The East Baton Rouge Parish School System remains without a permanent superintendent after board members failed to reach consensus on a final pick for the job Thursday night.
Throughout a tense, four-hour meeting, the board weighed whether to add Adam Smith, the district’s current interim superintendent, to the group of finalists under consideration to lead the state’s second-largest public school district. Dozens of residents, along with several board members, spoke in favor of the move. But the measure ultimately failed.
“To simply say that, ‘You’re not good enough. You did the work. But go home.’ That’s a problem,” said Dadrius Lanus, the board’s District 2 representative who brought the motion to reconsider Smith as a finalist. “We have to listen to the people who elected us.”
East Baton Rouge board members have been searching for a replacement for former Superintendent Sito Narcisse since last December, when they voted not to renew his contract due to low employee morale and disagreements over a large salary increase. Smith, a longtime district employee, was appointed as his temporary replacement.
Whoever takes the helm officially will have to oversee schooling for more than 40,000 students, help improve tepid academic scores and navigate a potential loss of funding and pupils due to the formation of the city of the St. George.
At least 17 people applied to take on the title. Board members selected three finalists late last month, but one candidate withdrew after accepting another job.
The two remaining finalists include education professionals from outside the district: Kevin George, Director of the LSU Laboratory School, and Andrea Zayas, executive director of an education nonprofit and the former chief academic officer of Boston Public Schools.
Both completed several days of community interviews, as well as a final interview with the board on Tuesday. Board members held a preliminary vote on Thursday. Four members voted for George, but five abstained. Superintendent candidates must get at least five votes to win the job.
The selection process has drawn heavy criticism from teacher unions, some parents and community advocates for excluding a candidate who they view as an obvious finalist. The East Baton Rouge Federation of Teachers (EBRFT), along with other unions in the district, have threatened a multi-day “sick-out” during the first week of fall classes if Smith isn’t considered.
This past Spring, Smith helped negotiate a pay raise for teachers and district staff, which won him support from employees, said Angela Reams-Brown, president of EBRFT.
“That hadn’t happened in years,” said Reams-Brown. “And he has rapport with parents, students and the community.”
Board members who didn’t support Smith as a finalist faced accusations of racism and corruption from public commenters during Thursday’s meeting. Mark Bellue, District 1 representative, batted away accusations and said he was an “Adam Smith fan,” but he didn’t think he was the best fit.
“It’s simple,” Bellue said. “I put on there who I thought was better for the long term future, who had better resumes.”
One board member, Carla Powell Lewis, also accused board members who didn’t support Smith of being influenced by outside donor groups.
“All of these people who are not allowing the community to say what they need to say is because they’ve been told how they’re supposed to vote,” Powell Lewis said.
After voting down the motion to include Smith as a finalist, the board moved to consider appointing one of the other two candidates. Two hours of public comment followed, which mostly included community members speaking in favor of Smith’s hiring.
Mary Tissell, a parent of two students in the district, said she believed keeping Smith on would help retain teachers – a task East Baton Rouge has struggled with in recent years.
“Every single year that my kids have been in the system, we have lost a teacher mid-year,” she said. “My oldest kid didn’t really get phonics because he got shuffled around.”
Board members have until late July to appoint a permanent superintendent, or risk state intervention in the process. They adjourned Thursday’s meeting at 9 p.m. without taking a vote on a final superintendent selection. The agenda item will automatically roll over to next Thursday, July 18.