District Snapshot
2009-2010
In Orleans Parish:
33 traditional schools
37 charter schools
In Caddo Parish
2 charter schools
In East Baton Rouge Parish
7 charter schools
4 management agreement schools
In Point Coupee Parish
1 charter school
MOU Schools *
29
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is a binding agreement between a local school district and the Louisiana Department of Education (LDE) that outlines necessary actions that must be implemented at a failing school in order for it to avoid placement in the Recovery School District (RSD).
RSD Schools by the Numbers (download charts)
Total RSD Student Population in Orleans Parish : 27,021
12,200 in direct-run schools
14,821 in charter schools
Total RSD Student Population Statewide: 30,850
Recovery School District Timeline
Fall 2003 – Voters approve a constitutional amendment (overwhelmingly approved by the Legislature in Spring 2002) allowing the state to take over schools determined to have “failed” under the state’s accountability program. For the purpose of this legislation, such a school is one that has been identified as being “academically unacceptable” for at least four years.
July 1, 2004 – Pierre A. Capdau Middle School in Orleans Parish is taking over by the state. The school will be operated by the University of New Orleans as a new Type 5 charter school in the RSD beginning in the 2004-2005 school year.
May 2005 – Four additional schools in New Orleans are transferred to the RSD. The schools will open as Type 5 charter schools in the 2005-2006 school year.
August 2005 – Days into the 2005-2006 school year, Hurricane Katrina strikes the Gulf Coast. The storm destroys or damages schools in at least six Louisiana parishes. Low-lying New Orleans is devastated when levees protecting the city fail, flooding 80 percent of the city and damaging more than 100 schools (some beyond repair). It will be months before public schools in the de-populated and crippled city begin to reopen.
November 2005 – Legislation (Act No. 35) passed in the November 2005 Special Session of the Louisiana Legislature expanded the definition of a failed school to include schools that scored below the state average and that operated in school systems which had been declared to be in “academic crisis”—that is, any local system in which more than thirty schools are academically unacceptable or more than fifty percent of its students attend schools that are academically unacceptable.
January 2006 – Three RSD charter schools – Pierre Capdau (K-8), Sophie B. Wright ( 5-8), Samuel J. Green (K-8) – open for the first time since Hurricane Katrina.
April 2006 – The RSD opens three direct-run schools, Benjamin Banneker Elementary, Joseph A. Craig Elementary and Joseph S. Clark High School.
April 2006 – Robin Jarvis named acting superintendent of the Recovery School District.
September 7, 2006 – Recovery School District begins its first full school year.
February 5, 2007 – McDonogh 42 Elementary School opens for PreK-8; Julius Rosenwald opens for grades 6-8.
February 15, 2007 – State Superintendent of Education Cecil Picard dies.
March 1, 2007 – The Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) selects Paul G. Pastorek as the new Superintendent of Education. Pastorek, a New Orleans attorney, served on BESE from 1996-2004, including the last three as president of the board. Pastorek was instrumental in establishing Louisiana’s nationally recognized Accountability and Testing Program.
March 26, 2007 – Walter L. Cohen High School opens as a freshman center.
April 16, 2007 — The RSD opens Sylvanie Williams Elementary School for grades Pre K-8.
May 1, 2007 – Robin Jarvis announces that she will leave the RSD at the end of May 2007.
May 5, 2007 – Paul Pastorek announces that noted education reformer Paul Vallas will become the new superintendent of the Recovery School District.
June 2007 – RSD launches kitchen and restroom renovation initiative.
June 2007 – Parsons and Concordia awarded contract to develop comprehensive School Facilities Master Plan for Orleans Parish, which will guide future school construction and renovation.
July 2007 – State Superintendent Pastorek announces Quick Start initiative, which will lead to construction or renovation to like-new condition, of five schools in New Orleans by 2010.
December 2007 – The RSD announces first demolition of damaged buildings in Quick Start initiative.
September 2007 – Superintendent Vallas names former NOPD Chief Eddie Compass to head RSD Security and Safety
February 2008 – BESE approves placing five schools outside of New Orleans to the RSD. They are Prescott Middle School, Glen Oaks Middle School, Capitol Pre-College Academy for Boys and Capitol Pre-College Academy for Girls in East Baton Rouge Parish, and Pointe Coupee Central High School in Pointe Coupee Parish.
May 2008 – RSD students show across-the-board improvement on state’s LEAP and GEE exams
June 2008 – RSD senior graduation rate increases from 40 percent in 2007 to 67 percent in 2008
August 2008 –RSD opens 33 traditional public schools and 33 charter schools. In addition, the district announces plans to open Excel High School, a new program for dropouts between the ages of 17 and 21.
August 2008 – Release of School Facilities Master Plan for Orleans Parish, a comprehensive blueprint to guide future school renovations and rebuilding.
November 2008 – The Orleans Parish School Board and the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education approve the School Facilities Master Plan.
January 2009 – BESE approves the placement of eight schools in East Baton Rouge and two schools in Caddo parishes into the RSD, effective July 1, 2009. The Caddo Parish schools are Linear Middle School and Linwood Middle School. The East Baton Rouge Parish schools are Capital Elementary School, Capital Middle School, Crestworth Middle School, Dalton Middle School, Kenilworth Middle School, Lanier Elementary School, and Park Elementary School. Twenty three other RSD-eligible schools will be placed under Memorandum of Understandings between the Louisiana Department of Education and the local school districts.
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