Audio recording is automated for accessibility. Humans wrote and edited the story.
For more than two decades, the Valena C. Jones building has stood silent in the 7th Ward. The classrooms have been without children’s voices since Hurricane Katrina left it damaged and abandoned.
When the three-story brick structure was dedicated in 1929, more than 2,000 people gathered to celebrate what was considered one of the best-equipped school buildings in this part of the country…