New Orleans Public Schools 
Board Mission Statement

The Orleans Parish School Board, with the support of the entire community, commits to ensuring that every child in every grade in every public school will achieve maximum potential of his/her ability. Children come first. They must be educated to graduate with mastery of essential subjects and to be technologically proficient to compete as productive citizens in the challenging 21st Century.

After decades of failing to achieve its mission, only two members, Farenholtz and Anderson,  were reelected to the board in 2004.  The following team took over in 2004. They probably didn't realize they had only a year.


They fired Amato and CAO Ora Watson became superintendent. One year wasn't enough even if they had been headed in the right direction.With 90% of the schools performing below the state averages in standardized LEAP testing, the state moved after the storm to take over the failing schools for five years in a "recovery district."  Before the recovery district got rolling, the state offered charter operators the opportunity to take their choice of schools.

New Orleans 128 schools are now split into three types, four if you count "closed.". The local school board runs five schools in four buildings. Charter operators run 56 schools. The recovery district has the rest and is reopening them as needed. Each group has its own batch of executives, systems and policies.