Pointe Coupee gets 18 school candidates

• By KORAN ADDO
• Advocate Westside bureau
• Published: Jul 6, 2009 - Page: 1B

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NEW ROADS — A top administrator with the East Baton Rouge Parish public school system, two Louisiana Department of Education officials and a former St. Helena Parish superintendent are all vying to become Pointe Coupee Parish’s new superintendent.

The job opening came about after former Superintendent Dan Rawls abruptly retired March 25, citing fatigue. Rawls’ retirement came five years after he took the job and just five months after he received a three-year contract extension at his request.

Two days later, the School Board named Mike Lucia, a former parish superintendent, to the job on an interim basis. Lucia is not a candidate for the superintendent’s post.

The School Board will interview all applicants in the first round of interviews scheduled for morning and evening sessions on July 21 and July 22, Lucia said.

Of the 18 candidates, the parish has so far identified 13 who are qualified under state standards to work as a school superintendent.

As of last week, school system administrators were still working to determine whether the remaining five applicants are certified to work as school superintendents in Louisiana, Lucia
said. He and other school officials declined to name those candidates.

Of the applicants, eight have doctoral degrees; two have previously worked as superintendents; 13 have worked as principals; and two currently work for the Pointe Coupee Parish school system. A third of the candidates live outside Louisiana.

Among the candidates in the running to replace Rawls is Elizabeth Duran Swinford, associate superintendent for human resources for East Baton Rouge Parish schools.

Swinford, who has held her current job for the past six years, has also applied for superintendent positions in Baton Rouge and in Arlington County, Virginia.

Also in the running is Jerry O. Payne, an educational consultant in Pine Grove. Payne previously worked as superintendent of St. Helena Parish public schools from 2002 to 2005, and of Bogalusa city schools from 2005 to 2008.

Sheila L. Guidry, an education technology consultant, and Hamilton P. Brock, chief GED test examiner, both state Louisiana Department of Education employees, have also applied for the Pointe Coupee Parish superintendent position.

Lucia said he will ask candidates questions submitted by School Board members and the public, which is being asked to submit its questions by July 13.

School Board attorney Bob Hammond said questions asked in each of the four first-round interviewing sessions will be different. The idea, he said, is to eliminate the possibility of candidates knowing in advance what questions will be asked.