New superintendent getting to know EBR schools

• By CHARLES LUSSIER
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Jun 21, 2009 - Page: 1A

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For a minute one day last week, John Dilworth looked just like any other new employee of the East Baton Rouge Parish school system.

Dilworth sat in a chair that all new employees occupy and smiled into a digital camera they all smile into and waited for the plastic badge they all wear.

As he walked out afterward, Dilworth held aloft the badge bearing the title “superintendent.”

“You’re official now,” commented Catherine Fletcher, chief business operations officer.

“I can’t wear it ‘til July 1,” said Dilworth, who stowed the badge in his coat pocket.

It was a characteristic move by the man who soon will succeed Superintendent Charlotte Placide, who is retiring June 30 after five years on the job.

Since quitting his last job as superintendent in Montgomery, Ala., Dilworth has treaded carefully, not wanting to upstage Placide.

Over the past month, he has quietly participated in in-house meetings and visited with principals and community leaders, trying to learn what he can about the school system.

Dilworth, who appears laid-back and calm,  professes no grand plans to remake the school system on Day 1. In fact, he expresses disdain for superintendents who turn the world upside down the minute they start a new job.

But Dilworth said he’s willing to make whatever decisions are necessary.

“I’ll be doing a lot of looking and a lot of listening,” he explained. “But I’m not a rookie. I’ve been in this business for 30 years.”

Placide said she expects Dilworth to do fine. She urges him to work with the team she’s developed and build on the foundation they’ve laid.

“The learning curve is going to pretty steep. Not learning how to be superintendent, he’s done that,” Placide said. “It’s learning the culture and the community, just learning people’s names.”
Dilworth already is planning to have three community forums in July to gather input, and he plans to attend many community functions.