A Shattered Career, the Search for a New Start

Judy Ogle, now in Texas, and her four siblings—all employees of the New Orleans Public Schools—face an uncertain future. (Photo by Donna Carson.)

Did this really happen? It was a question that would haunt New Orleans teacher and AFT member Judy Ogle each waking morning in early fall.

Day after day, the details would have to sink in yet again—the events that had driven her from her now uninhabitable Eighth Ward house in the Crescent City and rewarding career in the city's public schools to unemployment and an indefinite stay in a relative's bedroom in Stafford, Texas.

There was the hurried evacuation of her family two days before Katrina hit. There was the short hitch in a few Texas motels before Ogle and four other brothers and sisters—all educators from New Orleans and AFT members—would settle in to begin their lives again at the home of their youngest brother. There was the hope and heartbreak of media announcements about New Orleans schools: first that they would be reopened as quickly as possible, then that they would be closed indefinitely as the extent of destruction became known.

Tragic details, events that Ogle would have to collect and reassemble "each morning, when you would wake up and do not know where you are."

Ogle, a school psychologist, was navigating an October job hunt in Texas like so many other displaced AFT members. Even though there was red tape to cut through ("You give them the references they always want, but you really don't know where these people are anymore"), October still had the markings of a promising new beginning. Two of Ogle's siblings had just landed teaching positions in nearby school systems. Ogle believed it was only a matter of days before the same would happen to her.

Unfortunately, her race to get back on her feet had also turned into a race against time. A few days earlier, one of her sisters got word that the mortgage company was only giving them until Dec. 1 to get caught up on payments for a house that had been destroyed in the storm. They all had lost houses and watched the mail each day to see if similar letters would come for them.

Despite the extreme challenges, "We're staying positive," Ogle says. "It can be frustrating at times, but we pray together and that gets us through and keeps us positive and confident. We don't just give up."

The AFT and its members can play a big role in helping her and other displaced colleagues, Ogle says. What started as "just another storm" has now become a non-stop battle to reclaim their lives. It's a fight that goes on every day, every waking moment. [Mike Rose]