LIVING

STATE SAYS SAINTS TRAINING CAMP Kids’ letters to Santa

IS READY FOR OCCUPANCY SPORTS

t
. ..

A/B

50 CENTS 169th year No. 336 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2005 NEW ORLEANS EDITION

Storm A CARROLLTON NEIGHBORHOOD GROUP IS TRYING TO TURN

A LONG-CLOSED SCHOOL INTO A CUTTING EDGE CHARTER Trailer
aid bill SCHOOL FOCUSING ON THE CONSTRUCTION TRADES
site plan
heads to
Bush’s is again in
desk disarray
$29 billion targeted Council members slam Nagin
for hurricane recovery land picks, and city backpedals
By Bruce Alpert
Washington bureau

WASHINGTON — Legislation that

provides $29 billion for hurri-
STARTING Empty shells littering floors
are a reminder of when
the school was used for
police training.
By James Varney
Staff writer

Within hours of releasing a list of sites for trail-

ers to provide temporary housing in New Orleans,

FROM SCRATCH
cane recovery is on the way to the Nagin administration backtracked in the face
President Bush. of furious council opposition and appeared to be in
The House approved the huge disarray.
spending bill by voice vote Administrators spent two days portraying a
Thursday, less than 24 hours mayoral-approved list of 98
after the measure cleared the sites that could hold more
Senate. The bill also includes than 8,000 trailers as a de-
money for the military and the cisive move on Nagin’s part
ongoing conflicts in Iraq and that moved the city for-
Afghanistan. ward on the critical housing
In addition to $2.9 billion for front months after Hurri-
levee repairs and upgrades, the cane Katrina.
bill provides But confusion was the or-
der of the day when council COUNCIL MEMBER
$1.6 billion to JACKIE BRECHTEL
help rebuild members objected to sev- CLARKSON:
and repair eral key sites and claimed
schools dam- neither the mayor nor his “I don’t know
aged by Hur- lieutenants had honored a why we start
ricanes Ka- pledge to consult them be- with the mayor,
trina and Rita fore green lighting the loca- he knows nothing
and to re- tions. about the sites.”
Sen. Ted In particular, council
Stevens i m b u r s e
schools, both members Jacqueline
Said defeat of
public and pri- Brechtel Clarkson and Jay
Alaska drilling
vate, that took Batt said they had not
measure made
Wednesday the
signed off on putting trail-
in students
saddest day of ers at Lakewood Country
displaced by
his life Club or the northern por-
the storms.
tion of City Park, the two
Bush said biggest proposed sites on
Thursday that he looks forward the mayor’s list slated to COUNCIL MEMBER
to signing it into law. hold a combined 1,680 JAY BATT:
One of the biggest pots of units. Clarkson said en-
money is $11.5 billion in commu- STAFF PHOTOS BY CHRIS GRANGER “The mayor or
raged Algiers residents his lieutenants
nity development block grants; Una Anderson, left, a member of the Orleans Parish School Board, Jean Fischer of Carrollton United and marched on her front door
$6.2 billion of that is slated for Sue Burge of local nonprofit agency School to Career Inc., look at slides found on a classroom floor in aban- never went over
Thursday and described
Louisiana. doned Alfred C. Priestley Middle School. Priestley is among New Orleans’ first wave of charter applications. the situation as “a night-
the list with me.”
The Louisiana Recovery Au- mare.”
thority is looking at three major –––––––––– She claimed, in a position contradicted by the
dren gathered for a Christmas celebra-
areas in which to distribute the
money: economic development,
By Steve Ritea
Staff writer
tion, a man wiping a little girl’s nose, a
meeting of adults clad in polyester suits
CHARTING country club’s owners, that Lakewood had already
been removed from consideration as a trailer loca-
housing and infrastructure.
with wide ties or sporting beehive hairdos.
THE FUTURE tion. But officials with the New Orleans Firefight-
Andy Kopplin, the authority’s Pigeons roost in the light fixtures hanging “This is a community’s memories,” said An occasional ers Pension and Relief Fund, controlling owners at
executive director, pledged to in third-floor classrooms of the long-aban- Orleans Parish School Board member series following Lakewood, said the matter remains open.
work swiftly to develop plans doned Alfred C. Priestley Middle School. Una Anderson, bending over to gather up the start-up of “I don’t know why we start with the mayor, he
for the flexible federal dollars On a floor dotted with the birds’ drop- each one, “right here.” the Priestly knows nothing about the sites,” Clarkson said.
and then submit those plans to pings and littered with books and com- In a district where many schools charter
puter equipment from another era, a col- were ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, an high school See TRAILERS, A-12
See CONGRESS, A-8 lection of photographic slides strewn undamaged building like Priestley has
. .. .............................. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... ...
about offer frames of the life that filled the
I State delegation makes wish building a generation ago: smiling chil- See SCHOOL, A-9
list for 2006, A-8

Deal calls for

Insurance scarce MOVING N.O. elections
AGAIN
for home buyers Derrick Henry,
right, a New York
by April 29
City bus driver,
puts down his
Companies wary
but after spending two months
shuttling between a family placard Thursday If city officials can’t do that,
about writing policies member’s crowded house in Ba-
ton Rouge, a shaky sublet in
outside the
Michael J. Quill
secretary of state may take over
Metairie and a friend’s house in Bus Depot. City
Uptown New Orleans, they transit workers By Robert Travis Scott
By Rebecca Mowbray were eager to abandon their no- Capital bureau
Business writer madic existence.
ended their strike
“We just wanted to settle after three days BATON ROUGE — A New Orleans election should
After Hurricane Katrina de- somewhere,” Mary Beth Has- and voted to re- be held by April 29, according to a settlement
stroyed their raised Lakeview kins said. “Everything was still sume negotia- reached Thursday after a three-hour closed-door
cottage, Cecil and Mary Beth so uncertain.” tions on a stalled meeting between state officials and a group of res-
Haskins were relieved to find a But problems getting home- idents who sued to force an expedited date for the
new place to call home, a Black
labor contract.
owners insurance on their new municipal vote.
Pearl neighborhood shotgun See story, A-13
home nearly scuttled the real If New Orleans officials appear unable to con-
with a side gallery, high ceilings estate closing. duct the election by then, Louisiana Secretary of
and beautiful wide-plank pine Two of the largest insurers in State Al Ater said, he will use his department’s
floors. the state — State Farm and All- authority under a new state law to take over the
It didn’t have the spacious state Insurance Co., which to- entire election process to ensure a vote by that
yard of their beloved, now-wa-
terlogged home in Lakeview, See INSURANCE, A-10 AP PHOTO See ELECTION, A-6

Classified E Editorials B-6 National A-13 Television C-5 SUNNY

INSIDE
.. .
Comics
Deaths
C-6
B-5
Living
Money
C
C-8
People
Sports
A-19
D
Washington
World
A-2
A-18
HIGH
66 52
LOW Weather,
C-10 7 12393 11111 8
X-XX XXXDAY, XXXX XX, 2005 THE TIMES-PICAYUNE FRIDAY, DECEMBER 23, 2005 THE TIMES-PICAYUNE A-9

H U R R I C A N E A F T E R M AT H

School will resemble one in St. Louis

SCHOOL, from A-1 JEFFERSON Former Priestley

h
School will serve

ris
. .. .............................. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... .. ... ...

h
as new charter

Pa

ris
suddenly become much more

Pa
school site

on
than a eyesore. A Carrollton

rs

ns
neighborhood improvement as-

ffe

lea
Je

S
Or
sociation, spearheading the

LIE IDA
BI

E.
JO N
RC

AV
T
charter school effort, now hopes H

LE
GR

ON
EE
the building will become a sign

LT
N

OL
Miss. River

RR
of renewal for the city’s long-

LEAK AVE.

AY
CA

DW
troubled education system. UPTOWN

OA
BR
On Oct. 29, the Orleans Par- 1/2 mile
ish School Board approved a STAFF MAP
first wave of charter applica-
tions, including Priestley’s.
Now, with the Legislature’s ap- Then, they started knocking
proval of a state takeover that on doors and found that 75 per-
would transform a majority of c en t o f t h e n ei gh b or ho od
the district’s 117 schools into wanted to see something made
charters, the landscape of public of Priestley that would breathe
education in New Orleans is life back into the community.
poised for a swift and radical People offered all sorts of
change. ideas for what could occupy the
old school — a police substation
How it works and a health clinic were among
the ideas — but many also sug-
Chartering schools is common
gested turning it back into a
but frequently not fully under-
school.
stood.
Looking around the commu-
The concept is simple: Just as
nity, Green said, “we identified
groups charter a bus for a trip,
that everyone wasn’t going to go
community groups, businesses
to college.” A local nonprofit
or governments can take over
agency dedicated to helping stu-
the operation of a school to edu-
dents make the transition from
cate children in their own way, if
school to work suggested a
their plan gets approval from a
school emphasizing construction
local or state school board. The
careers, modeled after the one
state takeover targeted low-per-
in St. Louis.
forming schools with the idea
that finding universities and pri- STAFF PHOTOS BY CHRIS GRANGER “In the past people assumed
vate firms to charter them will Orleans Parish School Board member Una Anderson talks with people living across the street from the former Alfred C. Priestley Mid- if you had a school that taught
improve their performance. dle School. Several said they would go to the school if it reopened as a construction charter school. trades, it closed off other
doors,” said Anderson, who is
While charter schools are al-
helping with the effort. The con-
ways subject to certain stan- shells still litter the floors of
struction charter will offer a full
dards, like academic perform- several classrooms.
academic curriculum for stu-
ance, the group creating the But mostly it had just become dents who decide to take an-
school has a good deal of free- a blighted old brick building other career path.
dom to run it however they that loomed over Pigeon Town,
want. They can use whatever a neighborhood that had be- By last summer organizers
books they like, teach unique come a hotbed of drug activity had started to shore up some
subjects and use different teach- and, in the months before Ka- support for the project, but
ing methods. trina hit, was logging a record many still expected it would
murder rate. take some time to garner the fi-
Some schools, like the re- nancial and political support
cently chartered Audubon Char- About a year ago, members of needed before Priestley could
ter School, offer a French cur- a community group called Car-
reopen.
riculum. Others, like New Or- rollton United targeted Priest-
leans Math and Science, em- ley with the idea that doing Then Katrina hit.
phasize a few subjects. Priest- something with it might help Two months later, the School
ley, which will be converted to a improve life in the neighbor- Board unanimously approved
high school, will offer something hood there. Priestley’s charter along with 19
unique and sorely needed in “Along with blight comes the others.
post-Katrina New Orleans: an crime,” said Mary Green, a “I think there’s a door open to
emphasis on careers in architec- member of the group. innovation in education that was
ture and construction. The group members put on forced open by Katrina,” Ander-
“Billions of dollars are going old clothes, got inside the school son said.
to be spent in construction to look around and set to work, ●●●●●●●
here,” said Ray Nichols, a re- eventually filling two huge gar- Steve Ritea can be reached at
tired business consultant who bage bins with broken furniture sritea@timespicayune.com or (504)
expects the school to open in and trash. 826-3396.
September to 100 freshmen, ex-
panding one grade a year. “If
we do this right, we can create a
group of people who can take
advantage of that.”
For many of the city’s re-
cently chartered schools — ‘Billions of dollars are going to be spent in construction here,’ says Ray Nichols, a retired business
Lusher, Ben Franklin High, Au-
consultant who expects the school to open in September to 100 freshmen, expanding one grade a
dubon — chartering is a less
dramatic change, because they year. ‘If we do this right, we can create a group of people who can take advantage of that.’
were previously operating as
district schools and already have “There are already founda- business, and it’s very daunting graduated its first class of stu-
teachers, principal and students tions that have told people inter- and that’s why most that do ac- dents. The school now has an
in place. ested in starting a school in tually happen end up succeed- enrollment of 335.
New Orleans that they’re will- ing,” Allen said. “It’s not for the Some of those students went
Chartering Priestley is an en-
tirely different matter. All the ing to help,” she said. meek.” on to college, while others went
chartering group has is an old Nichols said her group has al- Even if the chartering group into apprenticeship programs,
building and a stack of paper- ready had several promising can’t get all $10 million in time he said, starting at $14 or $15 an
work outlining what it wants to conversations with foundations to finish renovating the building hour.
do. The first thing it needs, ex- and hope the federal govern- by fall, there are other options,
perts say, is money. ment will step up as well. Nichols said, including using Few peers
temporary trailers as class- Once opened, New Orleans
Show me the money Nothing taken for granted rooms or renovating the first would be the second city in the
“Charters don’t need more But even after they get that floor for initial use. nation to have a construction
money than traditional schools, money, there’s a million other Adults who enroll in night charter school.
but they need startup funds be- things to do. classes could help renovate the The Orleans Parish School
cause they don’t have the exist- “You have to figure out who’s school building as part of their Board voted to close Priestley in
ing infrastructure,” said Jeanne going to be on your board and coursework, he said. 1980, consolidating it into So-
Allen, president of the Center figure out the structure of the Nichols’ effort closely mirrors phie Wright Middle School after
for Education Reform, a charter staffing, then decide things like one in St. Louis, where Terry finding both schools had too few
school advocacy group. do teachers get their own Eivens of the local Associated students. In the years since,
By Nichols’ estimation, it will desks,” Allen said. “All of those General Contractors chapter Priestley has been used for of-
take $10 million to renovate things that typically you find in helped ready an abandoned fice space and even tactical
Priestley. a school and would take for school. This past summer the training for police officers. Rub-
Because a startup school can- granted, actually there’s hun- Construction Careers Center ber bullets and empty shotgun
not float a bond or rely on state dreds of considerations.” B.
education money before it has In short, she said, the task
students, that would normally
prove tricky.
that lies ahead for Priestley —
especially if it is going to open in
Olister’s Napoleon Room
the fall — is not for the faint of A.

B NGO
But with so much national at- C.
tention focused on the city’s heart.
plight, there is likely to be a “Starting a school is one of
high level of support for the ef- the most difficult things anyone
fort to bring back Priestley, Al- will ever do,” she said. “It’s like
len said. you’re creating a brand new Add Sparkle To Her Holiday
Holiday Schedule Her holiday season won’t be complete until
December 24th December 31st you surprise her with diamond drop earrings
Open 12:00 Noon only Open 12:00 Noon only
or a diamond “Circle of Love” pendant.
December 25th January 1st
Closed Open 7:00pm and A. 14K white gold pavé diamond earrings, $250
Merry Christmas to All! 10pm only
B. 14K white gold pavé diamond earrings, $250
Support your local non-profit organizations.
C. 14K white gold diamond “Circle of Love” pendant, $175
We’re also serving lunch Monday thru Saturday
10am-2pm
Plate lunches, poboys, seafood, muffalettas, gumbo
4631 W. Napoleon Ave. Metairie bingonr.com F INE J EWELRY & D ISTINCTIVE G IFTS
Lakeside Shopping Center • 832-0000
Clearview and I-10 in Metairie Baton Rouge • Shreveport • Lafayette • San Antonio • Jackson
Call 454-8193 Shop online: www.LMFJ.com