Problems plague N.O. schools recovery. Textbooks, teachers in short supply

[carzen]

One month after the state-run Recovery School District opened 17 of the 107 public schools it took over in the fall last year from the long-failing local district, bureaucrats from the state Department of Education admit they are struggling to establish order.

Their biggest challenge, they say, is in the five high schools, which were among the lowest performing and least disciplined in the city before Hurricane Katrina. The halting pace of renovations at damaged schools has only added to the problem.

More than 24,000 students are attending the 53 public schools now open in the city, many of them charter schools operating outside the recovery district or the local system, which runs just five schools. Before Katrina, the city operated 128 schools.

.......

"Things aren't what we wanted them to be," said Recovery School District Superintendent Robin Jarvis. "But I have people here who are working 20 hours a day, not having time with their families, up against huge obstacles. . . . Remember, we are changing the entire culture of a school system."


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