School superintendent selected on 7-6 vote

Opelousas native Patrick Jenkins was selected as school superintendent by the St. Landry Parish School Board on a 7-6 vote with a key vote cast by a Eunice board member. 
“I’m overjoyed,” Jenkins said after Wednesday’s vote, but he acknowledged the split on the board. 
“For those that didn’t vote for me I just want to win their confidence and just show I want to represent the whole board no matter what the vote was,” Jenkins said. 
Jenkins, 48, is assume his duties on Oct. 24, when the board plans to hold a special meeting. However, Jenkins attended Thursday’s School Board meeting.
The details of his contract are to be determined in meetings with the board’s attorney, the board’s president and vice president, and Jenkins and his attorney.
A salary range of $128,00 to $160,000 has been advertised for the job. 
Asked if he would accept the lower end of that range in Wednesday’s interviews, Jenkins said he would, but added, “If you want to put me on the low end I don’t have a problem as long as you give me a four-year contract.” 
At the School Board’s Thursday meeting, Eunice board member Roger Young won the board’s approval for a vote of confidence and support for the new superintendent. 
Jenkin’s election to the school system’s top job followed two interviews before the School Board and a forum in Opelousas. 
Jenkins won the job from a field of 10 candidates. Five candidates were interviewed in a first round on Sept. 21. 
The final three candidates, Jenkins, Dr. James Gray and Francis Touchet Jr., made their final pitches to the board on Wednesday. 
Before the vote, board member Donnie Perron said all three candidates were outstanding. 
“I’ll support whoever it is whether it is my first, second or third choice. I challenge you to do the same thing,” he said. 
“For the last 15 years we had a group on the board whether a majority or minority fighting the superintendent and the administration. What has happened the last 15 years is we have steadily gone down. Until we work together, support that person and administration it is going to continue,” Perron said. 
School Board members voted for two of the  three candidates in a first round.
Touchet, a network leader for the state Department of Education, and Gray, director of school leadership in Vermilion Parish, tied with six votes in the first round of voting. 
Jenkins received 12 votes in the first round. 
In a tiebreaking vote, Touchet won seven votes. 
Voting for Touchet were Daryl Wagley, Albert Hayes Jr., Perron, Kyle Boss, Mary Ellen Donatto, Young and Huey Wyble. 
Voting for Gray were Anthony Standberry, Candace Gerace, Hazel Sias, Charles Ross, Milton Ambres and Raymond Cassimere. 
In the final vote between Jenkins and Touchet, Hayes switched his vote to Jenkins to forge the winning 7-6 combination. 
Jenkins’ election was greeted with cheers from the audience a the district’s Resource Center. 
Jenkins noted his theme in presentations to the board was “Together we can.”
Jenkins, a 1986 graduate of Opelousas High School, said he wants to unify the board. 
“It is going to take the board, myself, the community, the staff members. It is going to take everyone to move us forward and that is what I want to do,” he said.
The first thing he plans to do is get with his staff to evaluate a 100-day plan, he said. 
Jenkins has a bachelor science degree in secondary mathematics education and master of education degree in administration and supervision from Southern University. 
He began his education career as a mathematics and science teacher at Hines Middle School in Newport News, Virginia. He also taught at East Baton Rouge Parish and West Feliciana parish schools. In 2006, he became principal at Zachary Elementary. In 2012, he became director of operations for the Zachary Community School District. Most recently, he was principal of Copper Mill Elementary in the Zachary district. 
In addition to his education career, Jenkins served 23 years in the U.S. Army Reserves and National Guard. He retired with the rank of major.