Frederick Douglass High School in New Orleans: School Closings, Race, and the Dangers of Policy without History

Abstract

In this article, Buras chronicles the struggle against closing Frederick Douglass High School in New Orleans. Amid mass charter school development and the School Facilities Master Plan aimed at reconstructing the city’s education landscape, Douglass remained one of the only open access public high schools in the historic Upper 9th Ward. The community’s spirited effort to honor the school’s African American legacy and acquire greater resources from the state-run Recovery School District, in opposition to support for privately managed charter schools, provides a striking case study of resistance to current reforms and their costs. It also highlights the danger of school closures in the absence of historical context, which explains the challenges of all-Black public schools through a critical analysis of white supremacy and racially targeted state disinvestment.

Keywords::

• Black education
• charter schools
• New Orleans
• school closings
• urban school reform

About the Author

Kristen L. Buras is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Policy Studies at Georgia State University in Atlanta. She is the author of Charter Schools, Race, and Urban Space: Where the Market Meets Grassroots Resistance (2015) and the co-author of Pedagogy, Policy and the Privatized City: Stories of Dispossession and Defiance from New Orleans (2010), which received recognition for its outstanding contribution to the field from the Curriculum Studies Division of the American Educational Research Association (AERA). She is the co-founder and director of Urban South Grassroots Research Collective for Public Education (USGRC).

Notes

Interview, 2008.

Times-Picayune, “To Commemorate Services of Men Who Served in War” [section 3, page 3] (New Orleans, LA: New Orleans Public Library, November 9, 1919).

Rebel Yell, “Heroics Recalled on Memorial Day,” Rebel Yell XXV, no 8 (June 2, 1966), 10 (Section 1), 18 (Section 2). Available: Orleans Parish School Board Collection, Francis T. Nicholls High School Series, Earl K. Long Library, Louisiana and Special Collections Department, University of New Orleans.

D. Baum, “After-School Conference,” The New Yorker (February 6, 2007), http://freepages.school-alumni.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~neworleans/nicholls/memorabilia/after/future/new_yorker/index.html; S. Carr, “Limits of Resilience,” Times-Picayune (September 21, 2008), www.nola.com.

D. Brinson, L. Boast, B. C. Hassel, and N. Kingsland, New Orleans-style Education Reform: A Guide for Cities (Lessons learned, 2004–2010) (New Orleans, LA: New Schools for New Orleans, 2012), www.newschoolsforneworleans.org/guide; K. L. Buras, “Benign Neglect? Drowning Yellow Buses, Racism and Disinvestment in the City that Bush Forgot,” in Schooling and the Politics of Disaster, ed. K. Saltman (New York: Routledge, 2007), 103–22; K. L. Buras, “Race, Charter Schools, and Conscious Capitalism: On the Spatial Politics of Whiteness as Property (and the Unconscionable Assault on Black New Orleans),” Harvard Educational Review 81, no. 2 (2011): 296–330; K. L. Buras, Charter Schools, Race, and Urban Space: Where the Market Meets Grassroots Resistance (New York: Routledge, 2015); K. L. Buras, Review of “The Louisiana Recovery School District: Lessons for the Buckeye State” (Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center, 2012, March); K. L. Buras and Urban South Grassroots Research Collective, “New Orleans Education Reform: A Guide for Cities or a Warning for Communities? (Grassroots Lessons Learned, 2005–2012) [Afterword by A. D. Dixson, A. Bigard, and Students of Walter Cohen High School Students],” Berkeley Review of Education 4, no. 1 (2013): 123–60; Journey for Justice Alliance, “Death by a Thousand Cuts: Racism, School Closures, and Public School Sabotage” [report] (2014), http://www.j4jalliance.com/campaigns/; N. Smith, The Louisiana Recovery School District: Lessons for the Buckeye State (Washington, DC: Thomas B. Fordham Institute (2012, January), www.edexcellence.net/publications/the-louisiana-recovery-school-district.html.

A longer version of this article appeared as a chapter in K. L. Buras, Charter Schools, Race, and Urban Space: Where the Market Meets Grassroots Resistance (New York: Routledge, 2015). The book provides additional detail on the struggle over Douglass and the racial politics of education reform in New Orleans more generally.

The Knowledge Is Power Program (KIPP) is a national charter school management operator that follows a “No Excuses” education model.

Bywater Neighborhood Association, “About Bywater: History [Webpage]” (2013), http://www.bywaterneighbors.com/; Ehlinger & Associates, School Sited on 280 Years of History [Architecture newsletter article] (Metairie, LA: Author, 1998, Third Quarter), http://freepages.school-alumni.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~neworleans/nicholls/memorabilia/after/index.html.

K. Anderson, “It’s a Meaningful life,” Times-Picayune (September 20, 2005), http://freepages.school-alumni.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~neworleans/nicholls/memorabilia/after/index.html.

K. L. Buras, J. Randels, K. Y. Salaam, and Students at the Center, Pedagogy, Policy, and the Privatized City: Stories of Dispossession and Defiance from New Orleans (New York: Teachers College Press, 2010).

Carr, “Limits of Resilience,” para. 7.

Ehlinger & Associates, “School Sited on 280 Years of History,” 1.

J. Willoughby, “Rebel Yell Inspired Men in Civil War,” Rebel Yell 2, no. 1 (1941, October): 1, paras. 1–2. Available: Orleans Parish School Board Collection, Francis T. Nicholls High School Series, Earl K. Long Library, Louisiana and Special Collections Department, University of New Orleans.

Ibid., paras. 5–6.

Ibid., “Rebel Yell Inspired Men in Civil War,” para. 9.

D. A. Allain, “Message to Graduates,” Rebel Yell XXVI, no. 8 (June 4, 1954): 4–5, para. 1. Available: Orleans Parish School Board Collection, Francis T. Nicholls High School Series, Earl K. Long Library, Louisiana and Special Collections Department, University of New Orleans.

O. M. Fagan (July 29, 1952). A follow-up study of the graduates of Francis T. Nicholls High School from 1940 through 1950 with the view of evaluating the educational program and the guidance services of the school [Box 1, Guidance and Counseling Department]. Available: Orleans Parish School Board Collection, Francis T. Nicholls High School Series, Earl K. Long Library, Louisiana and Special Collections Department, University of New Orleans.

Rebel Yell, “Top Scholars Prepare for Annual State Rally,” Rebel Yell XXXII, no. 5 (March 11, 1963): 1, 4. Available: Orleans Parish School Board Collection, Francis T. Nicholls High School Series, Earl K. Long Library, Louisiana and Special Collections Department, University of New Orleans.

Carr, “Limits of Resilience,” para. 14.

Fieldnotes, 2008.

Carr, “Limits of Resilience,” para. 16.

“Russell S. Constanza Retires as Principal,” Bobcat Journal 1, no. 1 (1987, November): 1. Available: Orleans Parish School Board Collection, Francis T. Nicholls High School Series, Earl K. Long Library, Louisiana and Special Collections Department, University of New Orleans.

Carr, “Limits of Resilience,” para. 17.

Chapter 1 Application. (1982–1983). Document [Box 1: School profiles, 1983–1984, Division of Planning, Testing, and Evaluation]. Available: Orleans Parish School Board Collection, Francis T. Nicholls High School Series, Earl K. Long Library, Louisiana and Special Collections Department, University of New Orleans.

Bobcat Yearbook. (1983). More to “Blackness” than the boogie [Box 7], p. 126. Available: Orleans Parish School Board Collection, Francis T. Nicholls High School Series, Earl K. Long Library, Louisiana and Special Collections Department, University of New Orleans.

Ibid., 127.

Ibid.

Orleans Parish School Board (March 27, 1995). Meeting minutes. Orleans Parish School Board Minutes [Vol. 1, Book No. 98], 19. Available: Orleans Parish School Board Collection, Francis T. Nicholls High School Series, Earl K. Long Library, Louisiana and Special Collections Department, University of New Orleans.

Ibid., 20.

Carr, “Limits of Resilience,” para. 21.

Ibid., para. 9.

Ibid., para. 25.

Students at the Center, Katrina and Me (New Orleans, LA: Author, 2007).

Ibid., 18.

Ibid., 19–20.

Ibid., 42.

Ibid., 18.

Interview, 2007.

Ibid.

Ibid.

Common Ground, New Orleans in Numbers: Pre- and Post-Hurricane Katrina Snapshot [Pamphlet] (New Orleans, LA: Author, 2006).

Fieldnotes, 2007.

P. Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: Continuum, 1993).

Randels, in Students at the Center, Katrina and Me, 166.

See, for example, Students at the Center, Writing with Light [Digital Video] (New Orleans, LA: Author, 2007b).

Ibid.

Students at the Center, Katrina and Me.

Buras et al., Pedagogy, Policy, and the Privatized City.

Students at the Center, Katrina and Me.

Ibid., 12.

Ibid.

R. Delgado, “Storytelling for Oppositionalists and Others: A Plea for Narrative,” in Critical Race Theory: The Cutting Edge, ed. R. Delgado and J. Stefancic (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2000), 60–70; T. J. Yosso, Critical Race Counterstories along the Chicana/Chicano Educational Pipeline (New York: Routledge, 2006); M. W. Apple and K. L. Buras, editors, The Subaltern Speak: Curriculum, Power, and Educational Struggles (New York: Routledge, 2006).

Students at the Center, Katrina and Me, 29–30.

Ibid., 18–19.

Ibid., 81.

Ibid., 82.

For example, “Protesters Block HUD Offices Downtown,” Times–Picayune (December 15, 2007a), www.nola.com; “Live Updates on Demolition Vote From Council Chambers,” Times–Picayune (December 19, 2007b), www.nola.com.

Students at the Center, Katrina and Me, 190.

Fieldnotes, 2008.

P. Vallas, Recovery School District Status Report (New Orleans, LA: Recovery School District, April 14, 2008).

Students at the Center, “Vallas Claims No Community Involvement [Blog],” Education Week (April 18, 2008), http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/nola_voices/; see also Z. daLuz, Letter to Paul Pastorek (May 13, 2008), www.savefrederickdouglass.com.

Recovery School District and New Orleans Public Schools, School Facilities Master Plan for Orleans Parish (New Orleans: Authors, 2008, August).

Fieldnotes, 2008; L. Myers, “Did Iraq Contractor Fleece American Taxpayers?” [Article], NBC (January 31, 2007), www.msnbc.msn.com.

Fieldnotes, 2008.

Ibid.

Fieldnotes, 2008; Interview, 2008.

Fieldnotes, 2008.

Ibid.

Frederick Douglass Community Coalition, Meeting Minutes (May 20, 2008), www.savefrederickdouglass.com.

P. Pastorek, Letter to Ze’ daLuz (May 19, 2008), www.savefrederickdouglass.com.

D. Simon, “RSD to Phase Out Two High Schools,” Times-Picayune (February 20, 2009), www.nola.com.

Bring New Orleans Back Commission, Rebuilding and Transforming: A Plan for World-Class Public Education in New Orleans (New Orleans, LA: Bring New Orleans Back Commission, 2006).

G. Miron, J. L. Urschel, and N. Saxton, “What Makes KIPP Work? A Study of Student Characteristics, Attrition, and School Finance” (2011, March) [Paper jointly released by National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, and Study Group on Education Management Organizations, Western Michigan University], www.edweek.org/media/kippstudy.pdf.

B. Thevenot, “New Orleans Charter School Operator Plans Expansion,” Times-Picayune (July 24, 2009), www.nola.com.

Simon, “RSD to Place Out Two High Schools,” para. 26.

Ibid., para. 27.

D. Ruth, “KIPP-New Orleans Education: An Educational Camelot,” New Orleans Magazine (2011, January), http://www.myneworleans.com/New-Orleans-Magazine/January-2011/An-Educational-Camelot/.

KIPP Renaissance, “Building Renaissance [Digital Video]” (2010), http://vimeo.com/16454087?ab.

Ruth, “KIPP-New Orleans Education.”

Carr, “Limits of Resilience,” para. 44.

KIPP Renaissance, Building Renaissance.

KIPP Renaissance, “Homepage [Results]” (November 20, 2012), www.kipprenaissance.org/.

Ruth, “KIPP-New Orleans Education,” 4.

Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, Suspensions Matter: 2011–2012 Year in Review [Report] (New Orleans, LA: Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, 2013, September), http://jjpl. org/2013/news/jjpl-releases-suspensions-matter-2011-2012-year-review/.

Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, Suspensions Matter: By the Numbers, 2012–2013 [Flyer] (New Orleans, LA: Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, 2013).

KIPP New Orleans Schools, Student Code of Conduct, 2012–2013 (New Orleans, LA: KIPP New Orleans Schools, 2012–2013).

J. Mathews, Word Hard, Be Nice: How Two Inspired Teachers Created the Most Promising Schools in America (Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2009).

Ruth, “KIPP-New Orleans Education,” 5.

Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, “Suspensions Matter: 2011–2012 Year in Review,” 3.

Miron et al., What Makes KIPP Work?; J. Vasquez Heilig, A. Williams, L. M. McNeil, and C. Lee, “Is Choice a Panacea? An Analysis of Black Secondary Student Attrition from KIPP, Other Private Charter Schools, and Urban Districts,” Berkeley Review of Education 2, no. 2 (2011): 153–78.

H. Smith, KIPP: Making Schools Work [Digital Video] (Arlington, VA: Public Broadcasting Service, October 5, 2005).

D. Whitman, Sweating the Small Stuff: Inner-City Schools and the New Paternalism (Washington, DC: Thomas B. Fordham Institute, 2008), 156.

K. Y. Salaam, “We Stand by Our Students,” in Pedagogy, Policy, and the Privatized City, ed. Buras et al. (NY: Teachers College Press, 2010): 65–72.

A. Kennedy, “The History of Public Education in New Orleans Still Matters,” History Faculty Publications, Paper 5 (2016), http://scholarworks.uno.edu/hist_facpubs/5.