BY KYLE BARNETT

Staff Reporter

RESERVE- Financially or educationally, St. John’s school system is in worse shape than St. Charles has ever been, according to “Sonny” Savoie.

Savoie can speak with experience since he has been a member of the St. Charles school board since 1982 and is the current director of the National School Boards Association. St. Charles school system is currently among the best in the state.

“People want to see progress and if they don’t, they’ll go somewhere else,” Savoie said. “It is human nature.”

Savoie and other consultants from McPherson & Jacobson led focus groups earlier this week on what qualities the new St. John superintendent should possess in order to progress the St. John public school system.

The St. John School Board voted recently to replace Superintendent Michael Coburn, and is now in the midst of their search for a new leader.

Five groups were asked to comment on the needs of the school system; administrators, teachers, support employees, Chamber of Commerce members, with the last group consisting of interested community members.

Some of the issues group members said they will be focusing on are on lack of student discipline, the absence of superintendent presence in schools, the need to hold employees accountable, school board superintendent relations, and the slow progress of standardized test scores amongst students.

This is the first of three rounds of meetings each group will take part in. The second round of meetings will be December 13, 2007 in the school’s media center at 118 West 10th St., Reserve, LA. Community members are invited to provide input at 6 p.m. Groups will discuss qualities the new superintendent should possess before sending their recommendations to the school board.

The third meeting phase will be January 22-25, 2008 where group members will interview three finalists for superintendent.

The St. John school board hired McPherson & Jacobson, the Omaha, Nebraska firm that specializes in finding public service executives, in the wake of their August 2, 2007 decision to not renew current Superintendent Michael Coburn’s contract for the 2008 school year.

The consultants were drawn from school boards in Louisiana parishes with successful school systems. Lead consultant Loe Dunn is a Morehouse parish school board member, Stella Lasseigne is a LaFourche school board member, and Savoie is from St. Charles.

The search started October 9, 2007 and will end with the selection of the new superintendent January 28, 2008.

“The effort is worth it to find someone who is a good leader,” said Savoie. “Someone who I call a CEO of the school system.”