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Nearly 18 years after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans officials are celebrating a long-awaited milestone:
All public school buildings in the city damaged or destroyed during the storm have been rebuilt or restored.
The big picture: The project, completed in March 2023 with the opening of the Dr. Alice Geoffray School, was the largest school rebuilding program in the countrys history.
Hurricane Katrina severely damaged or destroyed 110 of the 126 public school buildings.
The project cost about $2.1 billion and was primarily funded by FEMA.
What they did: Katrina hit in 2005, and the school facilities master plan was adopted two years later as a long-term rebuilding strategy.
It was a partnership between the Orleans Parish School Board and the Recovery School District.
In 2009, President Barack Obama visited one of the first rebuilt schools Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. High School.
Eleanor McMain High School was renovated under...