School Board picks Sanders for superintendent

CENTERVILLE -- The St. Mary Parish School Board on Thursday voted to make Dr. Rachael Sanders its next superintendent.

Sanders won eight votes from the 11 School Board members as they chose from among three veteran educators.

"Honestly, it's very overwhelming," Sanders said after Thursday's School Board meeting. "In an odd way it was overwhelming to have that kind of support."

Sanders has served as interim superintendent since Dr. Buffy Fegenbush took medical leave in November and subsequently retired.

Sanders, a Lafayette Parish native, began her educational career 26 years ago in St. Mary as a teacher. She has served as Patterson High's principal and directed the parish's alternative program.

She was assistant superintendent when she was tapped for the interim position.

Also under consideration were applicants J Ina, the Franklin Junior High principal who has spent a 36-year career entirely in St. Mary, and James Russell III, who has been the child welfare and attendance director in Iberia Parish for 12 years and is a former middle school principal.

Ina is also a St. Mary Parish councilman. Russell is also an attorney.

The three applicants underwent a total of about five hours of public interviews with the full board April 30.

On Thursday, the board had the option of calling for further interviews or moving directly to choosing the new superintendent. Board members discussed the candidates in a closed-door session of about an hour and came out ready to vote

They were prepared to vote on multiple ballots until one of the candidates to received the necessary six votes to win. Sanders won on the first ballot.

Voting for Sanders were board President Alaina Black and Andrew Mancuso of Morgan City; Rhonda Dennis of Amelia; Lindsey Anslem of Bayou Vista; Ginger Griffin and Marilyn LaSalle of
Patterson; Chad Paradee of Berwick; and Lawrence Guillory of Centerville.

The other three votes went to Ina: board Vice President Dr. Tammie Wilson of Four Corners, and Debra Jones and Guienzy Brent of Franklin.

During her interview, Sanders spoke about the challenges posed by the continuing desegregation case, declining enrollment and the accompanying reduction in state funding, and the need to streamline the parish's career and technical programs.

She also talked about "defending the things that bring students joy."

On Thursday, Sanders talked about impact standardized testing and accountability scores have on schools.

"We've made schools such a pressure cooker for everybody," Sanders said. She hopes to meet with her team and ask "is it necessary to squeeze those minutes so much?"

Sanders won't officially be the new superintendent until she negotiates her contract. In the meantime, some of that testing is underway, and graduations are set for May 14-15.

"Once we have those great celebrations next week," Sanders said, "the real work gets started."