(The Center Square) — The Caddo Parish School Board voted to approve the hiring of a new superintendent Wednesday after a controversial search.
Keith Burton, formerly the district’s chief academic officer, is the district’s new superintendent after a 9-2 vote and a lengthy contract discussion.
“I’ve told the board through the interview process and I’m telling the community. You don’t have to come to me, I’m going to come to you,” Burton said in a news conference following the decision. “Let’s sit down, and I am going to listen intently to what the needs of the community are.”
The decision comes after a lawsuit filed by several community groups attempted to stop the interview and hiring of Burton. The plaintiffs insisted that because the board only intended to interview one of six superintendent finalists, Burton, for all practical purposes, would be the de facto choice for the job.
In the petition for injunction, The Peoples Promise Youth Division said by having a lone interviewee the hiring firm McPherson & Jacobson, LLC did not fulfill their duties of providing a fair evaluation to a diverse candidate pool.
Burton was the only white candidate out of the six finalists, according to the People’s Promise Youth Division Facebook page.
The page also said, “Spending $70,000 on a national search means we should see a fair process and have a chance to hear from more candidates about their plans to improve our schools.”
District Judge Brady O’Callaghan denied the initial temporary restraining order before the interview, and also rejected a redo of the superintendent search process last Friday.
In his ruling the judge stated:
“The potential for harm of which the petitioners complain is the same potential that any person could raise with respect to any decision of any governmental entity. The petitioners simply cannot prove, nor can anyone, what the impact on the community will be from the decisions of the Caddo Parish School Board.”
Despite the loss in court, many citizens still came to the school board’s special session to voice their disappointments. Some got mad, some got emotional, but one man made a statement that summed up the state of the search.
“I guess a congratulations are in order. After three months of flawed and unfair processes, you finally got your man,” parish resident Willie Bradford said.
Burton will start on October 1 and his contract runs for three years.
“They were frustrated about a process, they weren’t necessarily frustrated about a person and as long as we are focused on, again, what matters most, and that’s the students of this district, then we can put adult differences aside,” Burton said.
