Catholic Schools in New Orleans in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina

Abstract

Changes in the education system following Hurricane Katrina have received considerable attention from scholars in recent years. However, the role of Catholic schools is often overlooked in such discussions of school reform, which most often concentrate on the dramatic changes in the public school sector. This oversight is significant given that some segments of Catholic schools are devoted to serving populations similar to those targeted by emerging charter schools. At the national level, Catholic schools have struggled with declining enrollments and waves of school closures since the mid-1960s. This article aims to consider how well these national trends map onto the case of New Orleans. The authors discuss both how Catholic schools in New Orleans responded to Katrina and how they have changed in the midst of ongoing educational reforms in the city. They suggest that in spite of the catastrophic effects of Hurricane Katrina on the city as a whole, the storm and ensuing changes in the provision of public education have had, with a few notable exceptions, little independent influence on the organization of Catholic schools in the city. Rather, Catholic schools in the city are faced with many of the same challenges being faced by Catholic schools across the United States.