NEW ORLEANS (AP) – Former President George W. Bush returned Friday to New Orleans – the scene of one of his presidency’s lowest points – to tout the region’s recovery from the nation’s costliest natural disaster on the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.
Bush, accompanied by his wife Laura, visited the oldest public school in the city – Warren Easton Charter High School, which was closed for a year because of storm damage and then reopened as a charter school. Bush visited the same school on the storm’s first anniversary, and the former first lady’s library foundation helped rebuild it.
The Bushes met with students at the school’s gymnasium, greeted by New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu and former Louisiana governor Kathleen Blanco, who was in office during Katrina. Laura Bush wore a purple dress to honor the school’s colors.
The school’s success stands as a positive outcome from an extremely trying time for Bush, who was vilified by critics of his administration’s response to the catastrophic storm.
The monster storm that struck New Orleans on Aug. 29, 2005, set off a “confluence of blunders” that Bush never recovered from, in terms of approval ratings, said Douglas Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice University and author of “The Great Deluge,” a detailed account of the first days after Katrina. “That’s when I think his presidency started on a downward trend.”
Bush and his team were so deeply resented and mocked in New Orleans that he was displayed in effigy at Carnival for years afterward.
But at Warren Easton, Bush can point to a success story.
“We have fond memories of his last visit,” said Arthur Hardy, a celebrity in New Orleans for his knowledge of Mardi Gras and Carnival, the city’s signature festivity. Hardy graduated from Warren Easton High in 1965.
After New Orleans, the Bush family planed to visit Gulfport, Mississippi, to attend an event with state officials, including Gov. Phil Bryant and former Gov. Haley Barbour, a staunch Bush ally who was governor when Katrina hit.
The event in Mississippi will serve to thank first responders who helped after the hurricane.
Bush has deep ties to the Gulf Coast and to New Orleans – as a lifelong Texan and as president. His administration oversaw more than $140 billion in spending to help the region recover from the disaster, his office said.
Bush largely took a hands-off approach, frequently saying that rebuilding was best left to locals. Much of the work was overseen by his appointees, however, and he’s made frequent trips to the region since Katrina, his office said.
In 2006, Bush picked Warren Easton as an example of the city’s comeback spirit.
The school had been badly flooded and had been facing closure before Bush’s visit back then. Nearly every student who attended was considered homeless, living in FEMA trailers or sleeping on couches, school officials said.
Back then, Bush advocated for school reforms, supporting the city’s efforts to expand charter schools and break up what was widely seen as a failing neighborhood school model. The old public school system was riddled with broken buildings, failing grades and pervasive corruption.
Since Katrina, New Orleans has become a living experiment for a city-wide charter system, with many schools reporting greater diversity and steady academic gains.