Podcast: Key Lessons from the Fight Over Which New Orleans Schools Would Reopen After Katrina — and Who Would Run Them
The newest episode of ‘Where the Schools Went’ spotlights the tumultuous reopening of George Washington Carver High in the Ninth Ward.
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The 74 is partnering with The Branch in promoting Where the Schools Went, a limited-run podcast series that revisits the sweeping changes to New Orleans’ public schools after Hurricane Katrina came ashore 20 years ago this month. Listen to the second episode below and subscribe here.
After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans faced two urgent questions: Which schools would be rebuilt, and who would run them? In the Ninth Ward, few fights were as big as the one over George Washington Carver High School, a community anchor with deep history and proud traditions.
When the state chose Collegiate Academies, a high-performing charter network led mostly by people from outside of the city, the pushback was swift. Alumni rallied. Students staged a walkout during Collegiate Carver’s first year. The arguments weren’t primarily about academics, but about who gets to shape the future of a place like Carver, and whether a model built for results could ever feel like home to the people who had kept the school’s spirit alive.
For many, the fight over Carver came to represent a larger fight over what kind of New Orleans would rise after the flood.
In time, the picture shifted.
In this episode, you’ll hear from alumni, educators, and advocates about what can happen when people who once saw each other as opponents realize they’re fighting for the same thing. As Carver began pairing academic gains with a return to the traditions that had long defined the Green and Orange, something beautiful began to grow. “Episode Two: The Battle for Carver” traces that bumpy path and draws lessons that extend far beyond one school.
Listen to episode two above, and watch for the next chapter debuting on Aug. 26.
Where the Schools Went is a five-part podcast series from The Branch, produced in partnership with The 74 and MeidasTouch. Listen at Apple podcasts or stream on Spotify.
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Ravi Gupta is the founder and CEO of The Branch, a nonprofit media company. He was previously the founder and CEO of RePublic Schools, a network of charter schools in the South, and a Shorenstein Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School.
