Hillary LeDesma

Rebirth: New Orleans Movie Response

A big current issue in public education is the attention and recent

promotion charter school in the United States are getting for their
innovative tactics and are often seen as the cure to most failing
schools. In the documentary, Rebirth: New Orleans, director John
Merrow sheds light on this current debate in the city of New Orleans.
He documents the story of the devastating post- Hurricane Katrina
community and the way the education system was transformed after
the devastating state it was left in. After the unfortunate story of New
Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, Merrow attempts to portray the
outcome of the changing educational system as a positive and that the
students are doing so much better and moving towards years of
success, but I found interesting in the documentary was the slight
portion it focused on students with disabilities. Students with learning
and physical disabilities find it more difficult to attend and stay in
charter schools, especially in the outcomes of New Orleans. I believe
this focuses on unit one , where we explored what the purpose of
education in the US. was and for whom.

Overall, the documentary covered a number of stories and

statistics about the positive changes charter schools have brought to
the unfortunate story of New Orleans. The charter school experiment in

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the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans set a new platform
for change. New Orleans School Distract had a lot of documented fraud
and crime within the system. Years of abuse and people doing hat they
wanted to do. This depth of corruption had to be resolved. Teachers
were fired after the hurricane. Schools were swept through and clean
slates at the hands of the state. Public schools reopened with lack of
funding, resources, heat, quality teachers, and proper facilities for the
students to return to. The national Association of Charter School
Authorizers set a high-standards for charter application and didnt
approved the majority of them. The district thus had to open up as
many charters as they can, this led to many bureaucrats having to lead
and run charter schools to have enough in time for the returning
students. When the state took over, teachers were replaced with firsttime teachers eager to help. Charter schools became a jump-start for
reform in Louisiana. Thus giving schools the freedom and autonomy to
do whatever they believed was best for student success. In 2009 more
than half of the New Orleans Schools were charters. The documentary
speaks to the academic and disciplinary success that the charter
schools have brought the district. Including the increase in students
test scores. When a charter school cannot meet the standards that
were set, their charter is quickly given to a new charter school. The
documentary does shed light on some of the issues that people had

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with charter schools, including their lack of focus and care for students
with special needs and disabilities.

The documentary speaks to much of the success charter schools

have brought students and the community of New Orleans, but little
attention is given to the students who are not compatible with the
structure and mold of the charter school system. The documentary
speaks to the low-enrollment of students with physical and learning
disabilities in New Orleans Charter schools. In the documentary, it was
determined that in one school, Banneker Elementary, 15% of the
students were a part of the special education program. This is in
contrast to the 7% enrollment of students with special needs in all
charter schools in the New Orleans school district.

One of the issues addressed in the documentary is the issue of

funding. In a school district, the costs for a special education program
can be shared among schools, and that qualified professional will move
amongst the schools, but charter schools are on their own and would
have to fund for their own special education program. This too often
results in the removal of special needs students or denied enrollment
due to lack of resources for them. Charter school operators are
avoiding high-cost students rather than serving them. They are also
not equipped with the knowledge responsible for serving students with

Hillary LeDesma
disabilities in public schools. In 1990 the IDEA (Individuals with
Disabilities Education Act) was a Federal law established to protect
children with disabilities. It required schools to meet the educational
needs of students with disabilities, including a non-biased evaluation
and an individualized education plan (IEP). In the article, Charter
Schools: A New Barrier for Children with Disabilities, McKinney explains
that, school districts cannot exclude or enforce eligibility standards
that categorically exclude students r groups of students from charter
schools (McKinney 1996, p. 23). But for small charter schools, this led
to many ethical issues. Were the needs of a handful of students worth
jeopardizing the education of hundreds? McKinney insists that, the
market place concept that drives charter school legislation is stood on
its head and proves to be a disincentive when it comes to serving
children with disabilities (McKinney 1996, p. 25). In the Chapter
Trouble of Hope Against Hope, Carr suggests that charter schools may
not be serving the neediest of students. She includes the statistic that
in New Orleans after the Hurricane, Charter schools were serving 60%
of New Orleans students, but only 38% of students with autism, 37%
students had emotional disturbances, and 23% of those students had
multiple disabilities. This meant that the large majority of students with
physical or educational disabilities attended non-charter schools. Carr
suggested there are a number of reasons for these discrepancies:
Charter schools illegally turned away students with high-cost needs,

Hillary LeDesma
parents didnt even bother to apply assuming their student would not
be let in, charter schools were too rigidly focused on college, or the
central office assigned them to non-charter schools. Although, after the
hurricane public schools decreased and charter schools increased. This
meant that in the small amount of public schools, were a large
enrollment of students with disabilities. This make one consider who
public school education is meant for and further, who is quality
education meant for. We are all aware that special education programs
are alternatives to the state standards and in todays society, still
unequal to basic curriculum.

The most pervasive problem is how to adequately service students

with special needs. There needs to be a centralized, student-level
tracking system to monitor the actions, attendance, and education of
students with disabilities. Without this, schools can force withdrawals
or refuse attendance as they have done in the past. Currently some
charter schools are ignoring the IDEA and discriminating against
students with special needs, not providing an adequate education, or
punishing them for their behavior rather than understanding that they
are manifestations of their disability (Carr 2013, p. 139). This issue also
speaks to the community from which these students come from. Within
their own communities there are a lack of health services and
programs to help students and families with physical and educational

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disabilities. This is a much bigger issue than simply allowing a higher
enrollment of special need students. Their needs to be change in an
understanding and assisting students and families with special needs
in not only schools, but the community as well. The state passing the
charters needs to ensure that the schools are equipped to meet the
needs of the students and their IEP. They need to have frequent visits
with the schools and ensure equality for all students and their needs.
Because our society too often shuns and ignored the special needs and
learning disabled population, we are unaware of their educational
needs in the classroom, and in the school. This issue reflects how we
view learning disabled in our society, but there is always room for
change. Although charter schools has been doing great things for some
students, we should not ignore the minority, simply because the
majority is satisfied. This in itself is a problem in educational
democracy.

Works cited
McKinney, J. R. (1996). Charter schools: A new barrier for children with
disabilities. Educational Leadership, 54(2), 22.

Hillary LeDesma

Documentary. Rebirth: New Orleans. Director John Merrow.

Carr, Sarah. (2013). Hope Against Hope. Chapter 4 Trouble. Bloomsbury
Press. New York, New York.