School unions urge EBR School Board to appoint interim superintendent over other finalists
BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — The nine-member East Baton Rouge School Board is divided. They voted five to four for the final three superintendent candidates on June 28. The move eliminated interim superintendent Adam Smith from consideration.
Over the weekend, finalist Krish Mohip dropped out, citing another opportunity. The remaining two finalists are Andrea Zayas and Kevin George.
Union representatives for the Louisiana Federation of Teachers and the Louisiana Association of Educators were in Baton Rouge on Monday, July 8, trying to persuade those five board members to change their votes.
“You still have a chance to do the right thing, and that is appoint Adam Smith as superintendent,” said Caleb Holmes, the union representative for Region 5 with the Louisiana Association of Educators.
EBR School Board President Carla Powell-Lewis said for that to happen, the board would have to vote to appoint Smith.
We spoke to Powell-Lewis last week and she said they don’t have the five votes needed to make that happen unless one of that five changes their vote.
The five board members who voted against Smith are Vice President Patrick Martin, Mark Bellue, Michael Gaudet, Emily Soule and Nathan Rust.
We reached out to all five, and as of when this article was written, only one responded.
“I have seen the letter from the unions to the school board. I have great respect for our teachers and employees, and I appreciate the time that many of them take to express their strong opinions in support of Mr. Smith. However, my own judgment, taking all perspectives into account, and relying on my own evaluation of the needs of the district and the apparent capabilities and skillsets of the candidates, led me to make the vote I did. I have not seen any reason since then to change my vote.”
EBR School Board Vice President Patrick Martin
Two petitions also have been circulated on social media and have garnered thousands of signatures demanding the board appoint Smith as the new superintendent.
“You have someone that has been with our system for 27 years. My question is, “Why did those five people vote against Adam Smith?” Has that question ever been asked?” asked Pearl Porter, who started one of the petitions.
Smith has been passed up for the superintendent’s job after serving as the interim before. Some members of the community and teachers’ unions don’t want to see history repeat itself.
“Adam Smith is the man for the job,” said Holmes.
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