NEW ORLEANS — Parents in Jefferson and Orleans Parish are demanding answers. They want to know why school wasn't canceled ahead of Wednesday's severe weather. WWL Louisiana spoke to two mothers who are asking why schools thought it was ok to allow students to walk through flood water.
You may have seen the video floating around on social, or right here on WWL Louisiana. This Sophie B Wright student is 15-year-old Kayltin Tate. Kayltin is a straight-A student. Wednesday morning she told her mom she was going to school. Her mother Tykisha Tate is asking why the school wasn't canceled, and why schools dismissed students when half the city was flooded.
Tate said, "When the rain started coming down, very quickly, very fast, when I noticed the water starting to rise, I felt like a dismissal should have been called then."
"I received a call from the automated message between 10:30-11 p.m. that night. The automated call stated that school will be open the next day students are expected to attend, it was mandatory."
She says the school put her daughter in danger, allowing her to walk through floodwater. "Not being able to really trust the school and their decision-making, that's my major frustration," she said.
Inez Pierre's 8th-grade daughter goes to Arthur Ashe Charter School in Gentilly. Pierre said, "The care and responsibility of a life is not important, it's important enough to get them in the seats but it's not important enough to get them back safely home."
According to the city, Gentilly got close to eight inches of rain Wednesday. Pierre said, "We know New Orleans floods, we know that lines come down, we know we have potholes." She says after hearing how bad the weather was set to be, she kept her child home and says she called the school to let them know.
In turn, she got an email from the school stating her daughter's absence would be marked as inexcusable. She says, if students are off for too many days there's the possibility they'll have to attend summer school.
"An unexcused absence for me should be granted to everyone just because you're a charter school and you can decide how and when you want to move still does not make it safe."
Both mothers agree, if City Hall is closed for bad weather, schools should be closed too
We reached out to First Line Schools, which Arthur Ashe Charter School falls under, and have yet to hear from them. We also reached out again to New Orleans Public Schools on Friday, they said, "NOLA Public Schools does not make decisions on temporary school closures unless it's a declared state of emergency. Our charter schools have the autonomy to make those decisions on an individual basis."