Superintendent candidates make their case

CENTERVILLE — The St. Mary Parish School Board will soon decide the next step in its selection of a new superintendent. Members can either narrow the three-candidate field further with additional interviews or appoint one of the three educators who underwent nearly five hours of interviews April 30.
Discussion about the superintendent selection is on the agenda for Thursday’s School Board meeting at 5:30 p.m. at the Central Office Complex in Centerville.
The three candidates who were interviewed last week are Franklin Junior High Principal J Ina, Iberia Parish Director of Child Welfare and Attendance James Russell III, and interim Superintendent Dr. Rachael Sanders.
Two other candidates had applied but are no longer in the running. Emily Martin of Plaquemine withdrew her application, and Dr. Clarence Michael Robinson of Thibodaux did not submit the required documentation.
The remaining candidates were interviewed separately without being able to hear the answers given by fellow candidates. The 11 School Board members asked the same questions to the three candidates.
A video of the interviews is available on our Facebook page and the St. Mary Parish Schools YouTube page.
First up in the interviews was Ina, who described himself as a son of St. Mary Parish who has spent his three-decade educational career in the parish school system. He said his job as a middle school principal gives him a unique perspective.
“I understand the challenges coming from elementary,” Ina said. “I understand the challenges coming from high school.”
Ina, who also serves on the Parish Council, said the parish is approaching an economic renaissance. But the system faces declining enrollment, competition for new teachers, more school space than the parish needs, and a gap between the needs of students seeking college preparation and technical training.
“We’ve got some challenges that will be looking us in the eye,” Ina said.
Russell has spent 12 years in his current job in Iberia Parish after a stint as principal at Anderson Middle School. His career took a unique turn in 2012, when he entered law school. He was admitted to the bar in 2017.
He came to the interviews with a slide show focusing on the bridges over Berwick Bay, a metaphor for what he hopes to accomplish as superintendent.
Russell also spoke about challenges, including declining enrollment and the LA GATOR program that diverts state funding for public schools to families that can use the money to pay for private schools.
“We’ve focused on what charter schools are doing or what parochial schools are doing,” Russell said. “We have to concentrate on what our schools are doing.”
Russell believes “every student in middle school or high school should be part of extracurricular activities.”
He noted the recently announced plans for the Saronic shipyard to increase its workforce by 1,500 employees, which would have an impact on public schools.
“Saronic is on the way,” Russell said. “Are we ready?”
Like Russell, Sanders spoke about spanning the distance between groups. “I want to be a bridge for St. Mary Parish,” she said.
Sanders has been with the St. Mary system for 26 years, including services as Patterson High Principal and director of the district’s alternative program. The School Board appointed her to be the interim superintendent after Dr. Buffy Fegenbush stepped down in November.
Sanders said she has built good relationships with local leaders and hopes to build what she called strong structures.
“You have to be able to withstand the turbulence,” she said.
Like Ina, she said she hopes to bring together vocational programs that are now scattered across parish schools into one center to make technical education more efficient.
The continuing desegregation case is “going to be the battle of our generation,” Sanders said.
And she hopes to “defend things that bring students joy . …
“Real leadership is deeply human,” Sanders said.