Problems plague New Orleans schools recovery

Inside a dimly lit auditorium at Rabouin High School on Thursday, sealed boxes of classroom supplies were mounded on the stage while more than 100 students who were supposed to be in class giggled, socialized or just cruised the aisles, under the eye of security guards.

This was not a loosely guarded study hall or lunch period or even an assembly. A month into the new school year, there simply were not enough teachers or substitutes in Orleans Parish public schools for classroom work to have hit stride.

The students didn't lack just teachers. Enrolled at Reed High School, in eastern New Orleans, the students in Rabouin's auditorium also are without a campus until renovation of the flooded school is complete. Meanwhile, they are being bused to Rabouin under the rubric of a time-sharing "platoon" system, in which two schools share a campus until the damaged school completes repairs. Reed students use the Rabouin building from 7 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. Rabouin then takes over its campus until 7:30 p.m.

from the Times Picayune