WFPS Journals- Kaitlyn LeVance

How much more tragedy could New Orleans take, as it seems as if one tragedy after another. For they just fought a war against race, and now they are fighting another one with natures mother. Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August of 2005, it devastated the lives of many.  Those who were not very wealthy to begin with, got their homes ruined and lost every penny. The storm left devastating damage, with wind gusts reaching up to 120 miles an hour. The storm led to 80% of the city becoming flooded, as the water broke through the levees with power. The storm also damaged the schools, as schools are now unrecognizable. What was once classrooms is now pools, the damage estimated to be 1 billion dollars. Due to its outstanding damages. WFPS was one of many schools to be shut down. WFPS was not closed for good though, due to it being declared a historic place in town, Although could it ever really be fixed, would the wars WFPS faced ever truly be done? It seems that one year after anoth...

Ruby Bridges fought for an education, yet why is segregation in schools still here? As New Orleans Parish school district work towards refinement, there is still a lot of systematic dishonesty I fear. New Orleans Parish school district elects a new superintendent, in hopes to improve the district and all around. They elect Davis who has no educational experience, which lead to a lot of corruption to be found. Parents questioned how Davis' requirements could be waived, but not their children's test scores on a high ranking test. Davis claimed to have improved attendance and academics, but when asked to provide the evidence he quickly shut down the request. New Orleans Parish School district would face a years of administrational change, all of which hired came with their own corruption and bluffing. It seemed as if the New Orleans Parish School district was regressing, was all of Ruby Bridges hard work for nothing?

"... decaying building with poor ventilation, no air conditioning, boarded up or broken windows, inoperable toilets, and electrical problems as well as with insufficient desks, textbooks, and classroom materials"   In the beginning of this chapter we read about how the condition of William Frantz Public schools and the challenges they faced. During this time enrollment in New Orleans Parish school district declined drastically, this had to do with a number of reasons. One reason for the decline of enrollment was the academic standing reputation that WFPS was facing.  On numerous occasions, WFPS was deemed academically unsuitable and students scores were on a decline. On top of this public labeling, the conditions of New Orleans Parish school district, including WFPS, were completely unsuitable to teach children in. Some of the conditions students were learning in where "... decaying building with poor ventilation, no air conditioning, boarded up or broken windows, inoper...

The New Orleans Parish School District learning environment became so bad it was referred to as "schoolhouse rot" was at its peak in 1990. These conditions were from leaky roofs, termite infestations, water damage, and electrical issues. 122 of 124 schools in the district violated some kind of fire code. There were over 400 portable classrooms used to educate students. The conditions of these were harsh as they were old and many were rotting in the school yards. There was big controversy between parents and the  New Orleans Parish School District as schools started to slowly rename many of the schools in the district. Schools were being named to better represent majority of its students population, which was mostly black residents, by naming them after former slaves. This  stirred a lot of controversy within the community. Magnet schools became a controversy due to its enrollment policies being based on student attendance and academic performance.  These schools cons...

  "The district placed substitute teachers into classrooms before completing their fingerprinting and police checks. Finally, several parents filed a lawsuit after reports surfaced that some substitute teachers had felony arrest records and a substitute hit a student"(Page 120).          This quote in particular stuck out to me while I was reading the beginning of chapter 3. I am currently enrolled in the Stockton Education program and have my certification to substitute in schools. Getting my certification was a long and tedious process that involved me having to get fingerprinted, my background checked, and having at least 30 college credits. This process took place over the course of months before I got my certification to work as a substitute in a school. So reading that substitutes were hired with essentially no criminal history check and accreditation was shocking and heart breaking to read. Because the district hired such unqualified substitute ...

The second half of chapter two depicts how desegregation of schools lead to the "white flight" of white residents in New Orleans. Although there wasn't much progress of desegregation, and if there was it occurred slowly, it still lead to mass hysteria and anger amongst white residence. They took this opportunity to remove their children from public schools and even leave the area entirely.  White people tried every effort to not allow their children to attend school with black children. Below are examples of this phenomenon occurring that were talked about in the second half of chapter two.  In 1960 a poll for segregated schools was given to white residents and there was tremendous support to keep schools segregated. 60% of the poll wanted Louisiana to make a private school system as an alternative of desegregating public schools, but voters did not want this to increase their taxes. By 1962 nearly half the white students attended still segregated Catholic schools. By 197...