Alvarez & Marsal

Even before hurricane forces tragically ravaged New Orleans, the city’s public school system was in abysmal condition.  Years of financial and operational mismanagement and corruption came to a head in mid-2005 when State Education Superintendent Cecil Picard recognized drastic action was needed and, together with the Orleans Parish School Board, hired Alvarez & Marsal in July – to right the ship.  Then Katrina hit.

Overnight, Alvarez & Marsal went from financial managers to crisis managers.  Two days after the levees failed, the team was in Baton Rouge, meeting with education officials and school board members to assess the damage and develop a plan for recovery.  Alvarez & Marsal Real Estate Advisory Services and Alvarez & Marsal Dispute Analysis & Forensics Services led the way in working with FEMA to assess the damage (estimated at $800 million), and get buildings into condition to be opened and occupied. 

Alvarez & Marsal is continuing to work to ensure that finances are sufficiently stable to allow the district to continue to function in the short-term and implementing a plan for managing and reducing, over a five-year period, more than $400 million in accrued liabilities.  Alvarez & Marsal’s goal is to leave the district well on its way to being able to focus more of its energies on education and less on financial and operational crises.