By Kimberly Hopson
L’Observateur

RESERVE – The St. John the Baptist Parish School Board made some progress in its search for a new superintendent during Thursday night’s meeting.
The School Board agreed to hire Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates to helm the superintendent search process in March, and the firm has attended several board meetings to update members on the progress of the search. Firm representatives Ben Martindale and Louise Coleman presented board members with a leadership profile report and a tentative list of desired characteristics to look for in the future superintendent.
The leadership profile report was compiled from data collected from more than 100 interviews and nearly 200 online surveys conducted during the month of April. Board members, school district administration, parents, surrounding community, support staff and teachers all contributed to the information collected for the report. Most notably, the detailed, 37-page report listed the perceived strengths and challenges of the district — the list of perceived challenges was significantly longer than the list of strengths, however.
Martindale, an associate with the Illinois-based firm, said the turnout for the interviews and survey was very good considering the short timeline.
Financial challenges, poor communication/lack of information, lack of parental participation, loss of students to vouchers and low morale were among the points listed in the challenge section. The school district was credited for their partnership with Marathon Petroleum, good facilities, use of technology and evidence of improved tests scores. The report also went on to list the strengths, challenges and characteristics of each particular focus group.
The school board members took the report in stride.
“From this point on, what direction do we go? What’s our next step,” asked board member Albert Burl.
Martindale revealed the firm already had 25 applicants for the position, mostly from the southeastern area of the country. The firm representatives said they were expecting a few more applicants but added that the number was good for such a short timeline. The firm will begin screening interviews during the remainder of the month and plans to present the top five candidates to the board by June 3.
The board members chose to adopt the firm’s list of proposed characteristics for the future superintendent, with a few additions. Board member Rodney Nicholas suggested the new superintendent have a successful track record in education, have a Ph.D. or a Doctor of Education degree, be culturally sensitive and embrace interaction with the parents.