Dilworth’s early exit adds to dilemma
John Dilworth’s surprise announcement Friday that he is leaving as East Baton Rouge Parish school superintendent three months early because of “health concerns” has scrambled further an already scrambled search for his replacement.
The School Board has scheduled a special meeting at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
The meeting could prove as contentious as a Jan. 25 meeting, at which the board, after hours of deadlock, finally narrowed a field of six candidates for Dilworth’s job to just one finalist, Samuel King, superintendent of Rockdale County, Ga., public schools, east of Atlanta.
King is tentatively scheduled to return Feb. 14 for a second interview.
Craig Freeman was the only one of the 11 School Board members to vote for none of the six leading candidates, including King.
King got 10 votes that night to be a finalist, but it’s not clear how much support he has to land the job.
Freeman said Tuesday he is going to once again make a motion to reopen the search, and this time he expects more support than he got Jan. 25 when his motion failed to get a second.
“Please don’t be fooled,” Freeman said. “There are lots of good candidates willing to come to East Baton Rouge Parish.”
The Jan. 25 meeting deadlocked largely because of the determination of supporters of Herman Brister Sr., chief academic officer of the system since 2008 and a longtime administrator.
Brister was able to win only five votes; he needed six to advance.
Dilworth’s early departure — he said Feb. 24 will be his last day — would ordinarily mean Brister, the No. 2 official in the school system, would get promoted to interim superintendent, but that’s looking unlikely.
“There were answers in his interview that made me uncomfortable about hiring him as interim superintendent,” Freeman said.
Specifically, Freeman said he was unhappy with Brister’s response to several questions raised at his Jan. 23 interview about perceived nepotism in the system; several Brister family members have risen to prominent administrative positions.
Even Jerry Arbour, who made the motion to make Brister a finalist, said Brister doesn’t have the votes to be named interim superintendent.
He portrayed Brister’s opponents as irrational since he would only run the school system as interim for a few months.
“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a day, it’s a week, a month or two months,” Arbour said. “It’s Dr. Brister.”
The superintendent fight appears to have spilled out of the boardroom.
Dozens of small yard signs appeared Tuesday along Gus Young Avenue and Lobdell Boulevard seeking the recall of Evelyn Ware-Jackson, the board member for District 5.
The signs don’t say who posted them.
“No one has talked to me about anything,” said Ware-Jackson, who voted against Brister. “I don’t know, with the timing of the superintendent search, the interim superintendent — there’s probably going to be a whole bunch of stuff flying around.”
Ware-Jackson said the signs don’t bother her and she has thick skin.
Freeman said the signs likely are from Brister supporters.
“To me, the signs in Evelyn’s neighborhood are a clear sign that we can’t let bullies play around anymore, and we won’t,” Freeman said.
School Board President Barbara Freiberg said she’s heard several names for interim superintendent, including people working both inside and outside of the system.
She said she hopes a clear choice for the interim position will emerge by the time of the meeting.
The board briefly appeared to have another contentious issue: whether to grant Dilworth up to three months of extended sick leave.
Dilworth said in an email Tuesday he is not going to ask the School Board to approve extended sick leave that would allow him to complete his three-year contract, which expires June 30.
Instead, Dilworth wrote he plans to resign at an unspecified later date once he has used up his annual and sick leave.
Freiberg said that soon after announcing his early departure Friday, Dilworth asked for the extended leave. She said April 9 is when Dilworth would use up his annual and sick leave.
Arbour said he and a few other board members would support Dilworth’s original request, as long as the superintendent supplied a note from a doctor explaining why he can’t continue to work.
Freeman said he’s still open to negotiate a buyout or special arrangement with Dilworth, but he, too, wants a doctor’s note, given how much money the system would pay the superintendent at a time when it’s preparing for as much as $30 million in cuts.
“I’m not trying to deny him anything he’s due,” Freeman said. “But I think the public should know how we would spend $50,000. It’s not insignificant.”