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Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans in August of 2005 with more than half the population fleeing the city, thousands of buildings were destroyed and, at the same time, eliminating much of the tax base necessary for the city to recover.  Within this overall catastrophe there was the virtual elimination of what had been the local school system with its 127 schools, 60,000 students and some 4,000 teachers.

         In November of 2005 the state took control of the district, placing most of the former schools, or what remained of them, into a state-run recovery district.  The extensiveness of the damage created both an unprecedented challenge to authorities and an equally unprecedented opportunity to bring about extensive reforms in a district that, even prior to the hurricane's damage, was regarded as one of the least satisfactory urban districts in the nation.

         Nearly 40% of the students lived below the poverty line; a quarter of the adult population did not have a high school diploma; superintendents came and left with regularity, at the rate of about one a year; the finances were a mess and things had gotten so bad that the FBI even had a office in the school district headquarters.

         Normally education reformers can expect strong opposition to any significant move toward a different approach.  An example is what happens when attempts are made to close schools.  In New Orleans, dozens of schools were already destroyed and a majority of the students were no longer there.  The 4000-member teachers union also ceased to exist as a potent political force with its members scattered far and wide.

         The result, in broad terms, is that the district is re-emerging as the first in the nation to be composed primarily of charter schools, with a majority of the schools now in that category.

         In February nine groups were approved to open nine charter schools while eight other applications were turned down, even including one by the University of New Orleans.  In all, at that time, 31 of the 56 schools open were operated by 23 different charter organizations while 20 additional campuses were part of the state-run Recovery School District and five more are managed by the Orleans Parish School Board.

         Among the successful charter school applicants is The Knowledge is power program (KIPP) which has an excellent track record with the more than 50 schools it operates across the nation.

         Not that these moves don't face opposition.  One source of irritation to some is that so many of the new school operators are from outside the district, or even the state.  But his would seem to be unavoidable since there aren't that many locally who have experience running charter schools, or even with a record of running a conventional school.

         Another sore point is that the U.S. Department of Education has reportedly indicated that it will make nearly $45 million available for charter schools but has not offered anything similar for traditional neighborhood or district schools, raising the question whether the Bush administration is more interested in privatizing education than in establishing fair comparisons of alternate approaches.

         On the plus side, funding is being applied by, among others, the Gates and Broad Foundations, who not only have extensive resources to call upon but are free too use them in more flexible ways than is often possible with public dollars.

         At the same time the challenges are formidable since students continue to come back to the city, there are reported difficulties in attracting enough quality teachers, much of the city is still in ruins.  Even under ideal circumstances it might be years before a new system is in place and operating with some degree of success and stability.  Since the educational establishment is experienced and adept at challenging or subverting any reform they don't like, it is reasonable to expect such tactics in New Orleans as well.

         If wide-ranging reforms can work, New Orleans may be just the place to test them.

         Walter Isaacson, vice chairman of the Louisiana Recovery Authority, has said the hope is "to take what was one of the worst school systems around and create one of the best and most competitive school systems in America."

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         "The really central problem is the total obsolescence of our schools.  The school system simulates a factory life.  Its intent is to produce 40 million to 50 million factory workers for the next generation, for factories that won't be there." And unless that problem is cracked, we're really in deep trouble." Alvin Toffler, p. 4B, USA Today, Tuesday, March 11, 1986

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Copyright 2007 David W. Kirkpatrick
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