School chief vote

Roger Young, a Eunice School Board member, marks his votes for the candidates for school superintendent who are to be interviewed Wednesday. Young was voting at a special meeting Thursday in Opelousas. (Photo by Harlan Kirgan)

The St. Landry Parish School Board will interview five candidates for superintendent beginning at 4 p.m. Wednesday.
Board members on a 10-3 vote decided to select five applicants for a first-round interview. They turned aside proposals to interview all 10 applicants and trim the list to three at a special meeting Thursday.
The superintendent’s job became open when the board decided not to renew Superintendent Edward Brown’s contract, which expires Dec. 31.
The five selected for interviews are Dr. James Gray, Patrick Jenkins, Dr. Esrom Pitre, Dr. Quentina Timoll and Francis Touchet Jr.
The order of interviews is Pitre, Timoll, Touchet, Gray and Jenkins.
Votes were: Jenkins, 12; Touchet, 11; Gray, 9; Pitre, 9; and Timoll, 8.
Gray is a director of school leadership in Vermilion Parish. Jenkins is a principal at Copper Mill Elementary School in the Zachary Independent School District. Pitre works as coordinator of education for Southern University. Timoll is assistant director of curriculum in St. John Parish. Touchet is a network leader for the Louisiana Department of Education.
Former Lafayette Parish School Superintendent Dr. Patrick Cooper didn’t make the cut for the interviews. Other candidates not chosen were Dr. Ina Delahoussaye, Dr. Arronza LaBatt, Dr. Charles Michel and Dr. Dinah Robinson.
Votes for the candidates cut from Wednesday’s interview list were: Cooper, 2; Delahoussaye, 0; LaBatt, 3; Michel, 6; and Robinson, 5.
Bob Hammonds, board attorney, said the board could call of those candidates for interviews at a later date.
Eunice School Board members Mary Ellen Donatto and Albert Hayes Jr. asked that the field be narrowed for interviews. Donatto suggested three candidates should be interviewed. Hayes wanted five candidate interviews.
Donatto said, “There are not a whole lot of businesses that interview 100 percent of candidates for anything. Because you apply for a job does not automatically entitle you to an interview.”
Donatto and Hayes said board members needed to study the candidates online and with phone calls to narrow the field.
“Part of our job duty as board members is to do our due diligence, our homework. We’ve had these packets in our possession for over a week. We should have read the applicants’ qualities and so forth and we should have checked online. We should have called maybe for their references,” Hayes said.
Donnie Perron, a Port Barre board member, asked, “Why make them drive here when you know you are not going to vote for that person? Some them come from out-of-state.”
Voting to interview five candidates were Anthony Standberry, Charles Ross, Perron, Donatto, Huey Wyble, Roger Young, Kyle Boss, Hayes, Randy Wagley and Raymond Cassimere.
Voting against limiting the interviews to five candidates were Candace Gerace, Hazel Sias and Milton Ambres.
Eunice board members’ votes for interview candidates were:
Hayes Jr. — Gray, Jenkins, Pitre, Timoll and Touchet.
Donatto — Jenkins, LaBatt, Michel, Robinson and Touchet.
Young — Cooper, Jenkins, Michel, Robinson and Touchet.
The interviews are scheduled at the the district’s Resource Center, 1013 East Creswell Lane, Opelousas.