The ultimate hope is that the government can eventually move everyone out of New Orleans, and that people will be more willing to leave if they have a better understanding of the dangers that they face by staying in the city.  Also, a better education will allow the displaced people of New Orleans to thrive in a competitive workplace once they have moved to a new location.

Grade-level schooling

First and foremost, all public, private, and parochial schools must reopen in the near future. The Times-Picayune reports that the city’s public schools now have only about one-third of their pre-Katrina enrollment, and barely 83% of these enrolled students are actually coming to class.  Problems stem from the fact that school buses are not running their usual routes and some students are being forced to attend school during irregular hours, such as from 1:45 to 7:00 p.m., since, while their respective schools are being rebuilt, they must take classes in a reconstructed building after that facility’s normal school day has been completed (Ritea, 2006). This results in the elimination of academic, athletic, and social after school activities and begets very strained students and teachers. Thus, an immediate goal is to normalize transportation capabilities and operational hours for all schools in an effort to improve attendance rates.

Second, over the course of the next three years, the Orleans Parish School Board, which oversees the public schools of New Orleans, needs to refurbish the curricula within the primary and secondary schools of the city in order to include subjects that relate directly to the region. Courses will focus on hurricane and flood awareness and preparedness, conservation and environmentally-sound living, which will cover topics such as recycling, energy conservation and alternative energy solutions, and environmental justice, local cultural and political history, and acceptance of diversity. With these foci incorporated into the schools’ academic agenda, students will become more aware of and active in their unique community.

Third, the local government, with the help of federal funding, will implement new programs to revitalize the public school system, which will include offering incentives for well-qualified teachers to relocate to the area and introducing more rigorous academic tracks beginning in the sixth grade. For the high school level, funds will be allocated for the Advanced Placement (AP) program and local legislature will require each secondary school in the city offer AP courses.  Classes that pertain specifically to understanding the city of New Orleans as a whole, such as those in United States history and government, economics, biology, chemistry, and environmental science, will be perfect choices for piloting this initiative.

Non-academic activities

The Orleans Parish School Board will obtain government funding in order to ameliorate daytime and evening programs for students in New Orleans public schools. The council shall not only upgrade academic resources by instating a city-wide peer tutoring program that will pair older students who are academically advanced with younger pupils who are struggling with their course load, but it will also institute new programs in art, music, and physical education to encourage creativity and wellbeing among grade school students. New Orleans has always been known as a center of artistic vitality, and philanthropic organizations such as VH1’s Save the Music Fund can help to propel these traditions into the future.

Furthermore, today, a major social concern for the planning process for New Orleans revolves around the quality of the mental health of people living in this devastated and destroyed city. The New York Times reports that the tripling of suicides since Katrina struck is indicative of “a near epidemic of depression and post-traumatic stress disorders” (Saulny, 2006). Additionally, the murder rate in the city is now 10 times the national average (“New Orleans murder rate on the rise again,” 2005). Thus, in order to deter youngsters from a destructive lifestyle of depression, substance abuse, and crime, the local government needs to invest in both in-school and after school activities that facilitate the transfer of negative emotions into positive outcomes. Daily art and gym classes, combined with afternoon clubs of the same nature, ensure that young people have a safe outlet, and possibly even a remedy, for their often-internalized depressed feelings.

Vocational training

In order to catalyze a boost in the city’s economy, the local government, as well as privately-owned business, will host month-long vocational training boot camps for returning residents. The labor force will be trained for jobs in top industries, such as construction, tourism, and service. Government-run companies will be mandated to provide instruction to potential employees and local establishments will be presented with monetary bonuses if they also initiate similar programs. All of this vocational training will be completely free for it participants, and meals, as well as temporary housing, will also be available for those who cannot return to their old homes.