Homecoming for a DTM Principal

Earlier this spring, I told you that Dispelling the Myth school Bethune Elementary in New Orleans will be getting a new building. The plans for the new school are posted here, and if you scroll all the way down, you can see some folks from Bethune thanking the Orleans Parish School Board for its decision — Principal Mary Haynes-Smith is all the way on the right.

One of the things Smith told me she is thrilled about is that the new building is actually a replacement for Bradley Elementary, which was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Smith was principal of Bradley when the storm hit, so moving Bethune’s children there next year will be a real homecoming for her.

You might have read that New Orleans is now an “all-charter” city and wonder what’s going on with Bethune. I talk about that in a column in Huffington Post this week, but the short story is that New Orleans has two school districts, and only one of them is now all-charter. Bethune is in the other district.