Louisiana: Five New Orleans Schools Reopen As Charter Institutions
Posted on: Monday, 19 December 2005, 09:00 CST
By JANET MCCONNAUGHEY Associated Press
NEW ORLEANS -- Five public schools that had been shut down since Hurricane Katrina hit on Aug. 29 reopened Wednesday as charter schools, run independently of a city school system that has long been criticized as bloated, inefficient and corrupt.
It was the latest development in what parents and education officials in Louisiana hope will be a disaster-inspired renaissance for public education in New Orleans, which was home to most of the state's worst schools before the hurricane shut down the entire system.
Parents who brought their children to one of the schools, Alice Harte Elementary, seemed encouraged.
"Everything's going to be all right," said Nikisha Wade as she escorted her son Brandon Bell, 5, to his first day of kindergarten.
The five schools are all on the west bank of the Mississippi River, a part of the city that was relatively unscathed by Katrina.
The city school board voted in October to re-establish the schools as charter schools, in part because it would make them eligible for millions of dollars in federal aid earmarked for charters.
Backers of the charter concept say it frees the schools from the bureaucracy of the school system, giving more authority to teachers and principals.
"I think we're going to have the authority to do what we need to for the kids of this school. That's exciting," Harte Principal Henry Shephard said.
The charters -- two high schools and three elementaries -- all have open enrollment, which means that students from anywhere in the city can register to attend.
Enrollment as of Wednesday morning was estimated at 2,150, although attendance was not expected to reach that figure until after the holidays.
The school system had nearly 60,000 students before Katrina hit. School officials estimate that only about 7,000 are coming back for the current school year.
Source: Tulsa World
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