On the Road…
From New Orleans to Charleston
The drive from New Orleans to Charleston, West Virginia, took 14 hours. We left in the morning after meeting with one of our favorite people in the New Orleans education reform stories: Duke Bradley III. He has got a law degree, worked for politicians and think tanks. And now he is the founding principal of an elementary school in the Lower 9th Ward. The Benjamin E. Mays Preparatory School is Duke’s brainchild and the product of a year-long research process with New Leaders for New Schools. The man is dynamic, determined, and bright… Keep on fighting the good fight, Duke! And all the best from West Viriginia.
Duke Bradley, Principal
Education Reform in NOLA, Meeting the Man at the Top
Paul Vallas is overseeing public education reforms in New Orleans
What a crazy weekend! We have been working our butts off, and tomorrow we are heading out of town just as a tropical storm is nearing the coast… School will be canceled and thus a meeting we were supposed to have at a charter school in the 9th Ward will be shortened from two hours to about 30 minutes.
This afternoon we met with Paul Vallas who is in running in Recovery School District for the city of New Orleans. He has quite a resume as a reformer having tackled big education system overhauls in Chicago and Philadelphia — and he has his own Wikipedia page (see below). What the entry neglects to mention is that Vallas talks faster than any lawyer gone auctioneer and is rangy both in physique and scope of conversation. He is a kind public servant as well, seeing that he gave us almost 90 minutes on a Sunday afternoon.
Here is the Wiki-Entry:
Paul Gust Vallas (born June 10, 1953) is the superintendent of the Recovery School District of Louisiana, and former CEO of Chicago Public Schools and the School District of Philadelphia.
During his tenure as CEO of the Chicago Public Schools from 1995 to 2001, he led an effort to reform the school system, and his work was cited by President Bill Clinton for raising test scores, improving relations with the teachers’ union, balancing the budget, and instituting several new programs included mandatory summer school, after school programs, and expanding alternative, charter, and magnet schools.
The position of CEO of the CPS was created by Mayor Richard M. Daley after he successfully convinced the Illinois State Legislature to place CPS under mayoral control. Vallas had previously directed the budget arm of the Illinois State Legislature and served as budget director for Daley.
Controversy plagued Vallas towards the end of his reign as CPS CEO. Following criticism from the mayor, and the election of a union president who ran on an anti-Vallas platform, Vallas resigned in 2001 and ran for Governor of Illinois as a Democrat. Vallas placed second in the Democratic primary, losing narrowly to now-former-Governor Rod Blagojevich while running ahead of former state Attorney General Roland Burris.[1]
Following the election, Vallas was appointed CEO of School District of Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, he presided over the nation’s largest experiment in privatized management of schools, with the management of over 40 schools turned over to outside for-profits, nonprofits, and universities beginning in Fall 2002.
In 2005, Vallas considered challenging Blagojevich again for Illinois governor in the Democratic Primary but decided against it. He then signed a two-year contract (2007–2008) as superintendent of the Recovery School District of Louisiana.
On April 28, 2008 he appeared before the City Club of Chicago and on Chicago news shows discussing a possible run for governor in 2010.[2][3][4] In February 2009, Vallas gave an interview to Carol Marin in the Chicago Sun-Times and stated that he planned to return to Cook County, Illinois in 2009 and run as a Republican for Cook County Board president in 2010.[5]
On June 11, 2009, Vallas announced that he would not be a candidate for President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners in 2010. Vallas stated that he could not “begin a political campaign while trying to finish what he started–rebuild the school system there in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.”[6]
Education Reform in New Orleans
It’s our second day in New Orleans for our story in public education reform in the Big Easy, and we have already been inspired by a handful of remarkable educators who are using innovative concepts to make a real difference for the kids who need the most help. Johannes and I experienced first hand the impact Alissa Rutledge is having on students at Dibert elementary school during her second year of Teach for America, saw how principal Adam Meinig is turning under-served children into young scholars and community leaders at KIPP Believe, and spoke on the phone with Paul Pastorek, the controversial superintendent for education in Louisiana.
What Mr. Pastorek and fellow reformer Paul Vallas (who we will meet in person on Sunday) are undertaking here has been described as historic and ambitious by critics and supporters alike. The best — and certainly most comprehensive — summary of their struggle to turn one of the worst public education system in the country around was published in August 2008 by Paul Tough, editor at the New York Times Magazine. It’s a must-read for anybody interested in New Orleans, public education, and social policy.
Here are some of the educational superheroes we met:
Adama Meinig, KIPP Believe Principal
Alissa Rutledge, Teach for America, at Dibert Elementary
Scarlet Feinberg, Math Teacher at KIPP Believe
On the Road 