In an often ugly debate, the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board changed leaders Thursday, installing board members who a month ago voted against renewing the contract of Superintendent Sito Narcisse.
The result is that board member Carla Powell-Lewis has been promoted to president and board member Patrick Martin V replaced her as vice president. Powell-Lewis is Black and Martin is White. Both took office in January 2023.
Out as president is Dadrius Lanus, one of Narcisse’s most prominent supporters. Lanus, who is Black, was nominated Thursday to serve a second year as board president. Instead, Lanus withdrew his name from nomination, but not before saying his piece.
Lanus said the fix has been in to remove him as president.
"Tonight’s vote was decided long before I came here,†Lanus said. “This has been going on for quite some time."
He blamed unnamed outside groups for the result.
“There was already a concrete plan to sow chaos and division on this board,†he said.
The change from Lanus ends one year where all of the leaders of the school system — superintendent, board president and board vice president — were Black.
Lanus lost points with his colleagues after he led the negotiations that resulted in a proposed new, four-year contract with Narcisse that came with a $55,000 pay raise and would have made Narcisse the highest-paid school superintendent in Louisiana.
Powell-Lewis also spoke Thursday. She said that while she loves the school system, a place where she once taught and where her son attends high school, the past month has been as tough a time as she’s ever faced.
“I’ve shared with my family that this role has been more intense than child labor,†she said.
Powell-Lewis said she voted against renewing Narcisse’s contract because “I felt strongly about the lack of leadership that we have had in the district.†And after her vote, she said, she has been the subject of vicious attacks from people who “hide behind emails with fake names.†She expressed dismay that Black residents are the ones who have been spreading lies about her.
“It was my Black people who were behind it,†she said.
With Lanus bowing out, the board voted 8-0 for Powell-Lewis. Board member Shashonnie Steward abstained.
The board quickly moved on to picking a vice president, pitting Martin against Steward, who is African American. Martin won in a 5-4 vote.
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For Martin: Mark Bellue, Emily Chatelain, Cliff Lewis, Patrick Martin V and Nathan Rust.
For Steward: Mike Gaudet, Lanus, Powell-Lewis and Steward.
The breakdown was similar to the Dec. 7 vote to deny Narcisse four more years as superintendent.
Bellue, who was in the minority last month in supporting Narcisse’s renewal, was in the majority this time.
Powell-Lewis ended up supporting Steward, but earlier in the meeting she indicated she was going to oppose her for vice president. She recounted a recent meeting with Lanus at T.J. Ribs that Steward and former board member Tramelle Howard unexpectedly attended where they pressed to support Steward's candidacy, a meeting Powell-Lewis said she later concluded was an "ambush." Unlike Powell-Lewis, Steward supported renewing Narcisse’s contract.
Steward objected to her name being mentioned.
“I am quite embarrassed that my name is being brought up in the drama that has come up in the past couple of weeks,†Steward said.
The debate quickly devolved.
Howard, who represented District 1 from 2019 to 2022, before Powell-Lewis won the seat, recalled that same meeting at TJ Ribs.
"I told her I was disappointed that I turned over my legacy to her," he said.
After Howard spoke, Chatelain noted that the board tells speakers to refrain from personal attacks: "Maybe we could stick to that."
Lanus also defended himself against criticism that he had failed to keep the board properly apprised of the terms of Narcisse’s proposed contract. That prompted a response from Rust, who said the two met but talked about other issues related to the superintendent’s contract.
“At no point did you and I ever discuss terms of our superintendent's contract,†Rust said.
Rust also disputed the idea that he and board members who opposed Narcisse’s renewal are getting “marching orders†from outside groups, saying that’s an attempt to change the subject.
“The people who are not getting their way on this dais and in this community, they want to twist and manipulate the people to believe that we are the ones that are compromised,†he said.
Gaudet scolded his colleagues on the board for the poor quality of the debate.
“I must say I’ve never been more disappointed with our board than I am tonight,†Gaudet said.
Lewis, who opposed renewing Narcisse’s contract, urged his colleagues to move forward and not dwell in the past.
"Let's get out of the rear mirror and look through the windshield of what we have to do,†he said. “Plain and simple.â€
