Recovery School District
13 Years After Hurricane Katrina, My School Is Returning to Local Control
On July 1, the Recovery School District (RSD) will return control of our schools to the Orleans Parish School Board (OPSD). The shift back is…
My Mission to Educate Black Children Hasn’t Changed Now That I’m in a Charter School
As an educator, my focus is always on kids and how to help them reach their full potential. And as a Black man in New…
Coffee Break: Kunjan Narechania on the One Change That Has Made the Biggest Difference For Kids in New Orleans
Kunjan Narechania is chief operating officer at the Louisiana Department of Education, where she leads the internal operations at the Recovery School District in New…
New Orleans Is Redefining the Meaning of Local Control
Local control of public education has become the rallying cry for many folks on all sides of education debates, from Tea Party libertarians to Bernie…
It’s Time for a Unified Public School System in New Orleans
The path to meaningful and lasting change in our public schools system is often difficult, driven by successes and slowed by setbacks along the way.…
Here’s What School Choice Actually Feels Like to Parents
It’s college application time for high school seniors across the country. In Louisiana, prospective students will find a fairly straightforward admissions process for Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge. Materials are due by April 15 for fall admission. Students must demonstrate a 3.0 high school GPA across 19 core courses and an acceptable ACT or SAT score. That’s the deal. Now, if only kindergarten admissions could be so simple.…
Nobody Said It Would Be Easy: Raising Standards in Baton Rouge
“Why you tryin’ to teach us ratios and half of us in here can’t even do long division properly?” One of my sixth-grade students emphatically…
Ebony Magazine Asks What Happened to New Orleans Schools After Hurricane Katrina
When Angela Lockley started to reconstruct her family’s life after the devastating effects of Hurricane Katrina, two big questions weighed on her mind: Where would…
10 Years in New Orleans: Public School Resurgence and the Path Ahead
Ten years ago, Hurricane Katrina tore through our region, taking nearly 2,000 lives and forever altering hundreds of thousands more. Though many of the storm’s…
Here’s My Hope for the Next Black Teachers of New Orleans
Spend five minutes asking people in New Orleans about the public schools and someone will reference the firing of 7,000 veteran black teachers immediately after Hurricane…
