Rookie legislator makes education his priority

13th April 2015   ·   0 Comments

By Mason Harrison
Contributing Writer

“I am a professional change agent,” said state Rep. Joseph Bouie, who in November won the race to replace outgoing Rep. Jared Brossett in what amounted to an all-but-certain victory in District 97 after opponent Eugene Green dropped his short-lived candidacy. Bouie — a former longtime chancellor of Southern University at New Orleans — not surprisingly says education will be among his top legislative priorities.

Bouie kicked off National Healthy Schools Day April 7 at New Zion Baptist Church, along with the local NAACP chapter, Lt. Gen. Russell Honore, District C Councilmember Nadine Ramsey and other local groups. The healthy schools campaign is in response to plans by the Recovery School District to construct new classrooms on the site of the former Booker T. Washington High School. “I graduated from Booker T. Washington High School, which was built on top of a waste dump,” Bouie told those gathered at the event. “As a state legislator, I want to ensure that no more schools are built on waste sites.”

In 2013, contractors found a series of heavy metals on the site of the old high school, built in the 1940s atop a former landfill. Toxins found include significant amounts of mercury, lead and arsenic, each a possible carcinogen. Bouie plans to introduce House Bill 180, when the Legislature convenes April 13, that would bar the construction of any school on a former waste site, according to the text of the one-page bill.

In March, Bouie told community activists in New Orleans he also has designs on returning non-failing schools under the RSD to the jurisdiction of the Orleans Parish School Board, but, to his “surprise,” the former college professor was not selected as a member of the House committee on education. “I didn’t understand it,” he said, in an interview with The Louisiana Weekly. “When you’re new you can request committee assignments. I asked to be assigned to the education committee and other committees on municipal issues.” Bouie said he spoke to House Speaker Chuck Kleckley to no avail.

He described the panel as a legislative step-child. “There are vacancies on the committee. No one wants to do the work,” he said. “But that doesn’t negate my interest in education.”

This month Bouie will introduce House Bill 166 to return 33 schools that are eligible to return to local control. If enacted, the measure gives each school one year to make the switch from RSD supervision to board control.

Bouie’s breadth of experience in the politics of education is only matched by the broad smile he employs while holding class before activists as a new lawmaker. Bouie said he “could’ve moved on” after serving for years as the chancellor of one of the city’s historically Black universities, but, he said, “I’ve been fighting since 1966 as a student, volunteer and community advocate.” Bouie has no plans to stop now.

This article originally published in the April 13, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.