A month since taking over, new East Baton Rouge Parish School Supt. LaMont Cole has added a few new faces to the Central Office, including a new chief of literacy and a director of school meal service.
Cole, however, has thus far kept in place almost all of the district leaders he inherited when he was selected on July 24 to assume the top job overseeing Louisiana’s second-largest traditional school district.
It’s a notable contrast to his predecessor, Sito Narcisse. Immediately after taking over in January 2021, Narcisse remade district leadership, hiring a bevy of new administrators, many of them from out of state. Many of the leaders who were there when Narcisse arrived were sidelined, retired or left for other jobs.
Cole’s changes so far are modest. He said he’s assessing district personnel to see what changes are in order. He has thoughts on the best organizational structure for his administration, but says he's spending time learning what’s happening on the ground before making those calls. He’s not expecting to complete a new organizational chart until late September or early October.
“Most people work top down. I’m working bottom up,” Cole explained.
Since taking over, Cole has spent a lot of time visiting school campuses, talking with principals and teachers.
“It’s important for me to talk to school leaders and identify what their needs are so we can best figure out how to support them,” he said.
Cole’s new hires have spent their careers in the Baton Rouge region, but only two have worked previously for the school system.
“I am looking to identify folks who live in Baton Rouge, who grew up here but have taken their talents elsewhere. Why not bring them home?” asked Cole, who’s spent 26 years working in education in Baton Rouge, about half of the time with the school system.
The most prominent hire is Catasha Edwards as the new chief of literacy. She previously spent 18 years with the school system, including six as principal of Westdale Heights Academic Magnet, a popular A-rated, magnet school in Baton Rouge. For nearly four years, Edwards has worked for the Louisiana Department of Education, the past two as deputy chief of staff for the agency’s office of teaching and learning.
Edwards is replacing Shenoa Warren. Warren is now executive director of early childhood, overseeing a division she previously led for years. That job was recently vacated by Leigh Griffin, who left to serve as executive director of a local nonprofit.
There's a vacant position for a chief of academics, but Cole is not sure if he will be filling that. C. Michael Robinson was the last chief academic officer, leaving for a job in Ohio in summer 2023. Warren took on some of Robinson's duties after he left.
Of the new hires, Cole said he reached out directly to Edwards as well as another prominent new hire, Marvin Evans.
Evans is now one of seven executive directors of school leadership. These administrators work directly with school principals throughout the parish.
Evans has spent the past 11 years as principal of Donaldsonville High in Ascension Parish, a school with about 500 students. Before that he spent six months as an assistant principal in New Orleans and seven years as teacher and assistant principal in Dallas. His first eight years in education, he worked as a teacher at Glen Oaks Middle and Tara High schools in Baton Rouge.
“He has high school expertise but he’s going to work with all levels,” Cole explained.
Evans replaces Arcelius Brickhouse, who in June left to become executive director of instructional leadership for the school district in Allentown, Pa. Brickhouse spent two years as chief of schools under Narcisse, the number two position in the school district.
Cole said Edwards and Evans will work with low-performing schools with D and F academic letter grades.
“I wanted to bring in some expertise around addressing those needs and then in addition to that some people who’ve had some outside experience,” Cole said.
Edwards’ salary is $131,235 a year while Evans is making $121,060 a year.
While Cole is familiarizing himself with the schools, Adam Smith, formerly interim superintendent and now deputy superintendent, is running day-to-day operations. Consequently, all cabinet members continue to report to Smith, who then reports to Cole. Cole, however, said once he reorganizes, Smith will have a smaller portfolio and other administrators will be elevated.
“Academics will probably report to one person, operations will report to one, finance will report to one,” Cole explained. “Human Resources is going to be a department all by itself. It needs to be.”
The other two prominent new hires since Cole became superintendent are Ellen McKnight Hill as director of child nutrition and Jennifer Lightfoot as executive director of the Foundation for East Baton Rouge School System, the private philanthropic organization that raises money for the school district and its activities.
Cole said he had little involvement in those hires, leaving them to Chief of Human Resources Nichola Hall, who oversees the child nutrition department, and the foundation’s board.
The director of child nutrition position has been vacant since November when longtime director Nadine Mann retired after 34 years with the school system.
Hill, a licensed dietitian, has spent the past 14 years working in a variety of roles in health care, public health, nutrition, fitness and wellness. This is her first time, though, working in or running a school meal program.
Hill has worked for Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Southern University and Care South. Since 2017, Hill has run her own consulting firm, The Maxine Firm, where she has developed, implemented and evaluated public health and wellness curricula across Louisiana for the young and old. From 2019 to 2022, Hill did work with Healthy BR, a healthy city initiative formed by Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome.
In taking over as the executive director of the Foundation for East Baton Rouge School System, Jennifer Lightfoot replaces Kathleen Sarsfield, who spent almost five years as foundation director, but whose contract was not renewed earlier this year.
The foundation is an independent entity, but the school system funds the executive director position.
Lightfoot has 23 years of experience in fundraising for nonprofits and schools. Her most recent job is with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Baton Rouge, where she worked almost three years as director of development. She previously had similar jobs in Baton Rouge with St. Lillian Academy, the St. Elizabeth Foundation, the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and the LSU Foundation. Before that she worked for six years as a development coordinator for her alma mater, Auburn University in Alabama.