One evening last month, Livingston Collegiate Academy students escorted groups of alumni through the New Orleans East school, showing off classrooms and the building’s state-of-the-art gym. The alumni were from Sarah T. Reed High School, the neighboring, soon-to-close school whose name Livingston will adopt.
Last year the charter operator that has run Reed for the past decade said it was closing the historic school because of low enrollment, poor academic performance and a building in dire need of repairs. Reed’s alumni network sprang into action, imploring the Orleans Parish School Board to find a way to keep their beloved school’s legacy alive.
Collegiate Academies, which operates several high schools in the city, soon agreed to rename and rebrand Livingston as Sarah T. Reed…