12 vying for superintendent job

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, April 13, 1999

By LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / April 13, 1999

LUTCHER – Twelve people are vying for the superintendent’s job in St. James Parish, including three from St. James Parish and three from St.John.

Walter Landry, who was appointed superintendent on a one-year interim basis last year when John Boughton retired, has made it known he wants the job permanently. He joins Evela Bourgeois, vocational educationsupervisor, and Janie Vee Henderson, instructional supervisor for grades 4-6, as applicants for the job from within the St. James Parish SchoolSystem.

Applicants from the St. John the Baptist Parish School System are MichaelCoburn, principal of Garyville/Mt. Airy Magnet School; Stephenie Watkins,elementary director; and Alfred Donaldson, personnel director.

The St. James School Board voted recently to conduct a statewide searchfor its new superintendent. The School Board will interview the top threecandidates at a special meeting this month and hopes to name a new superintendent at its regularly-scheduled April 27 meeting.

The top three candidates will be selected by the Superintendent Selection Committee, which inc-ludes Derald Bourgeois of the St. James BusinessAssociation; Lloyd Edwards with Louisiana Alliance for Education Reform; Kenneth Foret, school board president; the Rev. Lucien Garrett,representing the ministry; Gufielle Keller, representing parish government; Millie Matherne, administrative director, Auxiliary Services and Personnel for the school system, representing the staff; and Gary Miller of Motiva Enterprises, representing the Industrial Management Group.

Others among the 12 candidates for the job include Dr. Donaldo R. Batiste,principal of McDonough Senior High in New Orleans; Dr. P. EdwardCancienne, superintendent of schools in Assumption Parish; Douglas L.

Chance, a professor at Northwestern State University; Wayne Cook, guidance counselor at Ascension Catholic High School in Donaldsonville; Dr. Donald Litton, principal of Coushatta High School; and Dr. Billie R.Nweze, principal of the Jackson School Complex.

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