Six people apply for St. Mary superintendent post

Six people, including a St. Mary Parish councilman and a longtime Berwick High principal, have applied to become the new superintendent of the parish's public schools.

The St. Mary School Board has closed the application period and called a special meeting for 5 p.m. Monday at the Central Office Complex in Centerville to talk about how to proceed with interviews.

The new superintendent will succeed Dr. Teresa Bagwell, who announced late last year that she would not seek extension of her contract. Dr. Rachael Sanders has since served as interim superintendent.

The job offers a salary of $120,000 to $140,000 per year.

The six candidates are:

--Buffy Fegenbush of Berwick. The district director of academic intervention for Lafayette Parish since 2001, Fegenbush was the Berwick High principal from 2002-2017.

Fegenbush has served four administrative posts in St. Mary Parish schools.

--J Ina of Franklin. Ina, a St. Mary Parish Council member, is also principal at Franklin Junior High.

Except for a brief stint in banking, Ina has served as a teacher, coach, athletic director or administrator since 1998.

--Hamilton Brock of Baker. He has served since 2011 as the principal at Baker's K-12 Alternative Learning Center.

He was principal at Delhi High School in Richland Parish 2007-09.

--Margaret Cage of Houma. Cage has served as supervisor of special education for Assumption Parish schools since 2021.

In 2020 and 2021, she was director of portfolio support for New Orleans schools.

--Curt Green of Gonzales. Green has been director of human resources for St. John the Baptist Parish schools since 2021. He has served as a principal at schools in East Feliciana, East Baton Rouge, St. Louis and Atlanta.

--C. Michael Robinson of Thibodaux. Robinson is currently the chief academic officer for East Baton Rouge schools, a post he's held since 2021.

He served as superintended of schools in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, 2016-2018.

Also on the agenda for Monday’s special meeting is a discussion of budgeting and a public forum on a possible return to block scheduling.

That issue came up at the regular meeting March 9. Block scheduling divides the high school day into four 93-minute periods, and new classes begin each semester. The school system did away with block scheduling in favor of a traditional seven-period day before the 2017-18 school year as a cost-cutting measure.