The High School That Beat Katrina
A New Orleans high school finds academic success after surviving Hurricane Katrina
That racial diversity even showed up in a group of Franklin students who wanted to return badly enough after Hurricane Katrina that they accepted offers to live with a Franklin teacher and his wife. One student was Caucasian, one was African-American, one was Chinese-American, and one was Vietnamese-American. Each of their families faced the same challenge of not being able to return to New Orleans after the storm. The students lived with Firneno, who thought it was only natural to help these students earn their Franklin diplomas by offering them a place to live while they were studying. Each of the students had spent at least one semester in another high school during the months Firneno and others worked tirelessly to get Franklin back online. The students appreciated Franklin even more after getting a taste of high schools where their classmates and classroom experiences simply did not measure up.
"They came back because of the school's atmosphere, their friends, the culture of the city of New Orleans, and of course wanting that diploma," Firneno says. "They worked so hard to get here and stay here, and they didn't want to throw that all away."
Reader Comments
Franklin Fan
I am an African American Franklin graduate class of 1986. Any comments relative to Franklin being opposed to Black social workers is absurd!
no environment could have been more nurturing and accepting than Franklin! We have to stop demonizing achievement. Our real challenge is developing more high performing schools!
RE:
"But any way shouldn't the other students that aren't so academically astute get the opportunity to learn as well."
Who says the kids that don't get in don't get to go to school? Are you saying Franklin is the only school in the metro area where students get the opportunity to learn? Hmmm
get ready
Regardless of who was the first to open, Franklin students, parents, and administrators strove to open as a charter school so that they could get the students back in classes as soon as possible without having to wait for the school board to get it together-don't even try to say McMain had more damage than Franklin- and that should not be frowned upon, so how dare you say that the only reason they brought their school back was to keep the underachievers out, you live in New Orleans and obviously know that anyone wanting to rebuild would not do so solely because of that. It was to get the kids back in their classes and the class of 2006 graduated.
McMain easily could've done just as Franklin and Lusher did and apply to be a charter so that it would stay magnet, and they obviously didn't. Does it make any sense for "the cream of the crop" to allow anyone to attend? No.
People should just be happy BF don't admit students based on their IQs like the old days!
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