EBR School Board members, community react after Kevin George withdraws from superintendent race
BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — Kevin George, a finalist in the search for the East Baton Rouge Parish Schools Superintendent, bowed out, leaving one finalist left for the position.
On Tuesday, George announced in an email that he was withdrawing from the race and staying at the LSU Lab School after the decision at last week’s school board meeting was postponed.
School board members reacted to the decision with some wishing him well.
“Mr. George would have been a tremendous superintendent to improve the education of our children. I understand and respect his decision to withdraw,” said Patrick Martin, vice president of the EBR School Board.
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“I know that this was quite a place of decision for him. I know that he is well-loved at LSU. I know that he does bring us a brilliant skill set. But right now we’re dealing with a cultural issue,” said Carla Powell Lewis, president of the EBR School Board.
For some, George’s decision was a good sign for the process.
“Him stepping out of the race for us was a good thing,” said Angela Reams-Brown, president of the East Baton Rouge Federation of Teachers.
After finalists have dropped out, Reams-Brown said she hopes the board makes a good decision that the teachers and community will favor.
“He has never left this district,” she said. “If Thursday does not end with Adam Smith as the next superintendent then we will be meeting to determine what we’re going to do going forward.”
Powell-Lewis said in regards to Andrea Zayas being the only finalist left, that still doesn’t mean she automatically receives the position.
“We’re in unchartered, unprecedented waters at this point. It can be scary, but then it can also be helpful as well,” she said. “We’ve always said that we wanted to be progressive, that we wanted to be innovative in our processes. And what better way than to kick it off with something that’s nontraditional? As far as a desire of who and how to get to the majority, vote for a superintendent.”
As the next school board meeting approaches, Powell-Lewis sends out a reminder to be respectful.
“Just reminding the public as well that we understand what the First Amendment gives us as freedom of expression, freedom of speech,” she said. “But we want to also remain respectful in our comments, respectful in our comments on social media, respectful in our comments to the news media, and respectful in our comments when we come to our board meetings as well.”
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