Work begins on high-tech academy in New Orleans

A backhoe tore into a crumbling building on the future campus of a new high-tech academy in New Orleans, an early step in a plan to build and renovate five schools that will open in September 2009. The five schools are an attempt to show progress in a city where shuttered buildings still languish after the 2005 flood, and to jump-start a facilities master plan expected to be done in the spring. The master plan will change the landscape of what once was a singular system of about 130 campuses.
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EARLIER: About 60 school campuses in New Orleans have been assessed since early fall as officials work to create a master plan for the city's public school facilities. The master plan could drastically change the landscape of the school system, whose enrollment was already declining before Hurricane Katrina, and could also determine the future uses of the about 130 campuses.
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Design teams have unveiled preliminary plans to build and renovate several new public schools in New Orleans. Recovery School District officials hope to break ground on the three new schools and two renovated buildings by the end of the year, the first wave of construction before the completion of a larger master plan sometime in 2008.
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Louisiana education officials have established criteria for determining where contractors will start renovating or reconstructing five new schools in New Orleans. The work is expected to be completed by the 2009-10 school year. Officials have said most, if not all, of the projects will be new construction rather than renovations.
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Chasing an ambitious timeline, Louisiana Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek announced a plan Wednesday to renovate or break ground on five new buildings in New Orleans by the end of the year. Plans call for one school in each of the city's five council districts. Most of the work will probably be new construction, rather than renovations, and will be completed by the 2009-10 school year.
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