Five months into his tenure as superintendent of the East Baton Rouge Parish school system, LaMont Cole has cut in half the number of people who report directly to him and has selected one person to oversee all academic operations.
It has been years since the school system last entrusted one administrator with that magnitude of authority given to Catasha Edwards. Until this change, three top administrators helped oversee operations for East Baton Rouge’s 80-plus schools, which educate nearly 40,000 students.
“I want everything that directly impacts what happens with teaching and learning under one person, who meets regularly with all of the people to ensure what happens with our students,†Cole said in an interview.
The administrative changes and accompanying organizational chart, unveiled this week to coincide with his 100th day leading the district, are a sign of the cautious, yet decisive approach the 51-year-old Cole has taken so far running Louisiana’s second-largest school district. Cole has spent that time carefully relearning a district where he spent the first half of his 27-year education career, taking what he’s described as a “bottoms up†approach.
Under that approach and notable in the new structure, the deputy superintendent's role shrinks and essentially excludes academic functions.
To mark his 100-day milestone, Cole also submitted  to the school board. Like Cole's contract, the new plan calls for improving letter grades of schools to such an extent that East Baton Rouge is "a leader among comparable school systems in improving academic outcomes." It will be up for a final vote when the board meets Thursday.
Cole has been charged with making rapid academic improvements in a school system, with a bevy of schools that fell behind during the pandemic and have struggled to improve. He inherited 18 schools with D letter grades and 12 schools with F, and he has been tasked with reducing that total by at least five. To that effect, he’s already closed one F school, and last week, two charter schools with F grades announced plans to close as well.
Catasha Edwards.
Edwards, meanwhile, was one of Cole’s first hires after he took over in August. She served initially as chief of literacy and was subsequently promoted to chief of academics. Previously, she spent almost four years in a series of high level posts with the Louisiana Department of Education. Earlier, she worked for 18 years in East Baton Rouge Parish, including six years as principal of the A-rated Westdale Heights Academic Magnet Program, or WHAM.
Smith's portfolio shrinks
Deputy Superintendent Adam Smith, a 28-year veteran of the school system, remains in the inner circle, but he will oversee mainly non-academic areas. Three division chiefs who previously reported to Cole instead will report to Smith.
In Cole’s initial weeks, he and Smith, who are old friends, worked as peers. Smith, who had spent six months as interim superintendent, oversaw much of the daily operations of the district, while Cole visited schools and familiarized himself with the district.
In his new role, Smith will manage a smaller portfolio of “ancillary services,†overseeing student activities, student support, community engagement and technology. He will keep a hand in academics by overseeing the district’s Division of Accountability & Assessment.
“That data piece is one (Smith) owns, that he loves and he can do great things with,†Cole said.
Adam Smith.
'Too many direct reports'
In devising his new district organization chart, Cole drew on feedback he sought from consulting group, Huntsville, Ala.-based .
Cole’s predecessor Sito Narcisse had 10 top administrators and 13 direct reports. Partly at LEAN Frog’s urging, Cole slashed that to four top administrators and six direct reports.
“It was too many direct reports for the superintendent,†Cole said.
The consulting group, led by Byron Headrick, is a favorite of East Baton Rouge and many other Louisiana school districts.
LEAN Frog is also advising East Baton Rouge’s Transportation Department, as well as the district’s effort to consolidate low-enrollment schools. For the latter, it is building a database meant to help inform those decisions. An initial round of school consolidations, what Cole is calling an “Alignment Plan,†is set for a vote in April. The board plans .
Cole's new organizational structure is no longer formed around major activities or “functions.†Instead, it centers around four “programsâ€: academics, ancillary services, fiscal management and communications. Programs, in LEAN Frog lingo, are broader than functions, each encompassing an array of “similarly aligned functional work.â€
Narcisse had expanded the number of direct reports to him, but the organizational structure he used was similar to how the school system has been organized for decades. According to LEAN Frog, though, that setup is not very adaptable to change and becomes less effective over time. It leads to the creation of more and more independent district offices and divisions. Executive control steadily decreases.
“This model is ineffective for a school system as large as East Baton Rouge Parish,†the consulting firm advised. “This model discourages horizontal integration and promotes silos. It makes it difficult to achieve an aligned strategic focus across the organization, hinders process control, and reduces accountability.â€
Cole said after some consideration he decided “the advantages of a program-based organization were far greater than the disadvantages.â€
More on the Top 4
Taylor Gast.
Besides Edwards and Smith, the new top four positions include the administrative director of communications, a job held now by Taylor Gast.
Gast served as communication director under former Superintendent Warren Drake and was rehired this fall by Cole. She will continue to oversee the areas of communications, public relations, marketing and advertising.
A fourth and final top job is an unfilled, newly created position: associate superintendent of fiscal management.
Whoever holds that new position will oversee business operations, child nutrition, federal programs, finance, human resources and logistics. Five division chiefs who now report to Cole or other district leaders will report to this person.
Soon recruiting will start to hire a professional for the position, and Cole said he is not sure if he will fill it internally or externally.
Two more people continue to report to Cole: general counsel Gwynn Shamlin and Jennifer Lightfoot, executive director the EBR Foundation, a private foundation that raises money for the school system.
Shamlin and Lightfoot have employment contracts and answer ultimately to others — the parish school board in Shamlin’s case, the board that oversees the foundation in Lightfoot’s case.
Changes continue
Cole said his top administrators will be assessing who now reports to them and some may seek changes in personnel.
Cole makes $285,000 annually in base salary, and his compensation package is valued at more than $400,000 a year. Most of his top deputies make $136,254 a year. Smith is the highest paid with an annual salary of $234,103.
More changes are coming.
Cole said he is likely to jettison Narcisse’s  regions and organizing many job positions around those regions. Cole, though, said he has not settled on how he would reorganize the schools. Here are the five current regions: Broadmoor-Sherwood, Highland-Old South, Mid-City, North and Southeast. Narcisse also made a sixth region labeled “transitional†which consisted solely of alternative schools.
Adonica Duggan, chief executive officer of nonprofit Baton Rouge Alliance for Students, commended Cole for seeking to foster a shared mission and a “tighter sense of the intersection between the departments.†Even so, it’s a tough task, said the former communications director for the school system who had reported to then-Superintendent Warren Drake.
“Large systems are going to have large system problems,†Duggan said. “This does what they can to minimize that.â€
While he is limiting those who report to him, Cole still meets weekly with a larger district leadership team, which includes as many as 50 administrators.
He said the full team is present when the weekly meeting starts, but people steadily leave as their areas are discussed. At the end, only Cole’s closest advisers are left. They then recap what just occurred.
In a change from his predecessors, Cole is not holding these team meetings at the Central Office but inside schools during the school day.
“To me, the work happens in the schools,†Cole said. “Myself and the district leadership team need to see what happens in the schools.â€
