After buying only two houses on block, Lusher seeks permission to tear them down

Space would let elementary campus move in temporary classrooms, which gives the charter school flexibility as main campus repairs get underway. The portable buildings also will allow the school to increase enrollment.
These 2 properties located on Jeanette Street could be demolished to make room for temporary classrooms for Lusher Charter School.

Lusher Charter School is seeking permission to demolish two houses adjacent to its elementary school campus to make room for temporary classrooms.

The large, two-story houses are on Jeannette Street, at the rear of the school, which fronts on Willow Street.

In a letter to the city, CEO Kathleen Riedlinger says the school bought the properties with the intent to “remove the houses to provide suitable space to place temporary classrooms” while the Orleans Parish School Board makes repairs to the main building.

Riedlinger also said that the temporary classrooms will “facilitate temporary growth in enrollments.”

The request for demolition will be heard at the May 5 meeting of the Neighborhood Conservation District Committee.

Karen Gadbois

Karen Gadbois co-founded The Lens. She now covers New Orleans government issues and writes about land use. With television reporter Lee Zurik she exposed widespread misuse of city recovery funds and led to guilty pleas in federal court. Her work attracted some of journalism's highest honors, including a Peabody Award, an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Award and a gold medal from Investigative Reporters and Editors. She can be reached at (504) 606-6013.