New Orleans Opens Schools Part of $1.6 Billion Plan
NEW ORLEANS — A $1.6 billion master plan to rebuild schools here is coming to fruition with the fall opening of Langston Hughes Elementary School.
The 96,000-square-foot facility is the first school to open in New Orleans since 2003 and is the first public building to open since Hurricane Katrina and subsequent flooding caused widespread damage in 2005, according to officials.
Several schools planned under the 15-year master plan for the Recovery School District and Orleans Parish School Board are scheduled to open in coming months.
The new three-story, 165,000-square-foot Greater Gentilly High School, designed for 800 students, is expected to open in early 2010. It includes a flexible floor plan with retractable walls in several classrooms to allow for team teaching and an outdoor classroom. A water collection system is also planned for the facility.
Builders are entering the final phase of construction for the $26 million Andrew H. Wilson Elementary School, a project that includes building restoration and construction of a gymnasium, cafeteria and art and classroom space.
The new L.B. Landry High School, a three-story, 210,000-square-foot facility designed for 1,000 students, is expected to open by fall 2010. The school will have 52 teaching stations, including career technology labs, visual and performing arts labs and classrooms for core curriculum.
It will also feature a 650-seat auditorium, and environmentally friendly irrigation and solar hot-water systems.
Other schools in the works include the restoration of Joseph A. Craig Elementary, scheduled for completion by spring 2010, and replacement schools for Fannie C. Williams Elementary, Crocker Elementary and William Frantz Elementary.
During the next five years, approximately $700 million is scheduled to be invested in public school construction in New Orleans, much of it from Federal Emergency Management Agency recovery funds. During that time, 22 new schools are scheduled to open and 10 existing schools will reopen.
Phase one of the six-phase master plan, adopted in November 2008, includes an overhaul of nearly 40 percent of New Orleans public school buildings.
The master plan also includes consolidation of the 128 school facilities in use before Hurricane Katrina into approximately 85 schools. Approximately 50 buildings will be sold or put to new use as part of the plan. The plan includes renovation of 90 percent of the city’s occupied school buildings.
With the help of Global Green USA, designers are striving to reach LEED Silver standards in the design of the new schools. Designers are applying of green design features including the use materials from demolished schools and recycled materials in the design of the new buildings. The school districts hope to achieve 30 percent less energy use with the new buildings.
“The goal of the master plan is to really have 21st-century school facilities in New Orleans, and these are buildings that are going to make a difference in the quality of the schools,” says Siona LaFrance, communications director for the Recovery School District.