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Around the country, about one in five children suffer from a mental health disorder. In New Orleans, experts say that figure could be even higher, given the trauma induced by Hurricane Katrina and the city’s violence.

Having a mental illness makes it that much harder to concentrate in class. Still, some of the city’s schools are doing what they can to help these children learn.

Here’s a close look at how one charter operator, ReNEW Schools, is working with its most troubled students.

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This story was produced in collaboration with WWNO-FM, New Orleans’ NPR affiliate, and The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, nonpartisan education-news outlet affiliated with Teachers College, Columbia University.