History of ACSA
On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans. From that destruction, however, sprang several new opportunities for the city’s rebirth, including the chance to rescue the public school system serving families along the city’s West Bank area. Community leaders worked successfully to transfer the area’s public schools to a new Algiers Charter Schools Association. With a fresh charter and mission, “Prepare every school and every teacher to teach every child, so that all will learn,” the association went to work.
The West Bank area and its school buildings escaped most of the ruinous flooding and related storm damage. In a matter of weeks, its leadership selected principals from 35 candidates to head three pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade schools and two high schools; and they tapped 150 teachers from 600 applicants. On December 15, 2005, the new charter schools welcomed 1,500 students back to class. After the holidays, more than 2,100 students had registered and by June 6, the end of the school year, nearly 4,000 students were enrolled. That number represented 35 percent of public school students in Orleans Parish post-Katrina.
Today, the Algiers Charter Schools Association serves more than 5,300 students. It is the second-largest provider of public education in the city. It is also part of a growing national movement that, in the last 13 years, has introduced more than 3,500 charter schools. The Algiers charter schools are free from conventional education structures, are open by choice to all students without admissions tests, are not religiously affiliated and have high accountability standards.
