Mercedes Schneider reviewed Douglas Harris’s book Charter City in Commonweal. As a teacher in Louisiana and a close observer of the politics of education, Schneider is well positioned to assess the claims on behalf of the all-charter NewOrleans district. Harris is a respected economist who heads the Education Research Alliance at TulaneUniversity, which received a $10 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to study school choice.
Schneider writes about the determination of whites in Louisiana to block integration of the public schools after the Brown decision. When the courts struck down vouchers, “anti-Black sentiment never waned, and decades of white flight from New Orleans followed. Meanwhile, the state diligently set about eliminating economic advancement opportunities for the remaining Black population, limiting employment and housing options while cutting back drastically on education. Soon enough, the city was bereft of a Black middle class and the tax base needed to fund basic services, including public schools. And so, as one might logically expect, the public education situation in New Orleans became dire.“ She wondered whether Harris would acknowledge this history but he did not.
Harris, the director of the Education Research Alliance for New Orleans and a professor of economics at Tulane University, focuses instead on data—specifically, on test scores and graduation rates in the years prior to the devastating 2005 storm and in the years that followed, from 2006 to 2015. By his accounting, the numbers went up post-Katrina, which he credits to intervention by the state in the form of charter-school initiatives. Now, data can be compelling, and reformers will often point to metrics like improved test scores to make the case for charter schools. But when I look at the data Harris cites, I think of the audit that’s being conducted at the request of the New Orleans superintendent of schools because of missing test scores and irregularities in high-school transcripts and class credits. I think of the numerous lawsuits calling for the Louisiana Department of Education—which was then run by a champion of the charter reform efforts in New Orleans—to release suspect testing data for independent review. So I can’t say I have confidence in the integrity of the data that Harris has analyzed.
But that is not my principal concern. What’s more troubling is the narrative Harris spins out about the state takeover itself. That effort was led by Leslie Jacobs, former state school-board member turned businesswoman, who with a handful of other affluent whites form the core of what Harris calls the “reform community.” It was Jacobs who instigated things by drafting legislation that classified most New Orleans schools as “failing.” From there, the reform community—working out of office space provided by Tulane University—moved to sideline the predominantly Black community of New Orleans in its planning. Even as the city’s economy was still reeling from Katrina, the group engineered the mass firing of Orleans Parish School Board teachers. Harris describes the firing as an unfortunate necessity in achieving “reform”—that is, replacing traditional board-led public schools with a portfolio of independently operated charters. But the decision was also motivated by the inconvenient fact that the teachers were unionized, and thus a potential force of resistance.
She laments the fact that schools have been severed from their communities. Despite the celebration of “choice,” the one choice unavailable to parents is a neighborhood school. When local groups of Black parents have asked if they can apply for a charter, they find that they cannot. Community engagement is important, she says, but it is of no consequence in New Orleans.
Schneider says that the Black citizens of New Orleans have been disenfranchised for decades. The charter takeover of their city’s schools is yet another expression of disrespect for their communities.
As I mentioned in a previous post, it’s worth it to go to the Amazon page of this book just to read the comments of the frauds who praise it. Reading the book must have been like hours of listening to squawk radio and Faux News. My only correction of the above post is that Black citizens have not been disenfranchised for decades, it’s been that way since the inception of the city.
Tulane has been on the privatization dole since the beginning. It makes sense that any “research” would reflect well on the hostile takeover of the public schools, the firing of middle class black teachers and a so-called choice system rooted in colonialism. New Orleans has a long history of separate and unequal education. After the Brown v Board of Ed. decision, white students flocked to a network of independent “Christian” schools in order to separate white from black students.
Post Katrina New Orleans has done everything it can to destabilize the black community. More than twenty percent of the former poor minority population never returned to New Orleans. The city has ignored the development of the lower 9th ward. The city refused to rebuild public housing and Charity Hospital. The city has rebranded itself as a “cool” destination for affluent white families. Real estate prices in the city’s most sought after areas have increased tremendously. It is difficult to find a decent house in The Garden or The Lake Districts for under $1 million dollars.https://www.nola.com/news/katrina/article_a192c350-ea0e-11ea-a863-2bc584f57987.html
ERA funded by John Arnold (critic of public pensions. executive at Enron and manager of a hedge fund)
destabilize, push out, re-gentrify for the rich: the national “reform education” game plan hiding in plain sight
Retired teacher writes: “New Orleans has a long history of separate and unequal education. After the Brown v Board of Ed. decision, white students flocked to a network of independent “Christian” schools in order to separate white from black students.”
Farmville, Virginia, shares this history as is documented in a wonderfully readable book about the Robert Russa Moton High School and the student resistance that occurred there . . . should be on every educator’s and policy maker’s bookshelf:
“They Closed Their Schools: Prince Edward County, Virginia, 1951-1964.” Bob Smith (Copyright: 1996 Martha E. forrester Council of women Farmville, Virginia). CBK
The recurring nexus- wealthy libertarians, the politics of privatization and the protected religion
In 2019, Stanford’s Terry Moe (shared Hoover Institute association with Scott Atlas, Eric Hanushek and Chester Finn) praised New Orleans’ school reform. Who knew how adeptly the theft of Main Street’s democracy could be spun as positive, masking the role of plutocratic power while condemning the influence of the associations of workers, whose families actually live and pay taxes in the area?
Starting the chronology in 2000, SCOTUS ruled Louisiana parishes could distribute federal money for instructional equipment to private schools. It overturned two prior SCOTUS decisions that banned giving public materials to parochial schools. The decision was lauded by the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
Then, in 2006, the Mackinac Center wrote about the advance of privatization citing Leslie Jacobs who said a year after Katrina, “Shame on us if we don’t take advantage of this…”
The 4 people identified as instrumental to the NOLA situation today (no remaining public schools) were Jacobs, Cecil Picard, Kathleen Blanco (La. Gov.) and Paul Pastorek. Jacobs is a graduate of Loyola – Louisiana and, Pastorek has served on the university’s board (in size, Loyola is ranked 18th in La.) Blanco’s final resting place is in the St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Cemetery. Picard, after the SCOTUS 2000 ruling said he had always wanted to share resources with private schools.
Two short decades- no schools of the common good, only private ones including religious.
SCOTUS in 2020- teachers in religious schools- no civil rights employment protections.
Arne Duncan proclaimed that Hurricane Katrina, which killed 1833 people, was “the best thing that could have happened to the New Orleans educational system.” https://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-now/2010/01/duncan-katrina-was-good-for-new-orleans-schools-024700
Arne Duncan should never be given a platform to influence education ever again. He greased the wheels for racism and greed. He used his position as Secretary of Education to leverage universal suffering from the economic crisis to privatize and re-segregate public schools.Race to the top was his tool to empower the most wealthy, the most powerful & the most self-interest to usurp our public education system. Arne Duncan made Betsy DeVos’s job easier. To heal from this pandemic and the DeVos/Trump era, we have to call out the lies of Duncan/DeVos education reforms and restore the promise of US public education.
The City of New Orleans” (Apologies to Steve Goodman, RIP)
Chartering the City Of New Orleans
Recovery District, charter Holy Grail
Fifty-eight schools and 33 thousand students
Superintendent; Fifty-eight principals
All along the dollar-bound odyssey – the charter pulls out the city key
And rolls along o’er teachers, staff, and parents
Closing schools where public rules, and PTA’s for neighborhoods
And the school yards of the rusted teacher mobiles
Good morning, America, how are you?
Say, don’t you know me? I’m your charter son
I’m the charter called the City Of New Orleans
I’ll be gone with a hundred mil, when the year is done
Playing shell games with the public in the district
Closing schools – ain’t no one watching store
Pass the paper bag with school-assignments
Seal the deals in backrooms ‘hind the door
And the grads of online programs, and the grads of TFA
Start their magic miracle charters for a steal
Hedge-funds with their pockets deep, flocking to the charter beat
And the rhythm of the jails they’ll never feel
Good morning, America, how are you?
Say, don’t you know me? I’m your charter son
I’m the charter called the City Of New Orleans
I’ll be gone with a hundred mil, when the year is done
Charter-time in the City Of New Orleans
Closing schools is easy as can be
Halfway done – we’ll be there by morning
Through Louisiana darkness, rolling down to the sea
And all the towns and people seem to fade into a charter dream
And the students still ain’t heard the news
The CEO sings his songs again – the local folks will please refrain
This place got the disappearing public-school blues
Good night, America, how are ya?
Said, don’t you know me? I’m your charter son
I’m the charter called the City Of New Orleans
I’ll be gone with a hundred mil, when the year is done
In editing my review, Commonweal created errors in my writing via poor splicing of sections. I know I missed one critical error; in its December issue, Commonweal will print a letter (as well as my response) calling me out for what turns out to be created by Commonweal’s editing. I need to wait 90 days before posting my unedited, originally-submitted review, which is a more solid,detailed response and which I cannot wait to do.
Will the general public be able to read the review and follow-up letter or, will the material be behind a subscribers’ wall?
Thanks for the information you deliver and the hard work it takes to present it.
Is internet data correct that 78% of private schools in N.O. are religiously affiliated? (The statistic excludes charter schools.)
In the state as a whole, is the data correct that identifies the Catholic school enrollment to Christian school enrollment ratio as approx. 6.5 to 1?
Linda Here we go again, folks. CBK
Linda Sorry, but you cannot take Catholicism out of the history of Western (at least) culture . . . been there WAAAAAY too long.
However, you CAN focus ONLY on what is retrograde about it. And so you have. CBK
I do not know the exact percentage, but based on my experience, yes, 78% of private schools being religiously affiliated in the metropolitan region sounds correct, if not a little low. Much like St. Louis, the social structure is very much based on what private schools you went to. The exclusive private schools in the city and immediate suburb to the west, Metairie, are at the top of the food chain, and there is a parallel universe. Some Catholic schools in the city are close to them in social structure. Most of Catholic schools outside of the central city are much like SEC schools, football teams with schools attached to them. The girls schools supply the cheerleaders. The same is true of the Christian schools in the suburbs. John Curtis High School does not even try to hide its athletics über alles philosophy, with prayers for victory, of course.
Greg-
“Cristo Rey Catholic high school hires sports BR (Baton Rouge) CEO* to serve as third leader in its short history (The Advocate, 10-10-2018).”
The article reports that the first Cristo Rey president, a former Southern University chancellor, resigned after 2 mos. on the job.
An explanatory paragraph in the article states, “At Cristo Rey, students work full time at least one day a week …Those employers in turn pay the school the salary the students earn to help offset their tuition.”
The cost the community pays for charity (philanthropy)- students get 20% less education than their wealthy peers and no paycheck for working off campus? Donors to the school get a tax write-off?
2001, “School Choice – What’s Happening in the States”, Heritage Foundation, foreword by Howard Fuller, a professor at Marquette Jesuit University.
Excerpt from the Louisiana section of the report, ” …”a lobbyist for the Louisiana Catholic Conference hailed the initiative (the voucher program passed by the legislature). Asked if the lobbyist thought this project would lead to more voucher type programs, (response) ‘I hope so. It’s a radical change. I hope we are opening a door.” The report’s heading for “contacts” includes the lobbyist’s firm.
The Heritage Foundation is a Koch organization founded by Paul Weyrich whose training manual posted at Theocracy Watch calls for parallel schools as a method to achieve an over arching objective.
Weyrich also co-founded ALEC and the religious right.
According to Wikipedia, New Orleans (2010) is: 30.5% White, 60.2% Black, Hispanic 5.2% and 2.9% Asian. Unfortunately, New Orleans isn’t integrating anytime soon. ☹️
Unless New Orleans has some deluxe public schools (not charters) to attract Whites, public school integration won’t occur anytime soon. ☹️
The crime rate and another Hurricane Katrina would make people move than move there. ☹️
I wish New Orleans the best. 😐
New Orleans has two “deluxe public schools” that were turned into charters, Ben Franklin and Lusher. Ben Franklin was among the best public schools in the nation in the 70s and 80s, a magnet school that attracted a majority white student population in a majority Black city.
The Black elite Catholic high school, St. Augustine, grooms much of the Black gentry in the city (Jon Batiste from Colbert is a grad). They’ve also got the best damn high school marching band in the nation.
Wow. I’m sorry to hear those deluxe public school became charter schools. ☹️
cx: The high crime rate and another possible (or probable?) Hurricane Katrina wouldn’t attract newcomers to New Orleans and longtime residents might consider another city, if they hadn’t moved already. ☹️😐
Personally, if I fled Hurricane Katrina, I wouldn’t return. ☹️
Excluding Cristo Rey in Chicago, Roman Catholic schools in Chicago and nearby suburbs aren’t exactly attracting students like they once did.
Whether high tuition, mergers, closures or pedophile clergy lawsuits are factors or not, there isn’t the interest that once existed.
In some cases, the commute can be long, especially for high schools. “Nobody” wants to travel in winter.
In some cases, a Catholic elementary school no longer has an attached church OR the church no longer has an attached school. Both are needed to teach catechism and form a united Catholic community.
😐
The trend in political activity by religious leaders, their court cases before Federalist Society judges and, their alliances, with libertarians…
Hi Linda. 🙂 What is the trend? 😐
Increasing
Thanks Linda. 🙂