Board Members

 
Ira H. Thomas Sr. – District 1 – View Map
Mr. Thomas is a retired New Orleans Police Lieutenant with 28 years of service. He served as Executive Administrator of Security and Investigations for New Orleans Public Schools from 2003 – 2005. He is currently the Chief of Police  for Southern University at New Orleans. He has two adult children Veronica, and Ira Jr., both graduates of McDonogh 35 High School. He is also a proud product of New Orleans Public Schools.  He attended Edwards Elementary, G.W. Carver Middle and a graduate of G.W. Carver High School. He earned an Associate of Arts Degree in Criminal Justice from Delgado Community College and a Bachelor of Criminal Justice Degree from Loyola University.
Contact Mr. Thomas - Board_Member1@nops.k12.la.us
   
Cynthia Cade – District 2 – View Map
Mrs. Cade is the incumbent School Board Member of District 2. Mrs. Cade is a mother of one adult child. She resides in New Orleans East. She is recently matriculating at the University of New Orleans Master’s Program in Education. Mrs. Cade received a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education, Cum Laude from Southern University. For twenty-four years she has been an educator and the Director and Administrator of Angel’s Academy Preschool & Infant Care Center.
Contact Mrs. Cade - Board_Member2@nops.k12.la.us
  
   
Brett Bonin - District 3 – View Map
Brett Bonin is married with two daughters. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree and Juris Doctorate from Loyola University. He is a practicing family law attorney who has represented numerous children in legal proceedings. He volunteered with the New Orleans Police Department Crisis Unit for nine years and with the Orleans Parish Civil Sheriff for eight years. He is the Chair of the Louisiana Bar Association’s Practice and Assistance Committee and has moderated and taught the Bar Association’s Ethics School. His wife is a former pre-school director and elementary school teacher.
Contact Mr. Bonin - Board_Member3@nops.k12.la.us
   
 
   
Lourdes Moran – District 4 – View Map
Lourdes Moran is married with three daughters – two attending public school and one who has graduated. She and her family are residents of Algiers, where she has been actively involved in New Orleans Public Schools and numerous community and civic associations. She has been an involved parent, public school volunteer and chairperson of numerous fundraising and event-planning committees.
Contact Mrs. Moran - Board_Member4@nops.k12.la.us
   
Seth Bloom – District 5 – View Map
Mr. Bloom resides in the uptown area of New Orleans and works in downtown New Orleans in the warehouse district.  A native of Jacksonville, Florida he has lived in New Orleans for almost 10 years. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of Florida and family roots brought him to New Orleans and Loyola University Law School where he served on the Honor Board and received his J.D.  He runs a small law practice focusing in criminal defense and insurance litigation. Mr. Bloom is a two time alumni President of the New Orleans University of Florida alumni club and an activist for public education. He is a member of the American Bar Association, State of Louisiana Bar Association, Eastern District of Louisiana Federal Bar Association, Fifth Circuit Court of Federal Appeals, New Orleans Bar Association, Louisiana Trial Lawyers Association, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, New Orleans Federal Bar Association (the largest federal bar association in the United States) and is on the Board of Directors of the Young Lawyers New Orleans Federal Bar Association.  He is also a New Orleans Civil Sheriff Reserve Deputy and a notary public.
Contact Mr. Bloom – Board_Member5@nops.k12.la.us
   
Woody Koppel – District 6 – View Map
Woody Koppel, a native New Orleanian, attended Henry Allen, Jean Gordon, De La Salle and the University of the South at Sewanee, Tn., where he earned a B.A. in fine arts.
 Now a successful businessperson, Koppel was an award-winning teacher at James Lewis Elementary, who travelled as far as the Anna Freud Centre in England to learn strategies for teaching at-risk youth. He actively volunteers and is a board member of Boys Hope, Girls Hope. He is married and has a son.
Contact Mr. Koppel - Board_Member6@nops.k12.la.us
   
Thomas Robichaux – District 7 – View Map
Thomas Ainsworth Robichaux is President of the Orleans Parish School Board and represents much of historic New Orleans in District 7. Mr. Robichaux as an attorney currently serves as In-House Counsel for AMA Distributors and Lucky Coin Machine Company.   Mr. Robichaux has a bachelor's degree in Classical Studies from the University of New Orleans, and a Juris Doctor from Chapman University School of Law in Orange, California, where he was Vice-Chair and contributing editor of the law journal NeXus, A Journal of Opinion. Mr. Robichaux is a former Deputy City Attorney where he served as a prosecutor and in-house counsel for various city boards and commissions. He is the proud father of one son, Jonathan, a college student.
Contact Mr. Robichaux - Board_Member7@nops.k12.la.us