Mary McLeod Bethune Elementary initially resisted charter conversion after Hurricane Katrina. Principal Mary Haynes-Smith opposed charters because parents felt shut out by private organizations operating them. As New Orleans moved toward an almost all-charter system in the 2010s, traditional schools faced mounting pressure to convert. Haynes-Smith formed a charter group in 2017 to keep leading the school, was approved, and embraced the autonomy of charter leadership. Charter status enabled local decision-making—prioritizing teachers over district purchases—citywide student enrollment, renovated and rebuilt buildings, and access to more than $2 billion in funding amid falling enrollment.
"I was so against charter schools. I thought it was the pits," says Mary Haynes-Smith, the school's longtime principal. Haynes-Smith didn't like what she'd heard from parents that they felt shut out by the private organizations hired to run the charter schools. But as New Orleans crept closer to becoming the country's first all-charter system in the 2010s, the handful of traditional schools left, including Bethune Elementary, started feeling more pressure. "It was a forceful thing," she remembers.
Haynes-Smith fought it until 2017, when she formed a charter group so she could continue leading the school. She was approved, and to her surprise, found she loved the arrangement. "It's the best thing that could have happened." Under the old system, Haynes-Smith says district officials often made decisions for the school that didn't make sense. They bought computers when what Bethune needed was more teachers. Now, as a charter school CEO, she has the freedom to make most decisions on her own.
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