Duncan on Katrina: 'Best Thing' for New Orleans Schools - Politics K-12 - Education Week

Duncan on Katrina: 'Best Thing' for New Orleans Schools - Politics K-12 - Education Week:

"Did the usually smooth-tongued U.S. Secretary of Education really say that Hurricane Katrina was the best thing to happen to the education system in New Orleans? Oh yes, he did.


In an interview to be broadcast this weekend on Washington Watch With Roland Martin, Arne Duncan says, 'I think the best thing that happened to the education system in New Orleans was Hurricane Katrina. That education system was a disaster, and it took Hurricane Katrina to wake up the community to say that 'we have to do better.''"


Arne Duncan does speak frankly when it comes to the shortcomings of urban school districts, but this comment seems unusually callous, even though we know what the secretary is trying to say. The public schools were a wreck before the storm, no real debate there. And, yes, the schooling options for many students are better in the city now, and student achievement is slowly, but surely on the rise.