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School experiments fill post-storm New Orleans

Privately run charter schools now outnumber public schools. The question: Will it work?

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published October 20, 2006

ADVERTISEMENT [Associated Press] Principal Anna Faye Marcainte, right, checks her watch as Stephanie Gilmore says goodbye to her son Bert Gilmore, 8, at Alice Harte Elementary charter school. Since Katrina, less than half of the city's public schools have reopened. [Associated Press] Marvin Domino, left, and Aronele Baldwin now attend Alice Harte Elemenatry charter school in New Orleans.

NEW ORLEANS - If the world is a classroom, New Orleans is a petri dish.

The city, notorious for having one of the worst public school systems in the country, has emerged from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina as an experiment in education: Privately run charter schools, relatively limited before last year's storm, now outnumber government-run public schools. The numbers could rise as the demand for quality schools grows.

"Suddenly, there's an opportunity to improve the community and education as a whole," said Robin Jarvis, who oversees the state-run school district that took over most of the city's public schools after Katrina. "I think largely, before, they'd given up."

Since Katrina, less than half the city's public schools have reopened. Of the 53 that have opened, 17 are run by the state, five by the cash-strapped local School Board and 31 by charter groups. Enrollment, about 25,000 students, also is less than half of what it was before Katrina, school officials say.

People on both sides of the charter debate are watching what happens closely for evidence to bolster their theories that giving parents' choices in public education pays off in student achievement - or that relying increasingly on independent, nonprofit groups to teach children is a dicey proposition.

While supporters call charters a step toward strengthening the city's educational system, critics say they are eroding traditional public schools.

"You had a natural disaster in New Orleans," said charter critic Nat LaCour of the American Federation of Teachers. "Now what's happened in New Orleans is a man-made disaster."

Charter schools receive public funding and accept a wide range of students. The schools have caught on in parts of the country where traditional public schools have faltered. Charters can be pulled by the agencies that grant them if progress isn't shown in student test scores.

In reaching those goals, charter schools tend to have greater freedom than other public schools. For example, they can set their own curricula and can focus on specific study areas.

Parents like Debbie Williams say they're pleased so far. "They're extremely organized," Williams said after dropping off her daughter, first-grader Nicole, at Alice Harte Elementary. "It's early, but I have faith."

The next few years could be telling, education officials say, for the future of public education in New Orleans.

"We're trying to develop a system of schools that will be absolutely the best for children in an urban area. If we succeed in that, we'll be a model for the rest of the country," said Linda Johnson, of the state Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Johnson urged patience in seeing through a yearslong experiment that could yield an educational standard.

"I know everybody wants everything today," she said. "But it's going to take some time. In the end, all of New Orleans will be better."

[Last modified October 20, 2006, 05:34:14]