Over the weekend, the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina dominated many of the news stories, including this one in the Christian Science Monitor and if you were like us, you were still stunned by the devastation in New Orleans and the surrounding area. While it may be five years, and a lot of great work has been done (including some celebrities building very “green” housing there that may be groundbreaking for the rest of the county), education and schools were also inserted into the dialogue.
On NBC’s Meet the Press, guest host Brian Williams hosted a discussion that included praise for the New Orleans Recovery School District (RSD). It was stated that in an awkward and somewhat perverse way, the hurricane was the best thing that happened to New Orleans Schools (we’re not paraphrasing here).
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So we decided to go back into our archives a bit to get some perspective on what BoardBuzz was saying five years ago. We have about six postings of coverage about how school boards associations in the effected states were handling things, how local school boards were pitching in, and efforts nationwide while many of us watched what was happening on TV.
Educators around the country have been watching and will continue to watch what happens in New Orleans schools. A new study said the city is the most reform friendly city in the U.S. for education, and while the scores and graduation rates continue to go up, there is still debate over whether the strategies used there would work in other urban districts around the country. Meanwhile, take a trip back in time and see how this city has captivated us since 2005.
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