Education Politics Flood New Orleans

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Critics of the new system, however, say that the revolution amounts to an 'educational land grab' that inexorably leads to the privatization of public education. Drawing from research by the Center for Community Change in Washington, D.C., the self-described activist publication Rethinking Schools (Fall 2006) warns against replacing even an admittedly failing school district with a 'scholastic shopping mall'-a mix of various charters, along with state-run and locally run schools. Such an approach, the magazine says, will only increase race and class segregation in New Orleans, as the better-funded charter schools compete for the best students with the most involved families.

What's more, families moving back to the city are learning that the familiar school down the street is no longer available because it's either been destroyed by the flood or is housing a charter that doesn't give preference to neighborhood kids. 'These students, clearly left behind, are disproportionately the poor, and those with special needs,' the Center for Community Change concludes in its report 'Dismantling a Community.'

Charter schools' defenders point out that the charters are required to admit special-needs kids. Meanwhile, students attending state-run schools reported all-too-familiar problems. Books and basic supplies were missing. Classrooms were overcrowded. The schools seemed unable even to provide basic safety to students and teachers. 'I never thought it could get worse,' says Karran Harper Royal, a local parent and education advocate. 'But it did.'

Can the charter experiment bring better schools to a flood-devastated city? It has a better chance than anything else out there, says John Ayers, vice president for communications at the Chicago-based National Association of Charter School Authorizers, which has contracted with the state of Louisiana to review charter school applications. Royal isn't so optimistic, though she acknowledges that finally, people might start paying more attention to the children of New Orleans: 'The nation's eyes are upon us to see how this experiment works.'

Michael Tisserand's book Sugarcane Academy: How a New Orleans Teacher and His Storm-Struck Students Created a School to Remember will be published in July by Harcourt.

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