Students and faculty learned of the growing need for quality educators in New Orleans during a presentation by educational leader Paul Vallas Thursday night.

Vallas, the superintendent of the New Orleans Recovery School District, spoke in Altgeld Hall of the unique opportunity teachers have in the city after Hurricane Katrina.

“Hurricane Katrina wiped out the entire school district,” Vallas said. “Now we’re literally building a school system from the ground up.”

While Vallas acknowledged the challenges, he also pointed out that this is an opportunity to make changes in a school system that are not possible in established school districts.

One of the changes that the New Orleans Recovery School District has made is increasing the hours students spend in school.

“Eighty to 85 percent of students in my district are below the grade level they should be, and without them spending extra hours in school, they won’t get caught up,” Vallas said. “You can’t bring children up two grade levels with an ordinary school schedule.”

In addition to increasing school hours, Vallas, former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, has also developed a work study program where students will spend 150 hours a semester gaining work experience.

“This allows students to make money working at a job they’re interested in, like a bank or a law enforcement agency, rather than taking irrelevant electives,” he said.

Early education is another change being made in the district. Seventy percent of brain development occurs before the age of three, Vallas said.

“I love the fact that he is starting education early with children,” said Rachelle Woodson, a junior sociology and criminology major.

“I personally thought the speech was really educational,” said Cara Billuni, a junior education major. “I wasn’t really informed about New Orleans and the school programs they have.”

Billuni hopes to one day make the same kind of difference Vallas has.

“Once I get into teaching, it made me want to get into a program that helps alleviate problems in poor districts,” she said.

Vallas believes his work will help shape the next generation.

“I see the contributions made in education as something that outlives us,” he said.