocal opposition of the LGBTQ community and the Erase the Board Coalition, the board voted to re-elect Leslie Ellison and John Brown to their current positions, against the will of the people of Orleans Parish. Instead of responding to the 30 people who spoke in opposition to Ellison (and the entire board), they offered only a token acknowledgment of the outrage by changing the elections and putting another board member up for Vice President at the last minute. Still, they voted 4-3 to reinstate the same officers who have sold New Orleans schools off to private hands. Ellison’s history of homophobia came to light as she was running for President of the board, with community members revealing her testimony against anti-bullying provisions for LGBTQ youth and her history of supporting pro-charter school policies and officers. The OPSB chose to maintain the status quo instead of listening to the voice of the people. Their long history of disservice to the New Orleans community shows that they have no respect for the students they should be serving. The board must be replaced and schools turned over to the control of the community.