The New Orleans Imperative: Toward Remedy and Repair

• In Event: New Orleans as Ground Zero for Remedy and Repair: Research Advances Interrogating the Post-Katrina Reform Model

Abstract

This conceptual paper examines research into the state takeover of the vast majority of public schools in post-Katrina New Orleans, their transformation into autonomously run charter schools and their return to the auspices of the locally elected school board. It asks: How does removing an elected school board impact democracy and accountability? How can researchers work toward addressing a pressing need for accountability within the privatized context?

Privatization of public education and, particularly, a decentralized structure of autonomously run charter schools, undermine laws requiring open meetings and access to public records (Ferguson v. LDE, 2014; Lay & Bauman, 2019), and, hence, contribute to a pressing need for creative and collaborative inquiries. The author will share insights learned from his creation of a weekly public access radio show, the New Orleans Imperative, where he utilized an online platform to engage the community in larger inquiries about reform in post-Katrina New Orleans. His platform stimulated dialogue between retired educators (many of whom were plaintiffs in the illegal teacher termination case, Oliver v. OPSB, [2014]), parents, policymakers, researchers, journalists, and many others. Weekly topics centered around pressing issues that parents and educators faced, such as academic outcomes, access and equity, bus transportation, and fiscal management. Firsthand reports, including anonymous letters and live phone calls, and dispersing information about challenges to the Recovery School District contributed to a counter-discourse on notions of school choice despite reports about “the New Orleans miracle” (Kaminski, 2011) and popular media productions (OWN TV, 2013). His account attests to a pressing need for researchers to work alongside communities to effect change in privatized contexts where democratic power has been undermined. His radio show illustrates an unaddressed need for access to and circulation of information in privatized contexts. The author contributes to re-examinations of post-Katrina education policies, in and through the circulation of information to and from the broader community.

This paper contributes to counterstories and histories of post-Katrina education reforms (Buras, 2014; Dixson et al., 2015; Henry & Dixson, 2016; Henry, 2019), and illuminates the significance of a reorientation of from where and whom we know New Orleans post-Katrina education policies. By drawing from community-engaged and participatory research approaches, this paper makes claims rooted on alternate epistemological grounds. This paper forms the thread that weaves the subsequent papers together, raising critical questions of what it means to replicate a model that produces achievement outcomes underwritten by the erosion of democratic institutions with authentic, substantive community role in public governance. Through this re-examination of New Orleans reforms, this paper considers what forms of remedy and repair are necessary to address the harm in New Orleans and beyond.

Author

• Raynard Sanders, New Orleans Imperative