New Orleans as a Diverse Education Provider

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In 2005 there were about 120 schools in New Orleans. Catering mostly to a poor and minority population, the schools were financially bankrupt as well as academically impoverished. In October 2005 Katrina hit New Orleans with such devastation that 80 percent of its population fled their homes, one third of the schools were destroyed, and most were damaged. The schools of New Orleans were charged with recovering quickly, not only rebuilding structures and staffing them to accommodate returning students, but also improving vastly their academic performance.

This article documents the changes that took place through the state’s Recovery School District, charter schools, and magnet schools. By 2010-11 more than 60 percent of the schools were charter schools with future plans to convert almost all of the schools to function as charter or magnet schools. This transformation has not been without challenges as the local community of educational professionals that had been discharged after Katrina has been replaced substantially by outsiders hired through national organizations funded through national philanthropic foundations.

Many members of the local community also feel undermined by the lack of presence of a central school authority that is able to provide overall governance, coordination, policy, and community involvement.

After almost six years, the New Orleans schools are still evolving into what is planned eventually as a “school choice district”.