Whitman Wilcox V attended kindergarten through fourth grade at a neighborhood public school in the Lower Ninth Ward. He had just started the fifth grade when Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005. His family was forced to evacuate; he wound up at a Catholic school in Houston.
Back in New Orleans the next fall, he switched to a brand-new charter school, KIPP Believe, for middle school; started high school at another charter school, Sci Academy; then was homeschooled for a year.
Now, he's beginning his senior year of high school. This time at St. Augustine, an all-boys Catholic school famed throughout the region for its marching band.
Five schools in nine years. A generation of children who've lived through the storm and recovery have traced educational odysseys like this one.
