Original Research by School Decision on Sarah Towles Reed High School
Sarah Towles Reed High School operates as a single-school district serving New Orleans East, enrolling students in ninth through twelfth grade. The school is small by high school standards, with its enrollment declining markedly from ninth to twelfth grade, a pattern that raises questions about retention. State testing data was not available for this entity, so a direct read of student proficiency cannot be made. The chronic absenteeism rate sits below the midpoint among Orleans Parish’s districts, meaning a larger share of students miss school frequently than in many nearby schools.
The student body is majority Black, with a substantial Hispanic enrollment and a smaller Asian presence, while White students and those of other racial backgrounds represent a very small share. Free-or-reduced-price lunch data was not available, and the school’s special education and English learner counts were also missing, leaving gaps in understanding the full support context. Programs such as Advanced Placement, career and technical education pathways, or dual-credit offerings were not reported, so a parent reading for academic breadth would need to ask the school directly.
Publicly reported news indicates that the Einstein Charter Schools board voted to close Sarah T. Reed High School at the end of the current academic year. The decision was driven by a pattern of low state performance grades—consistently a D—and a physical plant that has not received major repairs since Hurricane Katrina. Enrollment has been declining across the network, and the other three Einstein schools are merging into a single K-8 campus at the Sherwood Forest location. This means the high school will cease operations entirely, and families currently attending must find placements elsewhere for the following year. The closure is the second time the school has been shut down, suggesting a history of instability.
The district’s per-pupil spending is in the middle range among Orleans Parish districts, falling in the lower half, which may reflect the challenges of maintaining a small, standalone high school with aging infrastructure. A parent looking at this district should understand that its high school is not continuing past the current year. The practical question is not whether this school is a fit, but what alternative high schools in New Orleans East or across the parish can absorb its students, and whether the incoming ninth graders who were expecting to attend Reed will have a clear path. The data does not indicate any district-wide programming beyond this single high school, so the district itself exists primarily as an administrative entity for one school and will presumably dissolve or reorganize after the closure.
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