New Orleans, LA – Classes at Crocker Arts & Technology School will be cancelled on Friday, December 4, 2009, due to structural problems discovered at the New Orleans Free campus at 3601 Camp Street, in New Orleans, where Crocker has been housed since the start of the school year, Recovery School District (RSD) officials announced.
Crocker is expected to reopen on Monday, December 7, 2009, at the Carver Elementary campus, 3052 Almonaster Blvd., in New Orleans. The move to the Carver campus is temporary. Crocker will be reopened at the McDonogh 7 building at 1111 Milan Street beginning January 4, 2010.
Crocker, an RSD charter school, serves 180 students in Pre-Kindergarten to 3rd grade.
Comprehensive structural assessments were conducted at the 106-year-old New Orleans Free building as a result of sloping observed in the facility. The district received the report today. Soon after, Superintendent Paul Vallas made the decision to close the building to avoid any potential risk to the students and staff. The extent of repairs needed at the New Orleans Free site has not yet been determined; however, the building will need major repair work before it can be reopened.
A new Lawrence D. Crocker building is currently in the design phase as part of the comprehensive School Facilities Master Plan, a joint effort by the RSD and Orleans Parish School Board.
Andrew H. Wilson Charter School, currently housed in the McDonogh 7 building, will reopen after the holidays in its newly renovated campus in the Broadmoor community.