Icing on the Gâteau: Lycée Français's French Quarter Move
The Little Red Schoolhouse when it was still occupied by Homer Plessey in 2022.
March 2025To the delight of the neighborhood, the city’s French immersion elementary school will move into the vacant “Little Red Schoolhouse” this fall.
- by Jane Lowrance-Neal
According to The Data Center, only 55 children, ages 0-17, currently reside in the French Quarter – an all-time low in a neighborhood whose streets once rang with children’s voices. This fall, a school will once again occupy the neighborhood’s “Little Red Schoolhouse,” bringing hundreds of children back to the Vieux Carré.
Lycée Français de la Nouvelle-Orléans, a free public charter school founded in New Orleans in 2011, will open its doors to pre-K through fifth-grade students next fall, swelling the Quarter’s number of children to more than 470 – at least during the school year.
Lycée Français will be closing its locations on Patton and Carrollton streets, but keeping its secondary campus at 1601 Leonidas Street. The school, which follows Louisiana state and French national curricula, will occupy the St. Phillip St. schoolhouse after a nearly three-year vacancy.
That’s good news to people like longtime resident Betty DeCell, who remembers a small but active life with children in the Quarter when she and her husband, Jack, moved there in the 1960s.
“Jack and I had two babies while living in the French Quarter in the early ‘60s. There were not many children living here at that time. Bob and Jan Carr started an organization for parents and children with occasional gatherings. Our older son went to a lovely pre-K school on Esplanade,” she says.
The school in 1965
In Quarter kismet fashion, in the early 1800s, French-born Suzanne Douvillier – the country’s first female choreographer – worked and performed in a theatre that once occupied the same location as the red schoolhouse on St. Philip. In 1861, the site became home to its first school, St. Philip School for Boys, which operated for seven decades.
In the early 1800s, the theatre where the country’s first female choreographer, French-born Suzanne Douvillier performed stood on the site of the “Little Red Schoolhouse.”
The St. Philips School for boys, which stood on the site from 1861 - 1931.
When the boys’ school was razed in 1931, McDonough 15, painted bright red, took its place. The building’s most recent occupant, Homer Plessy Community School, closed its doors and relocated to the Seventh Ward in 2023.
Some Lycée parents say the move to the Quarter will bring multiple benefits. Bridget Dew Nalley, who anticipates her four children, ages 4-8, will attend Lycée’s Quarter location next year, said the move will give back almost three hours of her family’s day.
“It currently takes us 40 - 45 minutes to get to school,” she says. The move will cut that down to 10 minutes.”
While Nalley concedes the move is less convenient for families who live uptown and may create parking inconveniences, she is looking forward to the benefits of her children being educated in the Quarter.
“I think this is an incredible opportunity for Lycée and is going to give the kids such a unique experience,” she says.
Nalley also believes the Quarter is a better cultural fit for the school. “[We’ll have] increased opportunities for hands-on, community-based learning experiences for the kids.”
For Lycée Kristin Hébert Veit, the move to the Quarter means more time in the car for her children, ages 8 and 2. They’ll have a longer commute and have to fight more traffic.
But for her family, the advantages outweigh the inconvenience. Although her children are already familiar with the Quarter as Veit’s workplace, she is looking forward to her children exploring more of the neighborhood.
She also believes the move to bring French language and culture back to its historic neighborhood center reflects a positive trend. And she feels the move will create a more appealing cultural exchange for teachers, too.
“I’m excited about the opportunity for more walking field trips to places like the Cabildo, the Historic New Orleans Collection, the French Market and the Mint [home of the New Orleans Jazz Museum]” Veit says.
Collin Makamson, Curator of Education at The Historic New Orleans Collection (HNOC), says the museum is “beyond thrilled to have a neighborhood school so close to our campus – especially a school like Lycée, with whom HNOC already has a long-standing relationship.”
“The possibilities and potential are immense and not just simply for museum visitation, but for real collaboration, teacher professional development, students conducting primary source research and more,” says Makamson.
“We'll make sure we're among the first in the welcoming party!”
Lycée children on a visit to BK House in February, photo courtesy BK House
Nalley hopes the Quarter residents will welcome the students as well.
“From what I can tell, it'll put us within a community that's excited for us to be there instead of being one of many schools in the neighborhood – which substantially increases the opportunity for community engagement,” she says.
If Nathan Chapman, board president of the Vieux Carré Property Owners, Residents and Associates (VCPORA), is any indicator, the Quarter will indeed open its arms to the students.
“Our VCPORA board members were overjoyed,” Chapman says. “Our organization works tirelessly to keep the French Quarter as a true neighborhood – and neighborhoods have schools. Neighborhoods have people of all ages, including children.”
Other residents who treasure the Quarter agree with Chapman: robust schools are part of robust neighborhoods.
French Quarter residents Daniel and Heidi Raines noted that locals and visitors alike are delighted to see children attending school in the neighborhood.
The Raineses chose the neighborhood to raise their two daughters because of its rich history and devoted community of residents and say that, contrary to popular belief, there are several families raising children in the French Quarter.
The family also believes that making the Quarter their home has given their children a sense of belonging – and immediate access to New Orleans culture from places like Preservation Hall, Royal Street art galleries and the Historic New Orleans Collection exhibits.
Lycée children on a visit to BK House in February, photo courtesy BK House
Although their children don’t attend the Lycée, the Raineses say that by moving to the Quarter, the school could show other families what the Quarter has to offer as a community.
“We are optimistic that reopening the former Plessy/McDonough 15 Schoolhouse will encourage more families to consider the French Quarter as a neighborhood to establish a family home,” they said.
Neighborhood resident Betty DeCell agrees that Lycée’s move is an asset.
“It sounds like a great idea,” DeCell said. “I've always thought young children should know more about our treasured historic district, the history and the architecture. I hope this will lead to more respect and appreciation.”
Nathan Chapman said Lycée’s move into the schoolhouse is a dream come true for residents who feared the building would turn into condominiums.
“When I first moved to the French Quarter in the 1980s, we had two schools, the public school on St. Philip Street and the private St. Louis Cathedral School, but the latter closed in 2012 and the buildings were turned into condominiums.
“We feared that would be what would happen to this school as well, and we even talked to the City Council about whether we could change the zoning to encourage an educational use of the building. We never dreamed that we would actually get another school.”
The schoolhouse stood vacant and under construction for nearly three years.
Although the Quarter boasts parks and a playground, Chapman laments that raising children in the neighborhood is less viable than it once was.
“As property values and home prices increased over the last few decades, most young couples with children find other neighborhoods a more affordable place to raise a family,” he said.
But he’s encouraged that family life in the community might be making a comeback. And the fact the school’s new occupants will emphasize French language and culture is a boon for Chapman.
“Since many of us in the French Quarter are Francophiles, to have it be a French immersion school in the French Quarter is icing on the gâteau,” he said.
A Note From Lycée Français Superintendent, Dr. Chase McLaurin
Dr. Chase McLaurin
We are very excited about joining the French Quarter community along with all of the exciting new learning opportunities this will create for our students and staff to immerse themselves in the neighborhood’s countless cultural and historical resources.
There will be many ways for French Quarter residents interested in supporting our school through volunteering to help with beautification projects, school learning projects and events, or helping us to provide tutoring in French or English.
We are always looking to partner with businesses for different staff appreciation initiatives or by supporting us through our development organization: Amis du Lycée Français.
For more information on Amis du Lycée Français, please contact Dr. Normann at anormann@lfno.org
Valentine’s Day decorations when Homer Plessy was still occupying the school.
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