A yellow ribbon is tied to the chain link fence that separates former residents from their homes in the St. Bernard Development in the city's Ninth Ward.

“Inspirational” is an overworked adjective in our collective vocabulary, but it can surely be used to describe much of what’s happening in New Orleans today.

On Oct. 19, I was honored to be part of a small group of labor reporters who canvassed the city in search of stories to tell. We found them, because this city is full of stories - most of them tragic; a few of them humorous; all of them heartfelt.

When viewing the devastation that remains and bearing witness to the struggle that faces the residents who have chosen to return to their homes, it is impossible to be impartial to the incredible courage that it must take for many of these extraordinary people to just get through a day in their lives. As angry and incredulous as one may be about the way that thousands of Americans could be so abandoned by their own government, you’d be wrong to think that the forgotten men and women of New Orleans are down for the count.

Inspirational things are happening that signal hope for the future of this city. Families are returning to New Orleans, led by parents like Kathy Boisseau – a former cook turned renovator. Boisseau was dismayed when her attempts to re-enroll her 16 year-old son in the newly formed “Recovery School District” were met with hostility and indifference.

Boisseau was told that her son would have to wait his turn to be placed back into school and at the time of her initial request, there were 1,500 children ahead of him in the queue waiting for placement. The problem? A shortage of teachers, a shortage of classrooms and a shortage of teaching materials.

Given the government's public assurances to displaced families across the country that all was well in New Orleans, Boisseau, like many returning parents, wasn’t prepared when the reality didn’t mesh with the spin - a reality forged by the firing of nearly all of the district’s 7,500-member workforce in the months following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the legislative restructuring of most of the New Orleans Public School System into a largely dysfunctional state-run recovery district.

“Our children were used as political pawns,” said Boisseau. “When you take away their education, you take away their hope.”

But Boisseau, like many, is fighting to keep hope alive. “I love my city,” she said. “If I could hold all of New Orleans in my hands, I would.”

UTNO comes back swinging

It’s hard to imagine the logistics of rebuilding a 4,700-member local from the ground up, especially when most of your members have been displaced over thousands of miles by a natural disaster as intense as Hurricane Katrina. But for Dr. Brenda Mitchell, President of the United Teachers of New Orleans (UTNO), that was among the many tasks awaiting her upon her return home.

Using an analogy familiar to many of the city’s returning survivors of Katrina, Mitchell proudly states that “UTNO is rebuilding our house.” But, unlike the community as a whole, UTNO’s rebuilding process is moving quickly ahead.

In the first two days of organizing in the newly-formed recovery school district, UTNO signed up 508 members and now holds a supermajority in those schools. The teachers, many of whom are new to both the profession and the area, understood that they had no rights, no voice and were often treated disrespectfully by the district and their administrators. UTNO’s membership is now at 1,100 members and continues to grow.

In a recent development, the union reached a $7 million settlement with the local school board in resolution of three lawsuits and three pending arbitrations.  The agreement also restored the union’s bargaining rights for the five remaining schools in the New Orleans Public School System.

“This is a true picture of the collaboration and cooperation between the school board and United Teachers of New Orleans,” said Mitchell during a press conference announcing the agreement on Monday, Oct. 1.

Although the union still faces a legal battle with the state challenging the takeover of the Orleans Parish schools, Mitchell remains optimistic.

“We need a healing in terms of our economy, our education, our transportation and our healthcare,” she said. “But I hear the hammers in my community, and I know that the work will be done.”

If you build it, they will come…

Shortly after firing the majority of its workforce, the New Orleans Public School System launched a national recruitment effort for teachers in order to serve the rapidly growing student population that was returning to the city. Lured by housing subsidies and a $5,000 bonus for those who stay a full year, hundreds of aspiring applicants have been added to the payroll.

Many of these new teachers lack certification and have no previous experience in the classroom. Most of them have relocated to New Orleans from elsewhere and have no ties to the area. They tend to be young, single and highly mobile and are often unprepared for the unique challenges of an urban classroom setting. As many of New Orleans’ veteran teachers were terminated and chose not to return to the area, mentoring opportunities are virtually non-existent. But yet, even here, there is hope.

Many of these young men and women have left more comfortable situations to come to New Orleans out of deep sense of social commitment. They want to teach in an area where their efforts count and where the need is most critical. They want to be part of something larger than themselves and in this, there is a lesson for those who continue to ignore the devastation of the Gulf Coast.

Sarah Burgess, Andrew Cox and Claire Jecklin all teach at the New Orleans Charter Science & Mathematics High School. They are bright, energetic, committed to their students and articulate – in short, everything that you would want your child’s teacher to be. They are quick to discuss the positive aspects of their job – their autonomy in the classroom, their ability to discuss issues openly with their administrators and the sense that they have a say in what happens in their school.

So why are these three young teachers working together to help unionize their colleagues?

“There is a sense (in the community) that charter schools are good and that recovery district schools are bad,” says Burgess. "Good things are happening in every school and we have a collective job to educate all of the children in New Orleans.”

“It’s important to remember that we’re part of a larger community,” echoes Jecklin, a first-year English teacher. “Having a structure in place to promote dialogue is not only a way to preserve and maintain what we have, but a way to build upon it."

During my visit to the academy, my attention was drawn to a number of yellow index cards taped to a wall. A larger red card above the group reads: “Katrina Tribute.” Memorialized here are the reflections of tragedy as seen through the eyes of these young students. One card reads:

“I could remember all the good times we all had together. All the smiles. All the people that always get along with others. But all I have to say is WELCOME HOME!!”

Inspiration comes in many forms.

It may come in the form of a single parent fighting for the rights of her child and by extension, fighting for the rights of every child. It may come in the form of a committed and dedicated union leader who continues to be a voice for her members when other powers have written them off the page.

It may come from three young idealists who believe that attainment of the common good is worthy of individual sacrifice. Or, it may come from even younger idealists who just want to put the past in its place and move on with their lives.

Assuredly, it comes from knowing that one day these forces will come together, and when they do, they will be unstoppable. And in that, there is hope for New Orleans; there is hope for us all.