OUTthere

New Orleans Schools Show Progress Post-Katrina

by: Kevin L. Henry, Jr.

Residual hope, optimism, and hard work in post-Katrina New Orleans may be turning the city’s struggling education system around. As of November 2007 a study conducted by the Cowen Institute for Public Education stated that there are 33 Recovery School District operated schools, 26 Recovery School District charters, 2 BESE charters, 5 Orleans Parish School Board operated schools, and 12 Orleans Parish School Board charters. What this represents for many is options regarding education; parents, for the first time in recently history, have the power of choice.

However, students at New Orleans School for Science and Math  (“SciHigh” for short) and Edna Karr High School express mixed feelings about the “progress” of their institutions.  Both are public schools in New Orleans with disproportionately large African American populations in relation to other ethnic groups.  Both schools also have large populations of students eligible for free or reduced lunch.

Danielle Forte Robinson* is new to SciHigh; prior to Katrina she attended Abramson Science and Technology School. Although a before and after picture of SciHigh was not possible from her, Robinson provided us with a comparison between the two schools. SciHigh, Robinson said, was a better school because the teachers really cared about teaching. “Abramson needs good teachers like SciHigh has and the students need to be more focused,” Robinson said.

Prior to Katrina, SciHigh serviced some of the more “gifted” populations of the city through an enriched curriculum that focused on high achievement in math and science. Now, however, SciHigh has changed its curriculum to include English, Social Studies, Foreign Language, Physical Education and Health.

Edna Karr High School has also changed. A once famed “magnet” school, which boasted selective admissions, Karr High now allows open enrollment. Prior to Hurricane Katrina the school included grades seventh and eighth, now those grades have been removed. Also, Karr now offers courses at the regular level, instead of the honors curriculum it once had.

“It’s not like it used to be. Things have changed,” Edna Karr student Marcus Green* said. Not only has the curriculum changed, the make-up of the faculty has as well. “We once had older black teachers, now we got really young white ones. They don’t know what they’re doing.” His observation is provocative if not significant. Many New Orleans schools have experienced an influx of newly hired, uncertified, inexperienced teachers, though the system was still failing with experienced  black teacher prior to Katrina. When asked to explain further what he meant by the statement, Green explained that he “just knew there was a difference, that they [the old teachers] cared more about me.”  Green said that prior to Katrina the school was better and it had better students. When asked what would make Karr a better place, Green said, “bringing back some of the old teachers and bringing back the test.” The test Green spoke of is the admissions test.

There is still much to be done in regards to education reform in New Orleans. A panel on “collaborating for educational excellence and academic success” sponsored by the Cowan Institute offered insight into the problems and offered solutions for public education issues.  One example mentioned was that more community involvement in education is needed. Further, the physical environment of the school must be changed. Deteriorating building tell students that nobody cares. Principal Charles Landry, Jr. suggested that schools need to be more family inclusive, creating a Nexus of mental health services and adult education—including parenting skills training—making schools into community centers.

Change never comes easily, it involves friction and energy, but the future of New Orleans is dependant on transcending the damage of the flood and of history. This reform must involve everyone, not just teachers and administrators. Other institutions need to be strengthened—such as the justice, healthcare, housing, business, and transportation systems—simultaneously, not serially for New Orleans and its school system to flourish. Success is not possible if we allow broken systems that stymie efforts by reformers to thrive.

In a city that was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, those genuinely involved in trying to deconstruct and reconstruct a better educational system serve as testaments of hope, resilience, strength, and courage. With the aforementioned element that is how, as citizens, we change things. That is how we resurrect New Orleans and its educational system. The time has come for sensitivity, compassion, and action. We are at war and must no longer keep our hands tied; the future depends on us.

*Names have been changed to protect students' identities.