On August 23, 2025, ERA-New Orleans host­ed an in-per­son pan­el dis­cus­sion at the War­ren Eas­t­on Arthur Hardy Audi­to­ri­um. The event fea­tured three pan­els focused on the past, present, and future of pub­lic edu­ca­tion in New Orleans. Edu­ca­tion lead­ers, researchers, and com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers reflect­ed on how the sys­tem had evolved since 2005, exam­ined cur­rent out­comes and chal­lenges, and con­sid­ered what lay ahead for the next gen­er­a­tion of stu­dents. Pan­elists includ­ed Leslie Jacobs, edu­ca­tion reform advo­cate; Alex­i­na Med­ley, for­mer principal/​CEO Emeri­ta at War­ren Eas­t­on Char­ter High School; Renee Akbar, edu­ca­tion pro­fes­sor at Xavier Uni­ver­si­ty; Kate Mehok, CEO of Cres­cent City Schools; Tiffany Del­cour, COO of New Schools for New Orleans; Dr. Lau­ren Las­trapes, Ben Franklin teacher and UTNO rep­re­sen­ta­tive; Adrin­da Kel­ly, exec­u­tive direc­tor of Black Edu­ca­tion for New Orleans; Vin­cent Ross­meier, Pol­i­cy Direc­tor at the Cowen Insti­tute; and Dr. Fatea­ma Ful­more, super­in­ten­dent of New Orleans Pub­lic Schools.