New Orleans Public Schools Comment Period

The New Orleans Public Schools (NOPS) have publicized their Master Plan for Orleans Parish, that includes draconian measures to rejuvenate the metropolitan school system. Their reconfiguration is based on extensive information-gathering: building assessments and standards, educational program requirements, and population projections. All of their studies are available as downloads, though the process requires a considerable amount of patience.

In 2000, the National Trust for Historic Preservation designated the nation's historic neighborhood schools as notably endangered places. The trust followed with a grant-funded publication written by Constance E. Beaumont and Elizabeth G. Pianca, titled Why Johnny Can't Walk to School: Historic Neighborhood Schools in the Age of Sprawl. Among many other issues, Beaumont and Pianca addressed the deferred maintenance problems that have certainly been the bane of Orleans Parish schools.

When New Orleans architects E.A. Christy and Charles Colbert designed and supervised school projects for Orleans Parish, they did so with utopian sensibilities about the role of education in an urban society. Over the course of time, accelerated by neglect, their buildings decayed. Tulane School of Architecture Visual Resources Curator Francine Stock has spent considerable time researching and chronicling many of these historic schools, and some of her work may be found on her regional modernism blog and related flickr archive.

The National Trust's recommendation for such properties is in stark contrast to the parish master plan:

"[The Trust] advocates for the continued use of older and historic neighborhood schools as an anchor for healthy communities. We seek not only to reaffirm the contribution made by historic neighborhood schools to their communities, but also to provide policy direction for state policy makers and for community preservation advocates who help shape state policies."

It additionally offers resources for those communities interested in "Smart Growth Schools," sustainability, continuity, and renovation. Click here to learn more and read about communities that have succeeded in their school preservation efforts.

Update: On 6 November 2008, the Orleans Parish School Board voted 6-1 to adopt the $2 billion Master Plan.

Architectural Art and Its Allies

During the early twentieth century, the Louisiana Architectural Association published a monthly journal titled Architectural Art and Its Allies (1906-1913). The publication committee included leading New Orleans architects General Allison Owen, C.A. Favrot and Sam Stone. The journal's November 1906 issue featured New Orleans General Superintendent of the Sewerage and Water Board George G. Earl's article "Drainage and Sewerage," accompanied with photographs and maps of drainage power stations and sewerage pumping stations. His Map of the City of New Orleans System of Drainage (p.7) is reproduced here, with existing and proposed drainage canals indicated on the key. By the end of 1908 Earl anticipated that some $17,000,000 would have been spent on the combined drainage, sewerage and water proposals.

The New Orleans Public Library has created an online index to Architectural Art and Its Allies and its predecessor, Architecture and Allied Arts (1905-1906). The indexing is partial: it does not include advertisements, letters to the editor, and the bulk of the articles addressing topics outside of Louisiana. Sometimes article illustrations appeared on later pages of the given issue (not co-mingled with the text they illustrate) and these instances were not accounted for by the indexers. Researchers can still browse through the issues: NOPL maintains microfilm copies; the Southeastern Architectural Archive retains originals. For those reading today's headlines about the Recovery School District (RSD) and Orleans Parish School Board (OPSB) plans for rebuilding the city's schools, note that many of E.A. Christy's projects are illustrated in this journal.

The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans recently released its 2007 Report on Water Quality in the city. The Mississippi River is the primary source for the city's water, with treatment plants located on both banks, one in Algiers and one at Carrollton. The report includes a diagram of the water purification process, as well as data on tested contaminants.

[Pictured above: George G. Earl, Map of the City of New Orleans Showing System of Drainage. Sewerage and Water Board, New Orleans, 1906, Drawing No. 982-B-7. As reproduced in Architectural Art and Its Allies II:5 (November 1906), p.7. Southeastern Architectural Archive, Special Collections Division, Tulane University Libraries].