Online Video Guide

Viewed before Hurricane Katrina as an institutional disaster, New Orleans' public schools got a second shot at success as a result of the devastation. City planners ran with the opportunity, deciding not just to rebuild schools, but to implement a bold experiment in public schooling. A full 60 percent of the city's reopened schools are now independently-run charter schools. NOW looks at the challenges, successes, and implications of one of these schools, Lafayette Academy, through the eyes of individual students, faculty, and parents. I am convinced that this is all going to be the basis for the rebuilding process in New Orleans, Lafayette Academy Principal Eileen Williams tells NOW. I'm a firm believer that if we're going to do away with poverty in this country and do things that are right, we've got to begin with educating our youth.