Event Launches First New Public School Construction in New Orleans in 5 Years

New Orleans - A new era for public schools in New Orleans dawned today as State Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek, RSD Superintendent Paul Vallas, and Orleans Parish Superintendent Darryl Kilbert broke ground on the new Langston Hughes Elementary School. The groundbreaking, the first for a school in the Quick Start initiative, marks the start of the first new public school construction in New Orleans in more than five years.

“Promise made, promise kept,” said State Education Superintendent Paul Pastorek. “Brand new schools are a long time coming in this community, and many people have been working very hard to achieve this goal. Today’s groundbreaking marks a new chapter for us and provides tangible evidence of our commitment to provide the types of buildings that our children not only need, but deserve.”

“We would not be here today were it not for the tremendous efforts of citizens, City Council members, and those at FEMA, the Louisiana Recovery Authority (LRA), and the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness (GOHSEP) who played integral roles in making this initiative happen.”

Today’s groundbreaking offers further proof of the progress being made in rebuilding a school system devastated by Hurricane Katrina, said RSD Superintendent Paul Vallas. “While we began immediately to make improvements on the academic side, we all recognized that our efforts would be far from complete until we addressed our school buildings. This is the start of a new wave of school construction in New Orleans, one that will provide our children with top-notch and state-of-the art facilities.”

Orleans Parish Superintendent Darryl Kilbert described today’s groundbreaking as a celebration of progress and cooperation. “Today’s groundbreaking is a visible indicator of how public education within Orleans Parish is on the right track. The Orleans Parish School Board is proud to join hands with the Recovery School District and all of our charters in planning for the future of the children in this community. It is critical for us to continue these positive reforms.  To that end, we are committed to continue working together, and we ask that the community support those efforts.”

New Orleans City Councilwoman Shelly Midura, whose council district includes Langston Hughes, said, “This is a great day for District A and the city of New Orleans, and it is a true sign that New Orleans is investing in its neighborhoods and its most precious assets – the children.”

“I am so excited and so pleased that this day has finally arrived,” said Linda Johnson, President of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education. “It was a Herculean task that came together very quickly because of the extraordinary work of many people. It has been a long time since a new school has been built in New Orleans, but the process has started and it’s only going to continue.  We promised the children and communities throughout this city that we would give them a public education system that would be better than what existed before the storms and BESE and the Department of Education are committed to making that dream become a reality.”

Superintendents Pastorek, Vallas, and Kilbert were joined by guests who included Major General Douglas O’Dell, Federal Coordinator of Gulf Coast Rebuilding; Jim Stark, Acting Associate Deputy Administrator for FEMA’s Gulf Coast Recovery Office; Paul Rainwater, Executive Director of the Louisiana Recovery Authority; BESE member Jim Garvey; and New Orleans City Councilwoman Cynthia Willard-Lewis. Mark Martin, the Elementary School Leader for Langston Hughes Academy and Robbie Vitrano, a member of the NOLA 180 Charter Board, also were in attendance.

“It is an honor to stand here with the local leaders who are driving education reform and helping rebuild the public schools in New Orleans,” O’Dell said. “But the person absent from today’s recognition is John Alford. His dedication to the children is a large part of the success of Langston Hughes, and I am truly moved by his inspiration.” Alford, Langston Hughes School Leader and CEO, was unable to attend because of a previously scheduled trip with students.

The new $26.5 million Langston Hughes Elementary is one of five schools in the Quick Start initiative, which put five schools – one in each New Orleans City Council district – on a fast track for construction in advance of the School Facilities Master Plan for Orleans Parish.

Langston Hughes, at 3519 Trafalgar Street, will be a 96,000-square-foot building that will include technology-ready classrooms, special education areas, a media center, full cafeteria and kitchen, and gymnasium. Langston Hughes and other new schools are being built to “green” standards, which will ensure that the building is energy efficient.

The former Hughes building was demolished last year, and a temporary educational facility, or modular school campus, was built on a portion of the property. Langston Hughes Academy, an RSD charter school, will occupy the modular campus in the 2008-2009 school year and will move into the new school building in August 2009.

The Quick Start school initiative was launched last summer to jump-start school construction in New Orleans. The comprehensive Master Plan, a joint effort by the Recovery School District and the Orleans Parish School Board, will serve as a blueprint to guide future renovation and new construction. The plan is being finalized and will be ready to present to the public this summer.

Other Quick Start schools are Lake Area, L.B. Landry, Andrew Wilson and Fannie C. Williams. Each school is located in one of the city’s five city council districts. Demolition is complete at the Landry and Lake Area sites. The Wilson building will be gutted and the annex demolished to accommodate new construction that will include old building with new construction. The RSD is still reviewing the repair scope of work for Fannie C. Williams with FEMA to determine whether the school will be a complete renovation or a new building. In addition to the five Quick Start schools, the new Hynes Elementary School is currently in the design phase.

“Today’s groundbreaking marks a significant milestone for the recovery of New Orleans schools,” Stark said. “The RSD, Louisiana Department of Education, GOHSEP, LRA, and FEMA have worked hard to find innovative ways to jumpstart the school system, and FEMA is proud to have played a part by funding Langston Hughes’ construction in entirety. This school will be a first-class facility and an incredible asset to students and the community."

“We know that New Orleans’ recovery cannot be complete without a state-of-the-art educational system to energize our rebuilding communities,” said Rainwater. “The groundbreaking of Langston Hughes is another signal that the city is returning, thanks to strong partnerships between Federal, State and local government agencies.”

Kirkpatrick also lauded the level of cooperation that made the project possible. “Langston Hughes is a classic example of what can be accomplished when all interested parties, Federal, State and local, listen to one another, plan with one another, and execute as a unified team.”

Quick Start Initiative

In July 2007, Superintendent Pastorek asked members of the New Orleans City Council to form committees comprised of community members to help develop the criteria for selecting the Quick Start sites. The criteria included such things as the availability of funding from FEMA, the projected population of students in the community, the level of community support and other factors. Once the criteria were finalized, community groups submitted proposals for new schools which were evaluated by the Superintendent, his own team and the RSD staff. The Quick Start sites were announced September 12, 2007.

As Pastorek pointed out, “These projects could only be undertaken with FEMA’s providing the majority of the funding. The funding formulas were complex, and after several discussions, FEMA agreed on a process through which it would be able to provide the majority of the funding for Quick Start schools as well as make that funding available to the RSD immediately to allow the construction and renovations to move forward quickly.” The architects were selected back in June 2007, in anticipation of the beginning of the Quick Start program.

All Quick Start schools will strive for LEED Silver certification. LEED is a rating system from the US Green Building Council for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. A “green” school is a facility that incorporates sustainability concepts in the design and construction of a high performance school. Examples include recycling materials from the demolition of the original school and utilizing materials in the design that are recycled materials or have low impact on the environment.