Robert F. Kennedy said the following in 1963 before visiting Farmville, Virginia : “We may observe with much sadness and irony that, outside of Africa, south of the Sahara, where education is still a difficult challenge, the only places on earth known not to provide free public education are Communist China, North Viet Nam, Sarawak, Singapore, British Honduras – and Prince Edward County, Virginia. Something must be done about Prince Edward County.”

Something was done about Prince Edward County. Of course it took the legal action of the Brown v Board case to get it done. Yet, in New Orleans a problem persists: the disenfranchisement of the poor and minorities. The following was captured in the news:

“Just last week, 300 New Orleans school children were shut out of schools and denied an education they badly need because the city says it doesn’t have enough space or teachers. So, instead of studying in classrooms, 300 students are sitting at home waiting for space to open up in schools.” James Parks AFL-CIO Weblog January 30, 2007

Thus,we must reiterate what Leo Casey, stated on February 1,2007:

“The first district is New Orleans, where the Bush US Department of Education and the Louisiana governor used the devastation caused by Katrina as an opportunity to dismantle the public school system. Like everything else that the Bush administration has done in post-Katrina New Orleans, the result was a manmade catastrophe on top of the natural disaster.”

And as stated by UFT President Randi Weingarten on August 23, 2007 in “New Orleans and the Future of American Eduation:”

“Throughout the 2006-2007 school year, students were actually turned away from the RSD (recovery school district) schools and denied their right to a public education because there are no seats for them in those schools and insufficient school teachers to teach them.” Furthermore, RSD schools, “two years after Katrina, had neither textbooks for their students nor teaching materials for their teachers.” Furthermore, “many RSD schools were beset with serious environmental problems such as mold, mildew and rodent infestation.”

It is inconceivable to think that there are children in this great nation who are missing out on an education. And if something is not done very soon, history will repeat itself.

History teaches us that the students of Prince Edward County were denied the benefits of a public education in Prince Edward County from 1959 – 1964. For five years the public schools were closed . Hence, the black students who remained in Prince Edward County were not afforded the benefits of any formal education. Therefore as Susan Bagby, Longwood College explains:

“The students who lost five years of public education, have been variously dubbed “the lost generation” and “the crippled generation” by reporters and researchers studying the long-term effects of educational deprivation.”

It is sad to say, but true, the white students who could not afford to attend the segregated private schools were also a part of the lost generation and crippled generation. Therefore, it becomes obvious that the problems that any member of our society faces become everyone’s problem. And these problems will impact our society for generations to come.

An education should not be deferred. Furthermore, all of the legislators who ran on a platform of educational equity and access must be summoned back to the legislature to map out a plan to get the disenfranchised students back in school. Surely, the education of all children must be a national priority and not another national tragedy.

Phyllis C. Murray

Your description of what has happened in NOLA is incredibly accurate and you paint a very detailed picture of the adversity and mistreatment faced by it’s residents. The really sad thing is that words will never be able to fully capture what has happened and what is still going on two years later.

Having volunteered for the AFT in New Orleans the past two summers, I’m still at a loss for words when I try to describe what I witnessed and was told by the people of New Orleans. I’m still shocked that an area in our very own country has been so badly neglected by the government. I am disgusted with how the school system has been changed in a way that has confused residents, trampled all over our brothers and sisters in UTNO, and has severely neglected the needs of local children.

On both of my trips I tried to make sense of all of the different systems running schools in post-Katrina NOLA. The system is amazingly confusing. What I did see is that, regardless of the school system, The United Teachers of New Orleans was making it’s presence felt as the number one champion of students and educators in every school.

UTNO’s efforts illustrated to me why we need a strong union. That’s why we must always remain vigilant in our solidarity.

As a teacher I take comfort in the fact that my union looks out for not only me, but my union also looks out for the children of NYC. All too often politicians and critics in the media forget that a lot of positive school reform has happened because of our union.