JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
After Hurricane Katrina flooded New Orleans 20 years ago, public education in the city came to a complete stop, and when schools reopened, many of the city's educators didn't get their jobs back. Instead, they were replaced with young people who were new to teaching and new to New Orleans. Aubri Juhasz of member station WWNO spoke with two teachers on opposite sides of that divide.
AUBRI JUHASZ, BYLINE: Even when she was a little kid growing up in New Orleans, Stacey Gilbert (ph) knew she wanted to be a teacher.
STACEY GILBERT: Movies, like, with the blind girl - I can't remember the name of it.
JUHASZ: Oh, yeah.
S GILBERT: I can't remember...
JUHASZ: Helen Keller or someone else?
S GILBERT: That was it.
JUHASZ: OK.
S GILBERT: Helen Keller - and other movies, I would see and say, that's the type of children I want to teach.
JUHASZ: When Hurricane Katrina hit her hometown in 2005, Gilbert had been teaching special education for almost two decades.
S GILBERT: I can still remember that particular Friday and just thinking, OK, we're going to evacuate, but we'll be back.
JUHASZ: But Gilbert didn't come back for months. And eventually, teaching positions like hers started being filled with a different kind of teacher.
LAUREN JEWETT: My mom was a little worried about the weather.
JUHASZ: Lauren Jewett had never been to New Orleans when she joined Teach for America, or TFA. The two-year program places people - mostly recent college grads - in public schools that need teachers. Jewett hadn't gone to college to be a teacher, but that wasn't unusual for TFA. The program began with a crash course, an attempt to cram much of what new teachers need to know into just a few weeks.
JEWETT: Sessions on, like, sensitivity around working with different communities - like, that's lifelong work. And how do you fit that in a six-week boot camp that involves many other topics?
JUHASZ: Before the storm, the majority of New Orleans teachers resembled Stacey Gilbert. They were Black women who were certified to teach and, on average, had about 15 years of experience. But by the time Jewett arrived in 2009, the percentage of white teachers was growing quickly. Many were out-of-towners who were brand new to teaching.
RENEE AKBAR: The people that did come down - they were well-meaning, but they weren't trained.
JUHASZ: Renee Akbar has trained teachers at Xavier University of Louisiana, one of the city's HBCUs, for over 20 years. She says, before the storm, the city's teachers had deep roots in their communities.
AKBAR: They probably taught the aunties, the uncles, the grandma even, some of them. That makes a world of difference when you want kids to be successful.
JUHASZ: For decades, New Orleans schools had been struggling. In 2005, the state graded most of them as failing. After Katrina, state officials took over many of the schools and turned them into charter schools. When veteran teachers like Stacey Gilbert applied for a job, they had to take a proficiency exam.
S GILBERT: That was really a slap in the face. Like, Wow. To get my job, you want me to take a test?
JUHASZ: Less than a third of pre-Katrina teachers returned to the system. Others, like Gilbert, got jobs teaching elsewhere in the state. Meanwhile, newer teachers like Jewett were taking on a lot of responsibility. After just two years of teaching special education, she became the expert on staff, a common story in a system full of newbies.
JEWETT: I had to teach myself. Like, there wasn't a high level of years of experience, too, in our building.
JUHASZ: By 2013, the majority of New Orleans teachers had been on the job less than five years, and turnover had doubled. That wasn't good for students. And Akbar, at Xavier University, says charter schools noticed.
AKBAR: Not having certified teachers from the community was not necessarily the right way to go.
JUHASZ: She says many TFA recruits didn't stick around, and schools started hiring veteran teachers again. Fast forward to today, and New Orleans' teaching force looks more like it used to.
AKBAR: And somehow or the other, it kind of balanced off.
JUHASZ: Akbar says charter schools now rely on partnerships with local universities, like hers, to hire certified teachers with ties to the city...
RYAN GILBERT: Hi.
JUHASZ: Ryan (ph)?
R GILBERT: Yeah, I'm Ryan.
JUHASZ: ...Teachers like Stacey Gilbert's son, Ryan Gilbert.
R GILBERT: When I told my parents that I was changing my major to education, I think they were confused.
JUHASZ: He's a high school science teacher in New Orleans and recently started his 11th year in the classroom.
R GILBERT: It was the whole, like, teachers don't make any money. And then from my mom, it was, it's not what it used to be.
JUHASZ: But with time, his mom says she came around.
S GILBERT: I was really proud of him and realized now that is where he should be because the same passion I have about teaching - that's what he has.
JUHASZ: Teaching has become Lauren Jewett's passion, too. After 16 years, she says New Orleans is now her home.
JEWETT: I think I also feel very rooted to this place because it's also where I kind of grew up.
JUHASZ: Today, there's room for teachers like her, who came after Katrina and chose to stay, alongside people who have always called the city home. For NPR News, I'm Aubri Juhasz in New Orleans. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.
