Hurricane can't stop the learning

Learning continues in colleges and schools along the Gulf Coast despite the impact of Hurricane Katrina. In fact, the stories of how the school systems are coping with the aftermath are amazing. Catholic dioceses have worked hard to regroup and to support parents of students whose schools have been destroyed or are unavailable for learning. Public schools in neighboring states, notably in Texas and Georgia but also around the nation, have welcomed students and worked to accommodate the influx of new kids in already-crowded classrooms and with skimpy budgets.

CNN reports that as many as 372,000 students have been displaced. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings is the Bush Administration official charged with crafting a plan to get students in class and back to learning.

I wonder if those schools will be held accountable for state tests on students who barely arrived in their states in time to be tested. Spellings is expected to ask for authority to waive certain provisions of the so-called "No Child Left Behind" Act about student testing and teacher requirements because of the unusual and extenuating circumstances at the start of the 2005-06 school year.

But the colleges and universities, both public and private, are emerging as the heroes in this situation. Here's a transcript from the Sept. 12 edition of CNN's NewsNight with Aaron Brown:

BROWN: ... Tens of thousands of college students found their school year washed away by the floods of Katrina. They scattered around the country, in some cases transferring to schools where their classrooms aren't under water. But hundreds of students from New Orleans found open doors and a surprisingly warm welcome just a few miles up river, in Baton Rouge.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JONATHAN FREED, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They're welcoming some unfamiliar faces at Southern University in Baton Rouge. Some 750 of them so far. Thousands of students displaced from colleges in New Orleans have been fanning out across country, looking for places to spend the fall semester. And maybe longer.

MEGAN PERRY, DISPLACED STUDENT: I thought it was going to be like last time, just a quick vacation, to be quite honest.

FREED: Megan Perry was supposed to attend Dillard University this fall, but Dillard is under water.

PERRY: It's very disappointing and frustrating, because I had everything already planned. I had all my stuff. I bought all my books.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I still have water in my house.

FREED: The influx of new faces had the student government worried about how everybody would fit in. How would you characterize their mood? I mean, are they -- is there anger, is there frustration? Are they feeling lost, stumbling around?

JUSTIN MCCORKLE, STUDENT GOVERNMENT PRESIDENT: Shockingly, they're surprisingly comfortable, surprisingly comfortable. they're surprisingly comfortable. Actually, just blending in. Like if you just looked around the campus, you would never know who were the transfer students.

FREED (on camera): Have you slept much in the last two weeks?

DR. EDWARD JACKSON, SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY CHANCELLOR: I have -- it's gotten a little better as we've gone on, but it's been tough.

FREED (voice over): Southern's chancellor says one thing hurricane transfer student won't have to worry about here is tuition, at least not for now.

JACKSON: If a student has paid tuition at a university in New Orleans, they will not have to pay tuition again.

FREED: The chancellor explains the school will take students at their word if they say they've paid up at another college. And he says the schools will just have to figure it out later. Jonathan Freed, CNN, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

The chancellor of Southern University demonstrates the spirit of the academy -- that learning must continue -- and the spirit of goodwill. He trusts the students who say they have paid tuition, and he welcomes them to his campus. Surely some will abuse his goodwill, but far more will benefit.

Through this tragedy, and in the two weeks since, stories of hope and goodwill and perseverance continue to emerge. It is the American spirit, alive and well.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.