During campaign season, politicians from both sides of the aisle champion education. They say the way in which our children are educated will determine the future of our communities, cities, and nation. Then, shortly after the polls close, a strange thing happens. Elected officials, by and large, decline to begin their promised yeoman’s work on crafting policies that reflect the high ideals they espoused on the campaign trail. Consequently, those noble lawmakers that do walk their talk—pressing ahead with meaningful education agendas—usually find their efforts lost in the bureaucratic shuffle of vote swapping, deal making, and watered-down compromises. Further compounding matters are the increasingly rancorous clashes between school districts and teachers’ unions around the country.

            And who pays the piper for this? Not the politicians, not the school districts, not the unions, and not the rank-and-file administrators; they all go right along protecting their interests while the kids pay.

            For years, New Orleans has served as one of the most tragic examples of how a city’s educational system could fail its children. As with other educational disasters in this country, federal, state, and local government leaders are responsible for the systemic failures. But in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina--faced with limited resources, the fetid ruin of their cityscape, destroyed public schools and nonexistent academic and immunization records--New Orleanians don’t have time for blame games, they want results.           

History of New Orleans Schools

            The history of New Orleans public schools is a history that parallels that of the Crescent City. The city’s public schools have a renowned inefficiency deeply rooted in the distant and recent past. Before reform can take place, it is necessary to understand the nature, causes, and extent of this inefficiency. The public school system in New Orleans does appear to have begun badly. The people who founded them had great ideas in a time of confusion. Blake Touchstone of Tulane University states,  

A commercial elite launched public schooling in 1841. Drawing upon ties to New England for ideas and professional educators, these visionary merchants provided the new schools with free books, evening programs for young workers and adults, a free public library, and even music instruction.[1]

One man in particular is mentioned frequently who gave the new system some desperately needed resources. The New Orleans Public Schools wed site states, “On December 29, 1838, John McDonough a millionaire slaveholder signed a will that promised half of his huge estate for the education of white and free black youth in New Orleans”[2] Historically, the schools were remarkably integrated. Blake Touchstone states, “Prodded by assertive Creoles of color and a few white reformers, the system – including students, faculty, administrators, and the school board – became the most integrated in the country.” However, this bright beginning lasted a mere forty years. Touchstone says,   

            […] from 1877 on, as the city and state regressed economically and politically, New Orleans schools rapidly deteriorated. […] extreme racial prejudice and the black community’s lost political power virtually destroyed the few schools open to African Americans. Through much of the twentieth century, the business, political, and educational leaders of New Orleans resisted reforms, even when recommended by their own investigating comities. Racially and sexually segregated schools remained underfunded, poorly attended, burdened by excessive administration, and subject to the whims of squabbling school boards and corrupt politicians.  Coeducation in the 1950’s and integration in the 1960’s and 1970’s resulted in a new spate of problems, including white flight and some of the worst standardized test scores in the nation.[3]   

The incompetence of New Orleans public schools is not only extensive, it is historic. Touchstone sites the year 1877 as being the beginning of school deterioration. Yet he also points out that this decline was connected with that of the state of Louisiana. In the wake of the civil war, it was to be expected that the Deep South undergo terrible turmoil during reconstruction. Yet it is dismaying to see that the public schools in New Orleans have in fact never been reconstructed.

New Orleans School System: Pre-Katrina

Before Katrina, enrollment for New Orleans public schools stood at more than 65,000 students. Today, (in October, 2006), fewer than 22,000 students have returned. But even before Katrina, the state began taking over failing schools, sparking a management change that the storm then accelerated.  Before the storm, 10 charter operators had been given permission to operate. After Katrina, 32 of the 56 schools that have reopened are charters. Charter organizers are credited with reopening schools in the months after the storm, when the school district appeared unable to do so.[4]

Before the storm and displacement, New Orleans had 128 public schools, 4,000 teachers and over 60,000 students. The system was widely regarded as in crisis. Three quarters of eighth-graders failed to score at the basic level on state English assessments. In some schools, the high school military recruiting program was a mandatory class, mostly because funding wasn't available for other programs. Ten school superintendents in ten years had been fired or quit. Many parents, especially white parents, had pulled their kids out of the system -- almost half of the city's students were enrolled in private schools and parochial schools. Advocates accused the school system of functioning as little more than a warehousing program for Black youth.  The deeply rooted racial and class inequalities New Orleans faces date back to at least the Jim Crow era. Soon after New Orleans schools integrated after the historic Brown v. Board of education court decision, white parents began pulling their kids out of the public schools and with them much of the tax base that had funded these schools. For decades after, the schools steadily declined.[5]

            Schools that have reopened since Katrina face additional problems, “John McDonogh High School has at least 25 security guards, at the entrance, up the stairs and outside classes. The school has a metal detector, four police officers and four police cruisers on the sidewalk.  In the last six weeks, students at McDonogh, the largest functioning high school (in New Orleans), have assaulted guards, a teacher and a police officer. A guard and a teacher were beaten so badly that they were hospitalized.”[6] Mirroring the rest of the city, crime has shot up on school campuses as traumatized students return to damaged schools and struggle to pick up their lives.  Many students live alone or with other young people, while their parents and guardians stay in their temporary homes, trying to make enough money to keep the family going and prepare to bring everyone home.  Ironically, the school cited in this article is named for John McDonogh, the wealthy philanthropist whose bequest was instrumental in founding the original, free New Orleans schools.

Theresa Perry, a professor in the departments of Africana studies and education at Simmons, points out that before Katrina, New Orleans was one of few cities in the country that had a significant black teaching force. Of its 5,000 teachers, an estimated 80% were African American. After being fired, more than half of them have retired in order to maintain some income. They are being replaced by a largely inexperienced teaching force from out of state, who receive low salaries and limited insurance benefits.[7]

Charter Schools

For better or for worse, Katrina wiped clean the slate of New Orleans’ educational status quo. And while establishing a new school system poses immense challenges, it also presents opportunities to innovate. Charter schools have emerged as a nimble alternative to the traditional school district/teachers’ union model in addressing the monolithic educational challenges facing the Crescent City.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, “a public charter school is a publicly funded school that, in accordance with an enabling state statute, has been granted a charter exempting it from selected state or local rules and regulations. A charter school may be newly created, or it may previously have been a public or private school; it is typically governed by a group or organization (e.g., a group of educators, a corporation, or a university) under a contract or charter with the state. In return for funding and autonomy, the charter school must meet accountability standards. A school’s charter is reviewed (typically every 3 to 5 years) and can be revoked if guidelines on curriculum and management are not followed or the standards are not met.[8]

However, charter schools should not be seen as a one-size-fits-all solution. Performance results have been mixed, demonstrating that charter schools, like traditional public schools, can turn out improved academic achievements, run at about the same level, or in some cases show a decline. If they are somehow separate but a part of the public school system, it is unclear what are the precise academic standards to which charter schools must be held, with proponents of the system largely unwilling to submit to increased state oversight. Equally alarming is the concern that charter schools are often even more racially segregated than traditional public schools. Charter schools are also accused of diverting funds from traditional public schools.[9] Finally, to suggest that the entire public school system go charter is in a sense to abandon the concept of a public school system that represents the collective educational will of a community. Once again, the risk is run that students from certain neighborhoods, where private groups may not have gotten involved in constructing a charter school, will have less educational advantages than their better-situated peers.  Still, considering the notorious failings of the defunct New Orleans school district, one cannot help but feel drawn to a radical decentralization of Crescent City schools, with the hope that schools’ problems be dealt with individually and without the added obstacle of a dysfunctional bureaucracy. 

Perhaps one solution to relying exclusively on a group of autonomous charter schools would be to replace a centralized district with a system that matched each school with a university located in the State of Louisiana.  A model for such a program could be Pittsburgh’s School District-University Collaborative, in which students of education at universities throughout Pennsylvania receive hands-on training through teaching internships in the Steel City.  The University of Pittsburgh, meanwhile, runs an elementary school considered the most desirable in the city.  Considering the moribund status of the New Orleans district, Louisiana could push this model further, requiring that all New Orleans charter be “guaranteed” by a public or private university in Louisiana.  Pennsylvania’s internship model could then extend to training in school administration, as students worked side-by-side with principals.

However, whatever organizational structure is chosen to revive New Orleans’ public schools, there must be a comprehensive plan for reintegrating the thousands of displaced students that will hopefully move back to the city in the coming years.  There is currently no protocol for Katrina evacuees who currently attend school in Houston, for example, to maintain contact with their hometown’s school, ensuring that if and when they return to New Orleans, they will have fulfilled all necessary requirements to continue their schooling without needing to make up any requirements.  A statewide office should be created to maintain the records of displaced students.  Principals of schools throughout the country where evacuees have ended up could, for example, log into a website created by the Louisiana Board of Education, and enter in the classes displaced students take in their adopted schools.  Board of Education officials could then compare the credits completed out-of-state to those required in Louisiana, and advise displaced students to study certain subjects, if possible, that would prepare them to reenroll at a school in New Orleans at the appropriate grade level.  At the very least, an individualized curriculum could be devised that would allow each student to get up to speed as quickly as possible.

Colleges and Universities

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans’ universities have recovered and returned to the business of educating students with varying degrees of success. Tulane, perhaps the wealthiest, with an endowment at $810 million boasts on its website of being up and running as normal. The missed semester immediately following the storm seems to have had little lasting effect. This may be because President Scott Cowen and his top administrative staff were able to reconvene at a Houston Four Seasons Hotel within days of the storm and immediately began making plans to comeback even stronger than before. As early as mid September 2005, Tulane held its first meeting with prospective students in Houston, most of who seemed more concerned with test scores and application procedures than with the storm’s impact on the university’s future. Meanwhile the importance of New Orleans’ institutes of higher education to the city as a whole should not be undervalued. With 6000 employees, Tulane is one of Louisiana’s largest employers. “So if we get back, New Orleans gets back,” said Cowen.[10]

Although all appears to be on track at Tulane, the university faces recovery costs of $200 million and is appealing on its website for funds to offset these costs. It hopes to raise at least half the needed amount by 2007.[11] However, from its first days in Houston, the administration has seemed determined to do more than just get back to business as usual pre-Katrina. “Tulane is going to thrive,” Ian Watt, admissions officer, promised those prospective students in Houston weeks after Katrina. In December 2005 the university released its renewal plan with the heading “[The] University will Academically Stronger, More Focused and Financially Secure.” It also hinted at a new commitment to the city and the entire gulf coastal region. While conceding the necessity of staff reduction and reducing its medical school faculty, the renewal plan calls for building stronger ties to the community and renewing urban areas through the creation of The Partnership for the Transformation of Urban Communities.[12] Three of the city’s largest universities, Loyola, Xavier, and Dillard, are Tulane’s partners in the project, which will “support educational, outreach and research programs of national and international relevance stemming from the Hurricane Katrina experience.”[13]President Cowen expects the partnership to focus its energies on creating and renewing “healthy communities.” Although it will begin with New Orleans, Cowen sees the potential of lessons learned in the Crescent City being adopted around the world. Many of the issues the hurricane returned to the national spotlight will be addressed, including race, poverty, and public education, issues that went unaddressed in New Orleans and are still going unaddressed in many other cities. “It became apparent to everyone after Katrina that New Orleans has serious issues of race and of poverty. That is true of all large urban areas but nobody talks about it,” Cowen told the Tulane University Magazine. “We're going to talk about it.”[14]

The recovery of Tulane’s partners has, however, not gone quite as well. Despite suffering less damage than Tulane, Loyola’s year since the storm has been more tumultuous. The Fall 2006 freshman class was down about 300 students.[15] In May 2006, president Rev. Kevin J. Wildes outlined a plan he called Pathways, which would serve as a guide to the school’s recovery, strengthen its reputation as a Jesuit liberal-arts institution and take it into its “second century.” The plan, which included firing 17 tenured or tenure-track professors and eliminating or suspending 26 academic programs, immediately met fierce opposition from faculty and students. Many professors cried foul, citing the lack of faculty involvement in developing the plan, and what appears to be random cuts. The broadcast journalism programs, for example have twice the number of students enrolled in photo and print journalism. The latter, however, were spared and broadcast programs cut.[16] Despite the complaints and a no-confidence vote from the faculty, Wildes and his provosts have gone ahead with Pathways, insisting it is necessary for the viability of the university. Although one of the plan’s goals is community outreach, it remains to be seen how that will occur. The text of the plan promises to “continue to provide quality support to the city of New Orleans as it rebuilds,” but offers little specific information and does not mention Loyola’s partnership with Tulane, Dillard, and the city’s other Catholic university, the historically African-American Xavier.[17]

In yet another example from what could be called the Katrina paradigm, traditionally African-American schools like Xavier suffered some of the worst damage and are in the worst position financially to recover from it. Xavier’s campus was almost completely flooded and, unlike Tulane, at one point the university’s very existence was in question. Similarly to Tulane, though, Xavier’s administrators threw themselves into the challenge of recovery and Fall 2006 enrollment was 75% of pre-Katrina highs.[18] Xavier’s recovery is particularly important. Twenty-five percent of America’s black pharmacists are educated at Xavier and it sends more African-American students to medical school than any other institution.[19]

As the universities recover physically and financially and prepare to begin implementing plans to develop stronger ties to their local communities, they may be able to turn an apparent negative into a recruiting tool. While their location in New Orleans might seem a recruiting disadvantage, the challenges facing their home city should in fact be seen as those institutions’ greatest asset.  College and Graduate students interested in questions of urban planning, the environment, historical preservation, psychology, sociology and countless other disciplines could essentially use New Orleans as their laboratory, as long as universities restructured their curricula to consist primarily of hands-on work in solving local problems.  With a political culture long notorious for its corruption and insularity, New Orleans would benefit greatly from the enthusiasm and fresh perspective students would bring.  Indeed, political science and other programs could pair their students with any of the numerous planning commissions that already exist, or that are bound to be formed as reconstruction picks up.

Education in New Orleans Cost-Benefit and Ethics

Rebuilding Project: Improving education in New Orleans by renewing and re-organizing public schools and universities. 

Assumptions:

• State and federal support
• Cooperation from schools where displaced students are currently attending
• Cooperation from local universities
• Leveraging the charter school model

Constraints:

• The public school system in New Orleans, even before the hurricane, was one of the worst in the country, with some of the lowest standardized test scores.
• This inefficiency is historic and can be traced back to the 1800s.
• New Orleans schools lack funding and teachers.
• Since integration, many white students have attended private schools resulting in a decrease of tax revenue going to the public schools.
• Many students have been and remain displaced and their academic/immunization records were destroyed by the Katrina disaster
• Many New Orleans public schools, such as John McDonogh High School, are dangerous.
• Universities are in need of hurricane recovery.

Feasible Alternatives:

• Pittsburgh’s School District-University Collaborative could be used as a model of a system in which future teachers receive hands-on experience through internships. Such a program in New Orleans could match each charter school with a university in Louisiana rather than relying on a centralized organization.
• Creation of a statewide office for the reintegration of displaced students. Such an office would maintain records of such students and have contact with schools where displaced students are currently attending. This office would compare outside credits with those of Louisiana, and also collect information about classes that displaced students have taken.
• A curriculum should be implemented to enable displaced students to get up to speed as quickly as possible
• Universities could use the New Orleans rebuilding effort to aid in enrollment increase. Creation and/or advertising of programs such as urban planning, political science, education, the environment, historical preservation, psychology, and sociology could benefit the universities as well as the city and the communities. Students enrolled in such programs could be paired with numerous existing organizations in the city.
• Schools should implement apprentice programs with area businesses and trades people to encourage vocational education. These are solid jobs that provide a high level of career security and also involve only one or two years of training as opposed to an expensive four-year degree that often provides less job prospects at its conclusion while saddling all too many with student loans.
• A new digital academic/health profile needs to be created for every student in New Orleans. With remote archiving, these records will never be lost again; a primary paper based system would be a wasteful and expensive approach.
• Consider providing incentives for teachers such as student loan repayments or housing opportunities

Cost Analysis:

Non-recurring Costs:

• Initial creation of new education programs

Recurring Costs:

• Maintenance of program for the pairing of charter schools and universities
• Compensation of officials working in the state-wide office for displaced students
• Keeping displaced student curriculum up-to-date 
• Ongoing costs for universities to advertise and maintain new or existing programs
• Costs related to incentive programs to attract and retain teachers in New Orleans

Tangible Benefits:

• Better schools and better education resulting in an educated public able to work for the benefit of the local economy
• People will be more willing to move back to the city
• New university programs will increase student enrollment and therefore aid the schools as well as the local economy
• New university programs which pair students in pertaining fields of study to local organizations involved in areas such as urban planning, political science, and education will aid in the rebuilding effort.

Intangible Benefits:

• Smoother reintegration back into the New Orleans educational system and therefore a less stressful and more productive transition for returning students
• A fascinating opportunity for university students to apply their studies to a real situation
• Communication between students and professionals, New Orleans schools and schools around the country, and between universities and charter schools. More communication can help rebuild the school system.
• Helping students to fulfill their potential and dreams   

Comparison of Cost and Benefits:

• The benefits of reforming New Orleans’ flagging school system far outweigh any costs, given that said monies are used wisely (i.e. funds go to teachers and students not administrators)
• It is widely known that parents choose to buy homes in communities with good school systems. A reformed educational system would provide an incentive for displaced citizens or new residents to return to New Orleans, thus invigorating communities and the local economy—another solid example of why investment in New Orleans’ educational system is essential for the city’s long-term recovery.
• Kids who are engaged in school are more likely to become productive members of society and less likely to get involved in crime and/or drugs. In other words, invest in the future.

Ethical Considerations:

            The educational system in New Orleans, as it is anywhere, is a vital part of the community. The care of children is always a crucial concern and in consequence, the state of New Orleans public schools needs to be immediately addressed. Universities, which provide much of the education for professions such as medicine, urban planning, and political science, provide irreplaceable training for their students. In order for the public schools and the universities in the city to function, in other words for a viable and meaningful future of New Orleans to occur, new programs need to be created, new systems put in place, and new avenues for communication to be formed.

Rebuilding Project: Improving education in New Orleans by renewing and re-organizing public schools and universities. 

• State and federal support
• Cooperation from schools where displaced students are currently attending
• Cooperation from local universities
• Leveraging the charter school model

• The public school system in New Orleans, even before the hurricane, was one of the worst in the country, with some of the lowest standardized test scores.
• This inefficiency is historic and can be traced back to the 1800s.
• New Orleans schools lack funding and teachers.
• Since integration, many white students have attended private schools resulting in a decrease of tax revenue going to the public schools.
• Many students have been and remain displaced and their academic/immunization records were destroyed by the Katrina disaster
• Many New Orleans public schools, such as John McDonogh High School, are dangerous.
• Universities are in need of hurricane recovery.

• Pittsburgh’s School District-University Collaborative could be used as a model of a system in which future teachers receive hands-on experience through internships. Such a program in New Orleans could match each charter school with a university in Louisiana rather than relying on a centralized organization.
• Creation of a statewide office for the reintegration of displaced students. Such an office would maintain records of such students and have contact with schools where displaced students are currently attending. This office would compare outside credits with those of Louisiana, and also collect information about classes that displaced students have taken.
• A curriculum should be implemented to enable displaced students to get up to speed as quickly as possible
• Universities could use the New Orleans rebuilding effort to aid in enrollment increase. Creation and/or advertising of programs such as urban planning, political science, education, the environment, historical preservation, psychology, and sociology could benefit the universities as well as the city and the communities. Students enrolled in such programs could be paired with numerous existing organizations in the city.
• Schools should implement apprentice programs with area businesses and trades people to encourage vocational education. These are solid jobs that provide a high level of career security and also involve only one or two years of training as opposed to an expensive four-year degree that often provides less job prospects at its conclusion while saddling all too many with student loans.
• A new digital academic/health profile needs to be created for every student in New Orleans. With remote archiving, these records will never be lost again; a primary paper based system would be a wasteful and expensive approach.
• Consider providing incentives for teachers such as student loan repayments or housing opportunities

Non-recurring Costs:

• Initial creation of new education programs

Recurring Costs:

• Maintenance of program for the pairing of charter schools and universities
• Compensation of officials working in the state-wide office for displaced students
• Keeping displaced student curriculum up-to-date 
• Ongoing costs for universities to advertise and maintain new or existing programs
• Costs related to incentive programs to attract and retain teachers in New Orleans

Tangible Benefits:

• Better schools and better education resulting in an educated public able to work for the benefit of the local economy
• People will be more willing to move back to the city
• New university programs will increase student enrollment and therefore aid the schools as well as the local economy
• New university programs which pair students in pertaining fields of study to local organizations involved in areas such as urban planning, political science, and education will aid in the rebuilding effort.

• Smoother reintegration back into the New Orleans educational system and therefore a less stressful and more productive transition for returning students
• A fascinating opportunity for university students to apply their studies to a real situation
• Communication between students and professionals, New Orleans schools and schools around the country, and between universities and charter schools. More communication can help rebuild the school system.
• Helping students to fulfill their potential and dreams   

• The benefits of reforming New Orleans’ flagging school system far outweigh any costs, given that said monies are used wisely (i.e. funds go to teachers and students not administrators)
• It is widely known that parents choose to buy homes in communities with good school systems. A reformed educational system would provide an incentive for displaced citizens or new residents to return to New Orleans, thus invigorating communities and the local economy—another solid example of why investment in New Orleans’ educational system is essential for the city’s long-term recovery.
• Kids who are engaged in school are more likely to become productive members of society and less likely to get involved in crime and/or drugs. In other words, invest in the future.

The history of New Orleans public schools is a history which parallels that of the Crescent City. The city’s public schools have a renowned inefficiency deeply rooted in the distant and recent past. Before reform can take place, it is necessary to understand the nature, causes, and extent of this inefficiency. The public school system in New Orleans does appear to have begun badly. The people who founded them had great ideas in a time of confusion. Blake Touchstone of Tulane University states,  

A commercial elite launched public schooling in 1841. Drawing upon ties to New England for ideas and professional educators, these visionary merchants provided the new schools with free books, evening programs for young workers and adults, a free public library, and even music instruction[1].  

One man in particular is mentioned frequently who gave the new system some desperately needed resources. The  New Orleans Public Schools wed site states, “On December 29, 1838, John McDonogh a millionaire slaveholder signed a will that promised half of his huge estate for the education of white and free black youth in New Orleans”[2]. Historically, the schools were remarkably integrated. Blake Touchstone states, “Prodded by assertive creoles of color and a few white reformers, the system – including students, faculty, administrators, and the school board – became the most integrated in the country”. However, this bright beginning lasted a mere forty years. Touchstone says,   

 […] from 1877 on, as the city and state regressed economically and politically, New Orleans schools rapidly deteriorated. […] extreme racial prejudice and the black community’s lost political power virtually destroyed the few schools open to African Americans. Through much of the twentieth century, the business, political, and educational leaders of New Orleans resisted reforms, even when recommended by their own investigating comities. Racially and sexually segregated schools remained underfunded, poorly attended, burdened by excessive administration, and subject to the whims of squabbling school boards and corrupt politicians.  Coeducation in the 1950’s and integration in the 1960’s and 1970’s resulted in a new spate of problems, including white flight and some of the worst standardized test scores in the nation[3].    

The incompetence of New Orleans public schools is not only extensive, it is historic. Touchstone sites the year 1877 as being the beginning of school deterioration. Yet he also points out that this decline was connected with that of the state of Louisiana. In the wake of the civil war, it is to be expected that the Deep South would undergo terrible turmoil during reconstruction. Yet it is dismaying to see that the public schools in New Orleans have never as yet been reconstructed.

The history of New Orleans public schools is a history which parallels that of the Crescent City. The city’s public schools have a renowned inefficiency deeply rooted in the distant and recent past. Before reform can take place, it is necessary to understand the nature, causes, and extent of this inefficiency. The public school system in New Orleans does appear to have begun badly. The people who founded them had great ideas in a time of confusion. Blake Touchstone of Tulane University states,  

A commercial elite launched public schooling in 1841. Drawing upon ties to New England for ideas and professional educators, these visionary merchants provided the new schools with free books, evening programs for young workers and adults, a free public library, and even music instruction[1].  

One man in particular is mentioned frequently who gave the new system some desperately needed resources. The  New Orleans Public Schools wed site states, “On December 29, 1838, John McDonogh a millionaire slaveholder signed a will that promised half of his huge estate for the education of white and free black youth in New Orleans”[2]. Historically, the schools were remarkably integrated. Blake Touchstone states, “Prodded by assertive creoles of color and a few white reformers, the system – including students, faculty, administrators, and the school board – became the most integrated in the country”. However, this bright beginning lasted a mere forty years. Touchstone says,   

 […] from 1877 on, as the city and state regressed economically and politically, New Orleans schools rapidly deteriorated. […] extreme racial prejudice and the black community’s lost political power virtually destroyed the few schools open to African Americans. Through much of the twentieth century, the business, political, and educational leaders of New Orleans resisted reforms, even when recommended by their own investigating comities. Racially and sexually segregated schools remained underfunded, poorly attended, burdened by excessive administration, and subject to the whims of squabbling school boards and corrupt politicians.  Coeducation in the 1950’s and integration in the 1960’s and 1970’s resulted in a new spate of problems, including white flight and some of the worst standardized test scores in the nation[3].    

The incompetence of New Orleans public schools is not only extensive, it is historic. Touchstone sites the year 1877 as being the beginning of school deterioration. Yet he also points out that this decline was connected with that of the state of Louisiana. In the wake of the civil war, it is to be expected that the Deep South would undergo terrible turmoil during reconstruction. Yet it is dismaying to see that the public schools in New Orleans have never as yet been reconstructed.

A brief history of New Orleans public schools (and how they got bad) The history of New Orleans public schools is a history which parallels that of the Crescent City. The city’s public schools have a renowned inefficiency deeply rooted in the distant and recent past. Before reform can take place, it is necessary to understand the nature, causes, and extent of this inefficiency. The public school system in New Orleans does appear to have begun badly. The people who founded them had great ideas in a time of confusion. Blake Touchstone of Tulane University states,  

A commercial elite launched public schooling in 1841. Drawing upon ties to New England for ideas and professional educators, these visionary merchants provided the new schools with free books, evening programs for young workers and adults, a free public library, and even music instruction[1].  

One man in particular is mentioned frequently who gave the new system some desperately needed resources. The  New Orleans Public Schools wed site states, “On December 29, 1838, John McDonogh a millionaire slaveholder signed a will that promised half of his huge estate for the education of white and free black youth in New Orleans”[2]. Historically, the schools were remarkably integrated. Blake Touchstone states,

“Prodded by assertive creoles of color and a few white reformers, the system – including students, faculty, administrators, and the school board – became the most integrated in the country”. However, this bright beginning lasted a mere forty years. Touchstone states,   

 […] from 1877 on, as the city and state regressed economically and politically, New Orleans schools rapidly deteriorated. […] extreme racial prejudice and the black community’s lost political power virtually destroyed the few schools open to African Americans. Through much of the twentieth century, the business, political, and educational leaders of New Orleans resisted reforms, even when recommended by their own investigating comities. Racially and sexually segregated schools remained underfunded, poorly attended, burdened by excessive administration, and subject to the whims of squabbling school boards and corrupt politicians.  Coeducation in the 1950’s and integration in the 1960’s and 1970’s resulted in a new spate of problems, including white flight and some of the worst standardized test scores in the nation[3].    

The incompetence of New Orleans public schools is not only extensive, it is historic. Touchstone sites the year 1877 as being the beginning of school deterioration. Yet he also points out that this decline was connected with that of the state of Louisiana. In the wake of the civil war, it is to be expected that the Deep South would undergo terrible turmoil during reconstruction. Yet it is dismaying to see that the public schools in New Orleans have never as yet been reconstructed.

One man in particular is mentioned frequently who gave the new system some desperately needed resources. The  New Orleans Public Schools wed site states, “On December 29, 1838, John McDonogh a millionaire slaveholder signed a will that promised half of his huge estate for the education of white and free black youth in New Orleans”[2]. Historically, the schools were remarkably integrated. Blake Touchstone states,

“Prodded by assertive creoles of color and a few white reformers, the system – including students, faculty, administrators, and the school board – became the most integrated in the country”. However, this bright beginning lasted a mere forty years. Touchstone states,   

The incompetence of New Orleans public schools is not only extensive, it is historic. Touchstone sites the year 1877 as being the beginning of school deterioration. Yet he also points out that this decline was connected with that of the state of Louisiana. In the wake of the civil war, it is to be expected that the Deep South would undergo terrible turmoil during reconstruction. Yet it is dismaying to see that the public schools in New Orleans have never as yet been reconstructed.

Although all appears to be on track at Tulane, the university faces recovery costs of $200 million and is appealing on its website for funds to offset these costs. It hopes to raise at least half the needed amount by 2007.[2] However, from its first days in Houston, the administration has seemed determined to do more than just get back to business as usual pre-Katrina. “Tulane is going to thrive,” Ian Watt, admissions officer, promised those prospective students in Houston weeks after Katrina. In December 2005 the university released its renewal plan with the heading “[The] University will Academically Stronger, More Focused and Financially Secure.” It also hinted at a new commitment to the city and the entire gulf coastal region. While conceding the necessity of staff reduction and reducing its medical school faculty, the renewal plan calls for building stronger ties to the community and renewing urban areas through the creation of The Partnership for the Transformation of Urban Communities.[3] Three of the city’s largest universities, Loyola, Xavier, and Dillard, are Tulane’s partners in the project, which will “support educational, outreach and research programs of national and international relevance stemming from the Hurricane Katrina experience.”[4]President Cowen expects the partnership to focus its energies on creating and renewing “healthy communities.” Although it will begin with New Orleans, Cowen sees the potential of lessons learned in the Crescent City being adopted around the world. Many of the issues the hurricane returned to the national spotlight will be addressed, including race, poverty, and public education, issues that went unaddressed in New Orleans and are still going unaddressed in many other cities. “It became apparent to everyone after Katrina that New Orleans has serious issues of race and of poverty. That is true of all large urban areas but nobody talks about it,” Cowen told the Tulane University Magazine. “We're going to talk about it.”[5]

The recovery of Tulane’s partners has, however, not gone quite as well. Despite suffering less damage than Tulane, Loyola’s year since the storm has been more tumultuous. The Fall 2006 freshman class was down about 300 students.[6] In May 2006, president Rev. Kevin J. Wildes outlined a plan he called Pathways, which would serve as a guide to the school’s recovery, strengthen its reputation as a Jesuit liberal-arts institution and take it into its “second century.” The plan, which included firing 17 tenured or tenure-track professors and eliminating or suspending 26 academic programs, immediately met fierce opposition from faculty and students. Many professors cried foul, citing the lack of faculty involvement in developing the plan, and what appears to be random cuts. The broadcast journalism programs, for example have twice the number of students enrolled in photo and print journalism. The latter, however, were spared and broadcast programs cut.[7] Despite the complaints and a no-confidence vote from the faculty, Wildes and his provosts have gone ahead with Pathways, insisting it is necessary for the viability of the university. Although one of the plan’s goals is community outreach, it remains to be seen how that will occur. The text of the plan promises to “continue to provide quality support to the city of New Orleans as it rebuilds,” but offers little specific information and does not mention Loyola’s partnership with Tulane, Dillard, and the city’s other Catholic university, the historically African-American Xavier.[8]

In yet another example from what could be called the Katrina paradigm, traditionally African-American schools like Xavier suffered some of the worst damage and are in the worst position financially to recover from it. Xavier’s campus was almost completely flooded and, unlike Tulane, at one point the university’s very existence was in question. Similarly to Tulane, though, Xavier’s administrators threw themselves into the challenge of recovery and Fall 2006 enrollment was 75% of pre-Katrina highs.[9] Xavier’s recovery is particularly important. Twenty-five percent of America’s black pharmacists are educated at Xavier and it sends more African-American students to medical school than any other institution.[10]

Theresa Perry, a professor in the departments of Africana studies and education at Simmons, points out that before Katrina, New Orleans was one of few cities in the country that had a significant black teaching force. Of its 5,000 teachers, an estimated 80% were African American. After being fired, more than half of them have retired in order to maintain some income. They are being replaced by a largely inexperienced teaching force from out of state, who receive low salaries and limited insurance benefits.[3]

During campaign season, politicians from both sides of the aisle champion education. They say the way in which our children are educated will determine the future of our communities, cities, and nation. Then, shortly after the polls close, a strange thing happens. Elected officials, by and large, decline to begin their promised yeoman’s work on crafting policies that reflect the high ideals they espoused on the campaign trail. Consequently, those noble lawmakers that do walk their talk—pressing ahead with meaningful education agendas—usually find their efforts lost in the bureaucratic shuffle of vote swapping, deal making, and watered-down compromises. Further compounding matters are the increasingly rancorous clashes between school districts and teachers’ unions around the country.

And who pays the piper for this? Not the politicians, not the school districts, not the unions, and not the rank-and-file administrators; they all go right along protecting their interests, while the kids pay.

For years, New Orleans has served as one of the most tragic examples of how a city’s educational system is failing its children. As with other educational disasters in this country, federal, state, and local government leaders are responsible for the systemic failures. But in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (faced with limited resources, the fetid ruin of their cityscape, destroyed public schools and nonexistent academic and immunization records) New Orleanians don’t have time for blame games, they want results.

For better or for worse, Katrina wiped clean the slate of New Orleans’ educational status quo. And while establishing a new school system poses immense challenges, it also presents opportunities to innovate. Charter schools have emerged as a nimble alternative to the traditional school district/teachers’ union model in addressing the monolithic educational challenges facing the Crescent City.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, “a public charter school is a publicly funded school that, in accordance with an enabling state statute, has been granted a charter exempting it from selected state or local rules and regulations. A charter school may be newly created, or it may previously have been a public or private school; it is typically governed by a group or organization (e.g., a group of educators, a corporation, or a university) under a contract or charter with the state. In return for funding and autonomy, the charter school must meet accountability standards. A school’s charter is reviewed (typically every 3 to 5 years) and can be revoked if guidelines on curriculum and management are not followed or the standards are not met.[1]

NOTE: WE SHOULD ALSO MENTION SOMETHING ABOUT APPRENTICE PROGRAMS WITH AREA BUSINESSES AND TRADES PEOPLE TO ENCOURAGE VOCATIONAL EDUCATION. THESE ARE SOLID JOBS THAT PROVIDE A HIGH LEVEL OF CAREER SECURITY AND ALSO INVOLVE ONLY 1-2 YEARS OF TRAINING AS OPPOSED TO AN EXPENSIVE 4-YEAR DEGREE THAT OFTEN PROVIDES LESS JOB PROSPECTS AT ITS CONCLUSION WHILE SADDLING ALL TOO MANY WITH STUDENT LOANS.

Benefits from a successful school system:

Community and Economic Development:

-- A strong educational system can steer kids away from crime by giving them hope and a bridge to a promising career

-- it’s widely agreed that successful schools attract families to surrounding communities…good schools in New Orleans would provide an incentive for people to return to the city, thus invigorating communities and the local economy

Tasks:

A new digital academic/health profile needs to be created for every student in New Orleans. With remote archiving, these records will never be lost again; a primary paper based system would be a wasteful and expensive approach

Ethical Considerations
The First Amendment was written to keep government and religious organizations from interfering in each others’ affairs, but not to drive a wedge between the people’s elected organs and its spiritual communities.  In a city as traumatized as New Orleans, it would be ludicrous, if not downright immoral, not to attempt to use religion’s unifying potential to the advantage of rebuilding efforts.  However, fears of muddling the traditional high wall between Church and State are not irrational, and cannot be dismissed.  In a way, post-Katrina New Orleans offers the best laboratory in memory in which to experiment with the Founders’ vision of a society in which neither Church nor State dictates policy to the other, but in which informal and healthy partnerships can thrive for the good of all.