How Katrina Transformed New Orleans Schools
Up First from NPR
NPR
4.5 • 52.8K Ratings
🗓️ 24 August 2025
⏱️ 30 minutes
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Summary
In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, state officials in Louisiana saw an opportunity to transform New Orleans public schools, many of which they considered "failing." Twenty years later, we look at one of the biggest experiments in U.S. public education and whether the move to charter schools was a success.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | I'm Aisha Roscoe and you're listening to The Sunday Story, where we go beyond the news to bring you one big story. |
| 0:08.0 | In some parts of the country, kids have already been back in school for weeks. |
| 0:13.1 | My kids are going back to school tomorrow. |
| 0:16.3 | Thank goodness. |
| 0:17.9 | I need some space. |
| 0:19.5 | Good morning. |
| 0:22.3 | Good morning. |
| 0:27.7 | That's Fantasy Williams Elementary in New Orleans. |
| 0:33.9 | In early August, staff greeted students on their first day back as their parents pulled up to the curb. |
| 0:35.3 | See, you got constantly on service, baby. |
| 0:38.1 | Inside, second graders |
| 0:39.8 | got motivated for the coming |
| 0:41.5 | year. |
| 0:42.4 | There's nothing that I can't do. |
| 0:47.1 | I can overcome anything. |
| 0:51.0 | Now, Fantasy Williams, |
| 0:53.7 | like almost all of New Orleans public schools, is a charter school. |
| 0:59.1 | In fact, all but one of New Orleans public schools are managed by independent charter operators. |
| 1:07.3 | And that's because of major reform state officials in Louisiana began making to the school system more than two decades ago. |
| 1:17.0 | Twenty years ago this week, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. |
| 1:21.8 | The levees failed and the city flooded. |
| 1:25.0 | In the aftermath, state officials transformed the city's public school system, |
... |
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