Anger, frustration as hundreds of New Orleans parents turned away from public school enrollment center
New Orleans public school enrollment faltered badly Wednesday when hundreds of parents arrived at the lone resource center to sign up their children -- only to be turned away for lack of staff to help them. It was an embarrassing fiasco for an enrollment process that has received national praise and aims to make life easier for families.
By 6 a.m., the line of applicants already snaked around First Pilgrim School on Marais Street, the location of the Recovery School District's summer parent center, said Pilgrim Church janitor Cedric Woods Jr. By 9:45 a.m., it was around the block. With nowhere on site to park, cars lined the narrow streets of the St. Roch neighborhood, as did, later, the tow trucks.
"This is ridiculous. This is really sad," said Monique Johnson, running out to move her car for the "third or fourth" time. She said she arrived at 6 a.m. to sign up her nephew and was No. 246 in line.
So numerous were the applicants waiting outside that a snowball truck, a voter registration team and a woman selling snacks from her car showed up to take advantage of the opportunity.
Sign-up was supposed to run from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. But at about 11 a.m., officials told everyone to leave and come Thursday to Lake Area New Tech High School, where they promised more space, said Latoya Roberts, No. 646, who took off work to no avail.
By 12:30 p.m., staff weren't even giving out numbers anymore. Upstairs in the school, applicants were shuffled from room to room, sitting in folding chairs, while the OneApp team was serving only No. 121.
April Johnson, who arrived at 7:30 a.m., said when the officials gave out numbers they reported 300 people already inside the school.
Recovery School District Deputy Superintendent Dana Peterson confirmed that Wednesday afternoon. And 300 people was all the system was expecting, he said, based on past experience. But more than 800 showed up before noon, and there were only a Anger, frustration as hundreds of New Orleans parents turned away from public school enrollment center | NOLA.com: