Who will be the next school superintendent?

The field of candidates for the St. Landry Parish school superintendent’s job was cut from five to three in a seven-hour meeting.
After about one-hour interviews each on Wednesday, the final three candidates are Dr. James Gray, Patrick Jenkins and Francis Touchet Jr.
Jenkins was the top vote-getter with 11 votes followed by Gray with eight votes from the St. Landry Parish School Board.
Francis Touchet and Dr. Quentina Timoll tied at seven votes in the first-round. In a tie-breaker, Touchet emerged with seven votes to Timoll’s six.
The fifth candidate, Dr. Esrom Pitre, had six votes in the first vote.
Board member votes were:
Charles Ross: Pitre, Gray and Jenkins.
Hazel Sias: Timoll, Gray and Jenkins.
Huey Wyble: Pitre, Timoll and Touchet.
Mary Ellen Donatto: Pitre, Touchet and Jenkins.
Randy Wagley: Touchet, Gray and Jenkins.
Candy Gerace: Pitre, Gray and Jenkins.
Donnie Perron: Timoll, Touchet and Jenkins.
Anthony Standberry: Timoll, Gray and Jenkins.
Arthur Hayes Jr.: Timoll, Gray and Jenkins.
Kyle Boss: Touchet, Gray and Jenkins.
Raymond Cassimere: Pitre, Timoll and Gray.
Milton Ambres: Pitre, Gray and Jenkins.
In the tie-breaking vote, Timoll received votes from Standberry, Gerace, Ambres, Ross, Sias and Cassimere. Touchet received votes from Boss, Hayes, Young, Wyble, Donatto, Wagley and Perron.
The School Board scheduled the second round of interviews at 4 p.m. Oct. 5. at the the district’s Resource Center, 1013 East Creswell Lane, Opelousas.
The meeting date was selected to allow community meetings with the finalists between now and then.
Drawing the names from a box, the order of interviews is Gray, Jenkins and Touchet.
The board plans to allow each candidate to make a 20-minute presentation followed by a 40-minute question and answer session.
The superintendent’s job became open when the board decided not to renew Superintendent Edward Brown’s contract, which expires Dec. 31.
Fourteen people applied for the job, which is to pay between $128,000 and $160,000 a year. Ten of the applicants met the advertised requirements.
Besides those interviewed Wednesday, the other five candidates were Dr. Patrick Cooper, Dr. Ina Delahoussaye, Dr. Arronza LaBatt, Dr. Charles Michel and Dr. Dinah Robinson.
Jenkins is the director of operations for the Zachary Community School District. Jenkins has a master of education degree in administration and supervision from Southern University.
Jenkins, an Opelousas native, retired as a major after 25 years in the National Guard, then went into education.
Jenkins cited his leadership experience and, “I feel that I’m the best candidate simply because of my knowledge of curriculum and best practices.”
Gray is the director for school leadership in the Vermilion Parish School District, where he has been in that role since 2012. He served as Westgate High School principal for eight years and the principal at Anderson Middle School in New Iberia for three years.
Gray has a doctorate of education in educational leadership from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Gray, also an Opelousas native, noted his experience in turning around Westgate High School.
But Gray said there are no quick fixes.
“There are going to be some things that we can have a quick turnaround, but if we want long-lasting change that will have an impact on the entire district we need to have something that can be replicated, reproduced and be counted year after year.”
Touchet is a network leader in the Louisiana Department of Education Touchet served as the principal of Erath High School in Vermilion Parish for five years prior to his job with the state.
He earned a master’s in education from McNeese State University.
Touchet said he has worked the past 14 months in St. Landry Parish in his state education department job.
“I will be a superintendent that will be working with teachers, working with principals,” he said.
Touchet proposed dividing the parish in five “turnaround zones” to focus improvement efforts. He also said he could raise the districts score from a C to a B in two years and to an A in four years.