Baton Rouge is in a unique moment where it can become a model for education reform -- but, given the history here, there’s probably not going to be another chance soon if education leaders don’t get it right, people involved in local education efforts said Thursday.Representatives of local education and civic associations, as well as charter operators involved in opening new schools in North Baton Rouge, gathered at an “Education Ecosystem Summit” Thursday at the Shaw Center for the Arts.Speakers emphasized that it is a pivotal time for Baton Rouge education.“Our moment is now,” said Chris Meyer, CEO of New Schools for Baton Rouge, which hosted the event. “We’re not guaranteed a second term here… The community and all of us have a short window to deliver results.”“This place is special, it’s primed, it’s ready to go,” he added.New Schools is a nonprofit that has been working to help recruit successful charter operators to the parish and provide them with start-up funds. Thursday's event was a broad discussion of education issues facing the parish, ranging from a conversation with local college and university leaders on how to better prepare students for higher education, to talk of the feasibility of universal pre-K.The event was heavy on the “reform” side of the education debate, with an emphasis on models like charter schools, though representatives of the East Baton Rouge Parish School System were among the attendees.A total of four new charter operators are preparing to open schools in North Baton Rouge under the Recovery School District this fall, and more are expected to join them in the coming years.But it’s not the first time those schools have been chartered out: There was a first round of charters after the Recovery School District took over several failing Baton Rouge schools in 2008 and 2009. The operators struggled, and nearly all of the schools were turned back over to the Recovery School District.Catherine Pozniak, chief operating officer of New Schools, said her organization and others involved in this second round of charter schools need to acknowledge that history and work in that context.“We have a second chance here,” Pozniak said. “The door hasn’t been completely closed, but we have to be thoughtful. We can’t pretend to go in and say ‘Well we weren’t here, we weren’t part of that.’”Star Hill Baptist Church Pastor Raymond Jetson, who moderated one of the panel discussions at the event, also emphasized remembering that context. And he spoke about the need to work as part of the community to effect change, rather than imposing it from the outside.“I absolutely love the ‘whatever it takes’ mentality, that we’re going to do whatever it takes to help children succeed,” he said. “In the short term, I really appreciate it. But in the long term, that approach robs the community of its responsibility to care for the well-being of its children.”Neerav Kingsland, CEO of New Schools for New Orleans, said in a panel discussion at the event that he sees three principles as being crucial to building a successful school model: First, educators run the schools -- a decentralization that is also being pushed for by various other groups working on changes to Baton Rouge education. He also said parents need to have choices. He said that the government has an important role as a regulator, making sure that schools are up to snuff and removing operators who aren’t performing.Panelists also said it’s crucial to build up a community of outside organizations to support the schools and their operators, organizations like those who attended Thursday’s event.Charter schools on their own aren’t a “silver bullet,” Kingsland said.“If your main theory of change is decentralization, handing power back, what becomes paramount is who you’re handing power to,” he said.Speakers said that Baton Rouge is in a position to serve as an example nationwide of how education can be reformed. While much has been discussed about the changes to New Orleans public schools, that was a unique case because Hurricane Katrina forced the schools to restart from scratch. If change succeeds in Baton Rouge, it would be a more typical model for others to follow, they said.“(Successful education reform) is going to start with a couple of cities that get this right, and I think Baton Rouge has the chance to be one of those cities,” Kingsland said.Diana Samuels , The Times Picayune