New Orleans will probably never be the same after Hurricane Katrina. But when it comes to schools, many educators and analysts say that might not be all bad.
Both in Louisiana and beyond, the wreckage in the Big Easy has sparked thinking about how the city might reinvent its beleaguered school system, in difficult straits long before the storm was but a gentle sea breeze.
鈥淲e need some bold, out-of-the-box thinking right now,鈥� said Stephanie Desselle, the senior vice president of the Council for a Better Louisiana, a Baton Rouge-based advocacy group. 鈥淲e absolutely ought to not return . . . to the school system that they had before.鈥�
Clearly, New Orleans has many urgent needs, with so much of the city still drying out from flooding brought on by the hurricane. But as those priorities were being attended to last week, education thinkers were contemplating a different future for a district that the state already considered in both academic and financial crisis.
Among those offering ideas from outside the state is Paul T. Hill, the director of the Center on Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington in Seattle. The situation, he argues, presents a 鈥済reen field鈥� opportunity to fashion a diverse new collection of public schools that families could choose for their children.
Another is Chester E. Finn Jr., the president of the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation in Washington. 鈥淚t鈥檚 one thing to re-create Galatoire鈥檚,鈥� said Mr. Finn, referring to an acclaimed restaurant on New Orleans鈥� Bourbon Street. 鈥淏ut to re-create a failed school system would be really stupid and wouldn鈥檛 do the kids any good.鈥�
鈥楽tart Anew鈥�
Within Louisiana, education leaders also were starting to voice hopes last week that some good might emerge from the destruction.
鈥淜atrina in its devastation really gives the opportunity for a rebirth of a school district,鈥� said Leslie R. Jacobs, a New Orleans native on the state board of education, 鈥渢o think it through and start anew.鈥�
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Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, a Democrat, echoed that sentiment in a Sept. 14 address to the state legislature.
鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to simply re-create the schools of New Orleans the way they were,鈥� she said, calling on 鈥渁ll Louisianans and all Americans to join an historic effort to build a world-class, quality system of public education in New Orleans.鈥�
There are plenty of unknowns about the future of New Orleans that make plans to rebuild its schools a tricky proposition.
No one knows how many residents will return to the city, and where they will settle. Money is also a big question mark. Ms. Jacobs noted that the city has been getting some 40 percent of its funding from local sources.
鈥淣ew Orleans just lost its tax base,鈥� she said.
The school district had enough money to pay employees for work done before the storm hit the city on Aug. 29. After paying employees, however, the district is bankrupt and will not be able to reopen without an infusion of state and federal funding, said Sajan P. George, the district鈥檚 interim chief operating officer and a managing director of Alvarez & Marsal, the New York City-based crisis-management firm brought in by the state this summer to handle the district鈥檚 finances.
Mountain of Troubles
The 60,000-student district, which serves mostly African-American children from low-income families, has faced a mountain of difficulties. For starters, the district has been unable to keep a schools chief for long, with heavy turnover in recent years.
After Hurricane Katrina, educators and analysts are putting forward ideas for the future of public education in New Orleans.
Paul T. Hill, Director, Center for Reinventing Public Education at the University of Washington:
鈥淭he core idea is that there is a gigantic uncertainty about when students are going to come back, where they will live. ... In that situation, the last thing you want to do is try to rebuild a centralized system.鈥�
Leslie R. Jacobs, Member, Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education:
鈥淜atrina in its devastation really gives the opportunity for a rebirth of a school district, ... to think it through and start anew.鈥�
Florida L. Woods, Principal, Paul L. Dunbar Elementary School in New Orleans:
鈥淭he people who were there should be the ones given the opportunity to rebuild. ... [W]e know the history, we know the culture of the city, the district, and the people.鈥�
SOURCE: 澳门跑狗论坛
Under Louisiana鈥檚 accountability system, New Orleans was ranked as the state鈥檚 lowest-performing district in the most recent ratings.
The district鈥檚 chronic academic problems led the state last year to declare the school system in 鈥渁cademic crisis.鈥� This school year, several schools were taken over by outside entities, including the University of New Orleans and the nonprofit Knowledge Is Power Program, or KIPP.
Alvarez & Marsal assumed control of the district鈥檚 fiscal operations in July under an agreement pushed by the state education department, following a federal audit that questioned the district鈥檚 spending of some $70 million in Title I aid.
State auditors had long complained that the district鈥檚 poor accounting practices made it impossible to get a clear picture of its finances. Scores of current and former district employees have been indicted on fraud charges within the past year.
With the flooding caused by breaches in the city鈥檚 levees after Katrina struck, the bulk of New Orleans鈥� 126 public schools were severely damaged, with more than half needing to be replaced, the state has estimated.
In assessing the system鈥檚 prospects, Florida L. Woods, who was the principal of New Orleans鈥� Paul L. Dunbar Elementary School before being displaced by the storm, cited the 鈥渄eplorable鈥� condition of the district鈥檚 school buildings as a key concern.
鈥淲e need to make sure that before we put any child into a building, that all of the buildings are first-class structures befitting of them,鈥� she said in an interview from Georgia, where she is staying with family members.
Brigitte P. Nieland, the director of education for the Louisiana Association of Business and Industry, said the district鈥檚 future 鈥渘eeds to be approached from a student-focused, rather than a bureaucracy-focused,鈥� perspective.
鈥淓verything should be built around that, rather than contracts and employee demands and all the things that serve adults,鈥� she said.
Mr. Finn鈥檚 notion, similar to others put forward, is to create a 鈥渟ystem of schools, rather than a school system.鈥� The idea would be to have 鈥渕ultiple operators of diverse schools all subscribing to the same basic standards,鈥� even while offering 鈥渇undamentally diverse schools,鈥� said Mr. Finn, an assistant U.S. secretary of education under President Reagan.
Mr. Hill of the University of Washington, who discusses his ideas for New Orleans in an opinion essay in this issue of 澳门跑狗论坛, said in an interview that 鈥渢he idea is to create a very flexible system.鈥�
鈥淭he core idea is that there is gigantic uncertainty about when students are going to come back, where they will live,鈥� he said. 鈥淚n that situation, the last thing you want to do is try to rebuild a centralized system.鈥�
Seizing the Moment
Kati Haycock, the director of the Education Trust, a Washington-based research and advocacy group for disadvantaged students, said she sees some advantages to a broad-based charter school approach, but also offered some cautions.
鈥淭he question is, how you tap the best of the movement you鈥檙e talking about,鈥� she said, 鈥渨ithout tapping the worst of it?鈥�
Ms. Haycock added that in a place like New Orleans, with many low-income families who tend to move often, some uniformity across schools is a good idea, in reading instruction, for example.
Overall, Ms. Haycock suggested that Hurricane Katrina could provide a unique opportunity, because the scale of the disaster and its human impact have attracted so much attention and goodwill nationwide. She said large philanthropies, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, might be recruited to help underwrite innovative efforts.
Ms. Haycock said she hopes that Gov. Blanco can tap into the national sympathy for the city鈥檚 plight to benefit its schools.
鈥淚t clearly is a moment,鈥� said Ms. Haycock, who is among those Gov. Blanco has consulted about recovering from the hurricane. 鈥淚f I was the governor, I would use the moment.鈥�
Christopher Whittle, the president and chief executive officer of Edison Schools Inc., a for-profit education management company based in New York City, said that officials in New Orleans and the state might leverage help from the federal government in rethinking the school system.
They could 鈥渁sk the federal government for new design dollars for New Orleans,鈥� he said. The idea would be to 鈥渞each out to all sorts of different entities across the U.S. and solicit proposals for multiple new school designs.鈥�
Ms. Woods, the New Orleans principal, who is also the president of the New Orleans chapter of the American Federation of School Administrators, said that 鈥渢his is an opportunity for purging of a lot of things.鈥� But she wants to be sure that New Orleanians remain in control of the city鈥檚 educational future.
鈥淭he people who were there 鈥� should be the ones given the opportunity to rebuild,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ecause we know the history, we know the culture of the city, the district, and the people.鈥�
Jimmy Fahrenholtz, an Orleans Parish school board member, said he saw the disaster as a chance to 鈥減are down to our fighting weight,鈥� in terms of personnel.
He also said the district should 鈥渙utsource pretty much everything,鈥� referring to such operations as food services, payroll, and purchasing. 鈥淲e should be thinking about nothing but academics.鈥�
All in all, Mr. Fahrenholtz said he鈥檚 hopeful about the future of his city鈥檚 schools. 鈥淎nybody that tries anything untoward right now will be run out on a rail,鈥� he said, referring to corruption. 鈥淓verybody鈥檚 watching now.鈥�
