Thank you for your interest in the future of the East Baton Rouge Parish (EBR) School System.  Through our efforts and your added involvement, we are helping to shape the future of our children’s education.
 
BRAC is Leading the Way
One of BRAC’s top priorities is, and has been, the reformation of the EBR School System. Due to the current superintendent’s impending retirement in June 2009 and the possible state takeover of twelve EBR schools, BRAC is actively and prominently voicing its expectations and recommended qualifications for Superintendent Charlotte D. Placide’s replacement.

In October, BRAC formed a coalition of community and business leaders to develop a set of key qualifications and characteristics that it recommends the next EBR School System superintendent possess. The criteria were assembled through conversations with coalition members and presented to the school board shortly thereafter.
 
The qualifications and characteristics that a successful superintendent candidate should demonstrate include:

• the ability to manage toward rapid improvement of school performance, including the turnaround of low-performing schools
• a proven track record of innovation, including actions supporting alternative models of education, district charter schools, and extended school days/year
• experience developing a performance culture for teachers and administrators, as well as a strategy for attracting and engaging new, creative staff
• communication skills necessary to build excitement, confidence, and consensus within the community, in addition to a willingness to work with local leaders and stakeholders

Give Your Input and Get Involved
Next steps in the search process include the creation of a candidate profile by Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, the national search firm hired to find Placide’s replacement, to be presented in early December, followed by two months of recruiting.  To aid in this process, BRAC is asking you to fill out the survey posted on the school board’s website.  The input collected will be given to Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates for use in the development of the aforementioned candidate profile.
 
Additionally, BRAC encourages you to attend one of two community forums scheduled this month, where attendees can voice their own recommendations for candidate qualifications directly to the school board and representatives of Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates.  All EBR residents, community leaders, and business leaders interested in the future of our public schools are invited to attend one of these forums:

Monday, November 17
6:00pm - 8:00pm
McKinley Middle Magnet School
1550 Eddie Robinson Dr.
Baton Rouge, LA
 
Tuesday, November 18
6:00pm - 8:00pm
Woodlawn High School
15755 Jefferson Hwy.
Baton Rouge, LA