Could Leslie Jacobs be the cure for New Orleans Failing Schools?
The City of New Orleans is still in a state of recovery after Hurricane Katrina, and no where is that more evident then in The New Orleans Public School System. Plagued for years by a lack of leadership and corruption, as a result the Children of New Orleans have suffered academically. With the up coming mayor's race many of us within the academic community have searched out the announced candidates for one person that will lead in the efforts to provide better education for the children of New Orleans.
There are two women who have entered the race for mayor which has sparked an cacophony of questions in regards to the possibility of electing the first woman as mayor. I say why not give a woman a chance to fix the many issues that have blockade any chance of reforming New Orleans Public School System.
As a life long resident of New Orleans I have had my hopes of progressive, innovative leadership crushed so many times in pass 25 years that I almost lost the audacity of hope. Then recently the whispers turned into rumors, which eventually turned into a commercial announcing Leslie Jacobs for Mayor of New Orleans. Thank God!
I am in no way connected to her campaign, nor have I ever had the opportunity to meet Ms. Jacobs. My excitement over her public announcement is due to the possibility of a new direction for The City of New Orleans.
I can remember standing on the corner of St. Claude and Poland wearing a T-shirt that said "Keep the Drive Alive", I was about 10 years old at the time. It was the famous campaign slogan for the first African American Mayor of New Orleans Earnest "Dutch" Morial. This was a period of great pride and accomplishment, but it was short lived due to the collapse of Big Oil in Louisiana, and the horrific bankruptcy of the 1984 World's Fair.
Then came Sidney Barthelemy, and Marc Morial (son of Earnest Morial), in which the city only experienced marginal growth within a 16 year period. I jumped on the Ray Nagin bandwagon only because it was filled with people who were tired of traditional politicians steering the city in reverse. Candidate Nagin brought the promise of a "New" New Orleans in which corporate America would be welcome to do business with our city. As jobs continued to leave New Orleans for suburban cities, or leave the state all together, it became apparent that New Orleans would continue to suffer from non Katrina related illnesses.
I applaud Ms. Jacobs ambition to become mayor of New Orleans (a predominantly African American City) because of her work in the trenches with the Recovery School District in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The crime problem in New Orleans is directly connected with the poor educational system that was in place prior to the storm. In 1991 when the state pass the mandatory exit exam for all Louisiana High Schools many of the kids who could not pass the exit exam simply dropped out of school, and consequently enrolled into the drug industry.
I use to subscribe to the thought process that in order to have a better New Orleans we need to first fight crime, but now I know crime is only a symptom of a greater illness. Education has to be first if we are going to expect economic development.
We need a Mayor who will take control of the New Orleans Public School Board and make it an appointed position with accountability, only then will we enjoy a better New Orleans.
Tyronne Jacques would like to invite you to visit www.theobamaknights.com website as we push for better school for inner city children. You can also reach Tyronne Jacques via email tj@theobamaknights.com
Article Source: ArticlesBase.com
