New Orleans - Louisiana's Recovery School District is Gov. Nathan Deal's go-to example for his own plan to turnaround failing schools. And the legislative delegation he led to the state to visit schools and meet administrators heard a clear-eyed and unsparing account of their mistakes.
It won't be easy. It will alienate many. And, even 10 years later, there's still hard feelings, struggling students and upset community activists.
"We have accomplished much," said Paul Pastorek, the former Louisiana state schools superintendent who helped establish the program. "But we certainly haven't conquered all the challenges we face."
Here are five lessons that Louisiana politicians and educators tried to impart on Georgia legislators considering their own sweeping changes to education.
1. Keep it focused: Louisiana's school takeover plan centered initially on New Orleans. Tennessee's started with Memphis. Both spread more slowly to other parts of the state.
Deal's proposal allows the state to intervene in as many as 20 schools a year, but speaker after speaker urged the governor and lawmakers to avoid biting off more than they can chew.
"This allows for a fresh start," said Leslie Jacobs, a former Louisiana Board of Education member who helped implement the program. "But use it gently."
The advice was to pick off a smaller handful of schools, about five or six, to build political backing and community support. Choose wisely, they said, because a failure or two could undermine the entire system.
"The way you cut through the whining is to show the success," she said.
2. It won't be easy to hire talent: There's a brutally competitive market for talented education leaders, and there aren't enough successful charter school firms to swoop in and make a sea change.
In New Orleans, for one, state education leaders were surprised to find how ill-prepared some charter school firms were to handle the task of taking control of troubled schools.
It's taken 10 years to get a stock of 50 stable charters. The majority are homegrown, and most of the for-profit systems are long gone. The system is a magnet for teachers who want to try innovative new methods.
"Develop quality indigenous teachers in your state and cities, who can take education reform models," said Bill Rouselle, an education activist. "Education is changing and we have to be able to prepare for those changes."
3. Get community buy-in: One of the more telling moments of the trip came when state Sen. Butch Miller, R-Gainesville, asked the Louisiana contingent how they won ever education groups.
“We never did,” said Ann Duplessis, a former Democratic state senator who sponsored the changes in Louisiana.
She and others urged Georgia lawmakers not to make the same mistakes. Recruit community members and parents to sit on the boards of the faltering schools facing state intervention. Communicate early and often with the media, the parents and the teachers.
It's still a struggle in New Orleans. One of the high schools the delegation visited was Sci Academy, which was the center of a community protest just 18 months ago over the high rate of expulsions. Patrick Dobard, the superintendent of Louisiana's recovery district, said he learned a valuable lesson from the episode.
"You need to build a coalition of the willing and make sure there are parents involved," he said. "Don't be an imperialist."
4. Watch your back: Even earning elusive community buy-in won't be enough.
In Louisiana, some school districts facing state intervention fought back. Hard. Administrators wouldn't transfer over supplies and transmit records. Critics turned to the courts. Hard feelings linger still.
"You need to plan for the takeover," said Jacobs, the former state board member. "The districts will fight you tooth and nail. They will do everything they can to sabotage the takeover."
During those protests at Sci Academy, Dobard said he presented the parents with a question that helped soothe their concerns.
"I know what you're against," he said he told them. "But what are you for?"
The result was a new process aimed at reducing expulsions. So far, he said, there have been none this school year.
5. Play the long game: There will be no seismic shift, so don't hope for drastic short-term improvements. Build some flexibility into the system for problems that haven't yet surfaced, and solutions that haven't been invented.
"Don't be so rigid you think you'll get it right in the first draft," said Dobard. "Legislation should create a broader framework that gives the superintendent the flexibility."
As the opposition mounts, keep focused on the target: the families of students in failing schools.
"Don't get lost in the weeds with the negativity," said Dana Henry, the executive director of Stand for Children, a grassroots education organization. "The best evidence that this will work is the parents."
Above all, said Dobard, is be aggressive.
"You only get one shot," said Dobard. "Rarely do opportunity and convenience meet. You have to take chances. We're daring greatly to make changes."
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