Decision to move Homer Plessy Community School reset until further notice

NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — NOLA Public School Superintendent Dr. Avis Williams says that for now, she has changed her decision to close and move the site of Homer A. Plessy Community School currently located in the French Quarter.

The plan proposed a week prior, consisted of moving the school from the McDonogh 15 building to either the building that’s housing McDonogh 42 or the McKenna citing the poor condition of the building.

The school board says that overall the school does not meet educational standards for the facility set by the Orleans Parish School Board. They listed all problems plaguing the building such as:

• Not being fully remediated of all lead and asbestos.
• It’s also not fully ADA compliant
• It’s not energy efficient,
• It does not have a cooking kitchen,
• It lacks the additional square footage to expand the school’s programming that will help ensure our scholars’ success now and into the future

“I am a leader who must make tough decisions and this sitting was not one of them due to the compelling evidence to support the need to provide a safe and healthy learning environment for our scholars. I am also a leader who must listen. After many conversations with leaders, parents and other community stakeholders, I have decided to reset on this decision and take additional time to receive community input, review more data and allow for deeper engagement,”

Plessy School CEO Meghan Raychaudhuri released a statement expressing their delight for the Superintendent’s temporary decision.

“We are pleased to learn that Dr. Williams is rescinding the decision to resite our Plessy French Quarter campus, while she further considers input from community stakeholders. As we move forward, we hope to iron out long-term solutions, namely how they will fund the $18 million over 10 years that they noted the building needs. Our historic French Quarter building deserves renovation and improvement to remain a place of learning, inspiration and joy for future generations of Plessy students to come. We encourage our community, our school families and all New Orleanians to take pride in their efforts to save this building and encourage everyone to turn their next focus to funding. The Plessy French Quarter campus is not just a place to educate children but also a part of what keeps the French Quarter a living, breathing neighborhood. It deserves saving.”

Plessy School CEO Meghan Raychaudhuri

More meetings with parents of the students will be scheduled for the future both in person Monday (Mar.13) at 5 p.m. at the Homer A. Plessy Community School campus, 721 St. Philip St., and Tuesday (Mar. 14) at 5 p.m. via Zoom.