First Lady visits N.O. schools

Section: Education

wwltv.com

Associated Press
First Lady Laura Bush is visiting two New Orleans schools this week to keep focus on the needs of children whose families are still recovering from Hurricane Katrina.

The first lady is slated to arrive in New Orleans this afternoon. Her first stop will be the Good Shepherd Nativity Mission School, where she is expected to discuss, among other things, the importance of monitorship programs for the city's youth.

Good Shepherd serves roughly 77 students from low-income families and has a partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters, an organization that provides young people with positive role models.

Since Katrina struck the Gulf Coast two years ago, flooding roughly 80 percent of New Orleans and uprooting families, mentors have been an invaluable resource to young people, including many students at Good Shepherd.

Karen Ranatza, the school's principal, says she's excited the first lady plans to visit Good Shepherd.

On Friday, the first lady will visit another New Orleans school -- Benjamin Banneker Elementary -- before heading to the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where she will address a group of educators at the University of Southern Mississippi in Ocean Springs.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)