Seventeen people, including Interim Supt. Adam Smith, submitted applications to become the next permanent leader of the East Baton Rouge Parish school system, the second largest in the state.
The applications were posted online late Tuesday afternoon. You can see them here: .
Other notable applicants familiar to locals include:Â
- Angela Domingue, former district administrator and former acting superintendent of City of Baker schools. Since 2021, she's been chief of schools for Helix Community Schools, a Baton Rouge-based charter school network.
- Nichola Hall, current chief of human resources for the school system since 2021. She was previously assistant director of food & nutrition services for two years in the City of Bridgeport, Conn., school district.
- Kevin George, director of LSU Lab School since 2021. He spent six years as superintendent of the St. John the Baptist Parish school district.
- Patrick Jenkins, former superintendent of St. Landry Parish schools for seven years. He is currently chief of operations for the Jefferson Parish school district.Â
- Bernard Taylor, who served as East Baton Rouge Parish school superintendent from 2012 to 2015. He is currently acting principal of Pittsburgh Oliver Citywide Academy.
The advertising for the vacant position began in mid-May and the application deadline was close of business Monday.
Baton Rouge-based , the hired search firm, subsequently turned over the applications to the School Board, which then redacted certain personal information such as telephone numbers and email addresses before posting them online.
A final vote is planned for July 1.
Many of the 17 applicants have current or past experience leading school district of various sizes.
Verna Ruffin is the only applicant who is currently a superintendent a larger school district, leading the 18,000-student Waterbury School District in Waterbury, Conn., since 2018. The Waterbury board voted 9-1 in April to renew Ruffin as superintendent for three more years, but to do so had to , who said that "serious issues of trust and communication exist" between Ruffin and district staff. Ruffin spent 21 years in Lafayette, including four years as principal of Northside High School.
Others have experience in larger school districts. For instance, Fabby Williams has spent the last two years as deputy superintendent of schools for Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools in North Carolina, home to about 53,000 students.
The search was necessitated by the departure of Sito Narcisse, who accepted a voluntary buyout in January, six weeks after the board voted 5-4 to not renew his contract. Narcisse left three years after he was hired.
Smith, a district administrator for the past 28 years, immediately stepped in as interim superintendent, a job he can legally hold for only six months, or until July 23. Smith served as interim superintendent previously but was edged out by Narcisse for the top job in January 2021.
A series of meetings are to follow:
- Tuesday, June 18. Settling on which applicants to invite back as semifinalists and participate in virtual interviews.
- Thursday, June 20. Selection of finalists.
- Wednesday, June 26. Public introduction and a “Meet and Greet†with finalists.
- Thursday, June 27. Live interviews of finalists.
- Monday, July 1. Selection of Superintendent.
The next leader of the East Baton Rouge Parish School District, which has more than 40,000 students, will face an array of challenges.
Academically, the school system has recovered some after falling behind during the pandemic, but its growth is slower than the state overall, and it has two middle schools in danger of state takeover.
Financially, the school system is in good shape at the moment, thanks to a strong local economy and tens of millions of dollars in COVID relief funds. Those COVID funds, however, expire this summer. And there is a still-unresolved school transportation crisis that marked the start of the current school year, plus ongoing efforts to significantly boost pay across the board for the district’s roughly 6,000 employees to keep pace with the job market.
An April 26 decision by the Louisiana Supreme Court greenlighting the formation of a new city of St. George also renews the possibility of the future formation of a companion St. George school district, carved out of the parish school system.
