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EBR parents demand unity in the district as search for superintendent narrows
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BATON ROUGE - Tonight, the East Baton Rouge School Board will get one step closer to picking a new superintendent. The board will choose their top three candidates to move on to the final round of the hiring process.
The nationwide search has put a lot of pressure on the board members. Community members, teachers and parents all have opinions on the process and who should be picked.
Latonja McMillian is one of those parents. Her child is a 5th grader at FLAIM. She is also the owner of a hair salon and says she gets to hear the opinions of many of those community members.
"I have clients that come and go, I have clients from every walk of life, from the school teachers to the parents to the librarians to the principals," McMillian said. Since the search for the district superintendent started, it has been the main topic of discussion for her and her clients.
"Everybody I talked to just wanted the board to pick the best and somebody who was going to be able to unify and move our school district forward."
The top five candidates are Andrea Zayas, Krish Mohip, Patrick Jenkins, Adam Smith, and Kevin George. Out of the five, the two candidates with the most votes are Adam Smith and Kevin George.
"And if it comes down to Kevin George and Adam Smith, is our school board going to once again be divided," McMillian said.
Kevin George is the director of University Laboratory School. He received five votes from the board.
"If Kevin George is the better person for the job, will our school board have enough courage to select him in the face of the public that is going to be upset about it?"
The interim superintendent, Adam Smith, received seven votes from board members.
"And if Adam Smith is the best one for the job, are the Kevin George supporters going to let it go and support Adam Smith?"
When it all comes to an end, McMillian says she hopes the board chooses wisely.
"If you are really trying to pick the best, this has got to be something that's going to keep you up at night. This is a decision that's going to affect 40,000 children," says McMillian.
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