Appeals court says Orleans Parish district wrongfully fired 7,000 teachers after Hurricane Katrina

An appeals court has decided that the Orleans Parish (La.) School Board wrongly terminated more than 7,000 teachers after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reports that the damages in the case could come to $1.5 billion. A five-judge panel ruled unanimously that the terminated teachers were not given due process, and many teachers should have been provided an opportunity to be rehired as jobs opened up in the first years after the storm. The appeals court awarded the teachers two to three years of back pay.