After a tumultuous meeting, the top job in the East Baton Rouge Parish school system remains vacant after a majority of the nine-member parish School Board abstained Thursday night from settling on who should take over the state’s second-largest traditional school district.
The four board members who did vote opted for Kevin George, director of the LSU Lab School in Baton Rouge, to be superintendent, but his candidacy fell one vote short.
The other finalist, Andrea Zayas, former chief academic officer of Boston Public Schools, received no votes.
The deliberation by the board took place under the cloud of a potential employee sickout when students return next month from summer break if the board did not stick with interim Superintendent Adam Smith to serve as the system's leader.
The inability to come to five votes for a candidate Thursday puts the school district in an uncertain place. Smith’s term as interim superintendent ends July 23, six months after he was appointed to fill the vacancy left by the voluntary buyout in January of former superintendent Sito Narcisse.
“This is really untested waters,” said Gwynn Shamlin, general counsel for the school district.
Thursday’s debate saw a rupture in the board, exposing dramatic recent divisions that have developed. The common thread is that the board members voting to pick a superintendent Thursday were supported at the polls by the nonprofit Baton Rouge Alliance for Students, while the others either were not supported or have repudiated past support by the group.
Board President Carla Powell-Lewis said she has been pressured in the past by an outside group — she didn’t mention The Alliance by the name — and said other board members are taking direction from the group on this matter: "If they did not vote that way, if they voted for Adam Smith, they would not be supported in the future."
Board Vice President Patrick Martin V strongly disagreed.
"I can’t speak to what anyone told President Powell-Lewis or any other board member, there is not a single person, business community, quote-unquote interests group, who said if you don’t vote the way we’re telling you to vote, you will not be supported again," Martin responded.
Abstaining from the vote Thursday were board members Mike Gaudet, Dadrius Lanus, Cliff Lewis, Powell-Lewis and Shashonnie Steward.
The decisive move was made by Gaudet who, it turns out, was against all the contenders for the job, including Smith. Gaudet has opposed Smith a total of three times in Smith's attempts to be superintendent.
Gaudet said the search launched by the ouster of Narcisse, whom Gaudet strongly supported, was wrongheaded from the beginning. He said it has been rushed and the board needs to step back and try again with greater unity.
The four board members supporting George were Martin, Mark Bellue, Nathan Rust and Emily Soulė.
As in past meetings, speaker after speaker went to the microphone calling for Smith to be superintendent.
"He's showed us time and time again that he’s dedicated to our city, our kids and our people,” Emanuel Milton said.
"When Adam Smith is in charge, we work hard for this district,” said Kathrin McGregor, a district employee.
“Why are you going out looking at glass when you have a diamond in your hand? I just don’t get it,” said teacher Craig Bilbrew.
"Stevie Wonder hasn’t seen a day in his life, and he could see that this is bull," said Tammy Gray, a teacher and a parent.
Storm Matthews, a teacher with the parish Association of Educators chapter who has organized support for Smith, said she plans on Friday to launch recall campaigns against all of the board members who opposed Smith.
George was present but did not speak. George and Zayas spent all day Monday being interviewed by panels of community members and returned again Tuesday for formal interviews with the full school board.
After Thursday's vote said he's still interested in landing the job. He said he appreciated the passion on display by the people who support Smith and said in big school districts "you're going to have tough nights." But he said the board can't delay too long.
"I’m ready to do that work. But again I’m going to talk to my family," George said. "It’s getting close to start of school. I have a current job. I have to figure out what’s best for everyone involved.”
George and Zayas were two of three finalists selected by the board on June 28. The third finalist, Krish Mohip, a veteran educator from Chicago who spent three years as superintendent of a troubled school district in Ohio, withdrew his name from contention Saturday, saying he is taking another job.
Smith was one of five semifinalists, but fell one vote short of being a finalist himself in the June 28 vote. Since then, Smith supporters have continued to press their case for the well-liked educator. On Monday, they upped the ante, as leaders of the three employee groups announced they would hold a first-day-of-school sickout if Smith is not made superintendent.
George and Zayas have made clear during their interviews that they understand the difficulty they would face as superintendent.
George, a native of Crowley, made his name as an educator in New Orleans and is best known for his time as superintendent of schools in St. John the Baptist Parish from 2013 to 2019. During the interviews this week, he has trumpeted the academic improvement during his time in St. John when it improved from a "D" letter grade when he started to a "B" — it later slipped back to a "C" later in his time as superintendent.
Zayas, who grew up in New Jersey, has a varied resume, working as an art teacher, opening her own charter school in Brooklyn, before rising to school administration, spending one year as a turnaround superintendent in Camden, New Jersey, and later three years with Boston Public Schools, home to about 47,000 students. She also worked for five years in New Orleans, including two years in leadership development with KIPP, a prominent charter management organization. She still owns a home in New Orleans.
