In New Orleans, two men hold the key to whether this region will take part in the impending national economic upsurge: Mayor C. Ray Nagin and Orleans Parish Schools Superintendent Anthony Amato. Amato must get a grip on the out-of-control finances in the Orleans Parish public school system while attending to the pressing intellectual needs of students in his charge. And the School Board, which has been woefully inefficient in helping Amato sift through the financial wreckage that involves at least $20 million in missing funds, needs to become his ally instead of his greatest challenge.