Edna Karr High School Information

Before Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005, Edna Karr High School was among the top magnet schools in the city. After the storm hit and schools shuttered, Edna Karr administrators and district officials knew that many students across the city desperately needed a place to learn and decided that it would be a disservice to the community to reopen using academic requirements for enrollment during a time of public crisis. Edna Karr's facilities fared better than most schools during the storm, and less than four months later, Edna Karr was among the first public schools in New Orleans to reopen ¾ this time as a public charter school. Accustomed to working with second- and third-generation college-bound students, Edna Karr now welcomed many students who would be the first in their families to graduate from high school. Over the next few years, Edna Karr classrooms grew larger, and overall academic performance dipped as the school transitioned into open enrollment. However, John Hiser, the principal of Edna Karr since 1985, took the challenge head-on and refused to change Edna Karr's high expectations for student achievement. Before and after Katrina, the Edna Karr philosophy remained the same: to help every student achieve their maximum potential by delivering rigorous academic opportunity through a strong, college-going school culture. "When we started serving more students who would be the first in their families to go to college, we expanded our existing guidance team to include a trained college counselor who could work with students one-on-one as they prepared for and applied to college," said Hiser. "As a result, our students are better equipped to navigate the college admission and financial aid processes, and are now receiving about the same number of college scholarships as our magnet students were. Our goal is to ensure that our students have the support they need to secure bright futures, and we're here from early morning until late at night to make sure that happens." Today, the large ...