Feature Photograph: Applicant Dr. Curt Green being interviewed for the St. Landry Parish School Superintendent position. (Photographs by Freddie Herpin)
BOBBY ARDOIN
Editor/Consulting Writer
The interview process for hiring a new St. Landry Parish school superintendent is completed as board members begin to narrow the number of applicants and select finalists for the position later this week.
Board members are expected to convene for a special meeting Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. to choose an undetermined number of finalists from among the candidates who underwent interviews on Thursday and Friday.
During the interviews board members asked the applicants one question. However additional information and dialogue were provided as board members were allowed to ask follow-up questions.
The Board interviewed Curt Green and Shirley Quebedeaux on Thursday. A lengthier interview session continued on Friday as Paul Nelson, Milton Batiste III and Michael Robinson, Jr. also provided board members with details about their personal lives and careers.
Green is a human resource specialist with St. John the Baptist Parish, while Thibodeaux works as a special needs supervisor in St. Martin Parish.
Nelson is the superintendent of Tensas Parish. Previously Nelson was superintendent in Concordia Parish. Batiste, the only applicant from St. Landry, is a director of student leadership in East Baton Rouge Parish. Robinson is the school district CAO in East Baton Rouge Parish.
Here are brief summaries from the candidates’ interviews:
Thursday Inrterviews
Although he is not living in St. Landry, Green indicated that he has a number of family members living in the parish.
Green said he wants to develop a leadership team that would evaluate the nine parish schools that had D’s or F’s on recent state school performance testing.
“I want to take a deep dive into that problem and look at what is going on in those classrooms,” Green said.
Green said he plans to integrate a number of resources that he says are available for improving achievement and examine how those resources are being utilized.
There is funding available Green said, in order to aid District teachers with scholarships to complete certification. Also Green said he would like to establish a career academy for vocational education.
Green added that he has sufficient experience with improving students’ test scores.
Thibodeaux said she is a proponent of having parents become involved in the educational process.
In order to build a successful career vocational program, Thibodeaux said it is necessary to hire a person who can influence students to become involved.
Thibodeaux said the District might consider using guest speakers to speak to students who are placed in the alternative school program. “Our kids need to know that there’s a world outside their communities,” Thibodeaux noted.
St. Landry, Thibodeaux said, appears to be trending upward with student progress, since 69 percent of the campuses have shown growth over test scores from the previous year.
Thibodeaux said she favors classroom instruction being provided in a traditional way rather than placing too much emphasis on technology.
Friday Interviews
Nelson said he is applying in St. Landry in order to move closer to his two children who have completed college and are now living in South Louisiana.
Tensas Parish where Nelson is superintendent has about two thirds fewer students than St. Landry public schools and about 4,000 residents according to the 2020 census.
Nelson emphasized that he has not tried to micromanage the districts where he was hired as superintendent. Oversight for schools would flow from supervisory staff to the building level, Nelson said.
Classroom discipline said Nelson, can be solved with the aid of social workers and perhaps retired teachers who could be used as classroom consultants.
The District would undergo a 100-day plan initially, Nelson said, in order to provide a community introduction for his programs and perhaps solicit the support he would need for implementation.
Batiste, whose interview was attended by a large crowd, said his major asset is his knowledge of District.
As a teacher, coach, principal and transportation supervisor, Batiste said he has worked in every St. Landry public school attendance zone and familiar with most of the District supervisory staff.
Batiste said he strongly supports ninth grade academies that transition students from eighth grade into high school settings.
In order to move his educational plan forward, Batiste said he plans to meet with mayors from the 12 parish municipalities and consider what they would like to see in St. Landry.
Robinson indicated that he is a strong believer in the committee system and that he will establish team building activities and retreats to promote employee familiarity.
Also there will be a need for the superintendent to create a transition team and financial audit report that Robinson said is necessary at the start of his administration.
Involving what Robinson defined as post –secondary partners would perhaps help career education parish wide.
“You want the students to be able to talk to the everyday people who do the work,” Robinson said.
Robinson said he would like to involve a number of support systems to reduce student truancy.
It will be important to gather the assistance from law enforcement, the judicial system, the District Attorney’s Office and parents so that school attendance is better monitored, said Robinson.
