Thursday, May 3, 2007

Now What in New Orleans?

Former Chicago Public Schools chief, who went on to head Philadelphia's public schools, is apparently heading to New Orleans to take over. I find this a fascinating story, as I've mentioned before. But it doesn't give me good vibes about the future of the New Orleans public school system. I thought Vallas wanted to come back to Chicago. . . ?

1 comment:

Johnny Yen said...

I was teaching in the CPS system when Vallas was at the helm. While he did a nice job with the infrastructure, having buildings tuckpointed, new windows, lead and asbestos abatement, etc. I failed to see any substantial improvement in other areas-- notably, student achievement.

I've come to believe that we need some kind of Marshall Plan for education. Kids fail generation after generation in the same communities. The only way I see things changing is some kind of huge program to get kids in problem areas smaller classes, counseling, etc.

I met Vallas once-- he was visiting the school I worked at. He's tall!