Crescent Wrench

Nwe Orleans desperately wants to reopen its schools. The question is, how?

By Catherine Gewertz , Erik W. Robelen and Michelle R. Davis

As schools in the suburbs begin to reopen, New Orleans’ own system remains in limbo. For years, the Crescent City’s district has been immensely troubled—both academically and managerially—and the devastation wrought by Katrina has led everyone from community leaders to U.S. congressmen to consider starting with a clean slate. “We’re not going to rebuild a failing system,” Louisiana superintendent of education Cecil Picard told Education Week , Teacher Magazine ’s sister publication, in an e-mail. But change doesn’t...