Skip to content

Read Our 2025 Impact Report

Focused On

  • Driving District 6
  • Justice
  • Opinion
  • ICE in Orleans
  • In the N.O.

Main Navigation

The Lens
  • Subscribe
  • ❤ Donate
The Lens
  • Subscribe
  • ❤ Donate

Focused On

  • Driving District 6
  • Justice
  • Opinion
  • ICE in Orleans
  • In the N.O.

Topics

  • Criminal Justice
  • Environment
  • Government & Politics
  • Land Use
  • Schools

Sign Up for the Latest News

  • The Lens Newsletter
  • About The Lens
  • Our Staff

Follow The Lens

  • Bluesky
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

Listen to Behind The Lens Podcast

  • Spotify
  • Environment
  • Criminal Justice
  • ICE enforcement
  • Opinion
  • Schools
  • In the N.O.
  • Podcast
  • About The Lens
  • Support Us

Category
Schools

Reporting on education in New Orleans and across Louisiana. This category explores how policies, leadership, and community voices shape the experiences of students, teachers, and families—covering everything from classroom challenges to school reforms and success stories.

Industrial pollution linked to learning disabilities in New Orleans area

As Louisiana’s petrochemical industrial facilities expand, the children that live near them are faced with long-term health and developmental impacts
by Kanitra Caston, MS, CNP July 23, 2026 Updated July 23, 2026
a black and white photo of a girl sitting on a chair

Girls usually enter the criminal justice system after abuse

After being kicked out of her house and expelled from school, a 16-year-old girl, Mea, learns to survive on her own.
by Andrea Hagan July 21, 2026 Updated July 21, 2026

Honor student jailed, barred from graduation after unsubstantiated social media threat allegation

A police search of the 14-year-old’s phone uncovered no proof of a threat, sparking outrage from local activists over the school’s response.
by Vivi Smilgius July 15, 2026 Updated July 15, 2026

A New Orleans Katrina kid takes the head office at Warren Easton

Incoming principal Kendall McManus-Thomas returns to Easton as a pathbreaker who grew up in pre-Katrina schools, experienced the disaster and all of its chaos as a displaced high school student, and went on to become the first Black man to head up Franklin High School. 
by Vivi Smilgius July 7, 2026 Updated July 10, 2026

New student-loan rules will heavily affect women seeking higher education

Advocates warn that the changes, part of the so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill," will deepen existing racial, gender and class inequities in college access.
by Nadra Nittle, The 19th July 6, 2026 Updated July 6, 2026

The fields have a stadium now

The NAACP should help top Black student athletes forgo SEC money and honor the NAACP voting-rights boycott — without having to take a back seat.
by Andrea Hagan June 30, 2026 Updated July 12, 2026

Long-awaited 9th Ward Stadium breaks ground behind G.W. Carver High

First envisioned in 2008, the 3,700-seat stadium will open in Fall 2027 as Raising Cane’s 9th Ward Stadium at LCMC Health Field
by Vivi Smilgius June 23, 2026 Updated August 28, 2026

They studied nearly 14,000 people to see how eviction rates are linked to gun violence

Since the 1990's, researchers have connected poverty to gun violence. A recent study shows how housing instability relates to shootings in Chicago — important findings for New Orleans, where historically, the eviction rate is double the national average.
by Fairriona Magee, The Trace June 12, 2026 Updated June 12, 2026
Shareef Cousin stands beside a recreational vehicle (RV) parked outside New Orleans. Nearby, his sons Yasir and Shareef Jr., ages 10 and 12, wait alongside the vehicle. The RV will serve as their home during a planned two-year journey across the United States. Cousin, who was sentenced to death at age 16 before being exonerated, says the trip is part of his effort to heal from the lasting impacts of incarceration while building a life focused on freedom, family, and exploration.

Learning to live inside freedom, 30 years after death row 

Wrongfully sentenced to death at 16, Shareef Cousin survived a decade behind bars before being exonerated and released. Three decades later, he is determined to find his own sense of freedom, through a cross-country journey with his son.
by Shareef Cousin June 8, 2026 Updated June 12, 2026

Why Louisiana parents stand behind school vaccine protections

Though Louisiana legislators again introduced the "Medical Freedom Act," which prohibits vaccine requirements, the version that made it through the Louisiana House was amended so that it did not apply to schools or daycares. There is widespread bipartisan support for school vaccine protocols - and here's why, says the writer, the co-director of Louisiana Families for Vaccines.
by Eric Johnson June 2, 2026 Updated June 8, 2026

Posts navigation

  • «
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • …
  • 279
  • »

About The Lens

The Lens fights to reveal and report on issues that impact the community and the region.

Staunchly defending the public's right to know, we are deeply committed to sharing our knowledge with the community at large. We center human impact in all our work.

Our reporting has more urgency than ever.

Sign up to get the latest news on New Orleans and the Gulf South sent directly to your inbox.

 
 

Support The Lens

We depend on your support. A generous gift in any amount helps us continue to bring you this service.

Donate Now

Most Popular

Damiri Eves, Abramson student killed by pickup in Gentilly, had just turned 14Damiri Eves, Abramson student killed by pickup in Gentilly, had just turned 14September 5, 2026Gus BennettIn the N.O.
Katrina 21: Care Forgot. We Didn’t.Katrina 21: Care Forgot. We Didn’t.September 4, 2026Kristyna JonesOpinion
Louisiana balloon release ban inspires Sci High students to rethink traditionLouisiana balloon release ban inspires Sci High students to rethink traditionSeptember 2, 2026Vivi Smilgius and Delaney NolanEnvironment

The Lens
The Lens fights to reveal and report on issues that impact the community and the region. Staunchly defending the public's right to know and deeply committed to sharing our knowledge with the community at large. We center human impact in all our work.
  • Bluesky
  • Instagram
  • Facebook
  • About The Lens
  • Our Staff
  • Employment
  • Contact us
  • Corrections
  • Support The Lens
  • Get The Lens Newsletter
  • Privacy policy
  • Code Of Ethics
  • Republish our stories
Candid Platinum INN Member LION Member
© 2024 The Lens. All Rights Reserved.

Our reporting has more urgency than ever.


For more than a decade, we have reported on issues as well as public policy meant to address the needs of residents. The Lens seeks to focus on the inherent inequality that has created a multi-tiered system. We, at The Lens seek to uncover, illuminate, inform and take part in a forward-looking community. Join us.

 
 

Continue to The Lens