Lafourche superintendent search moves forward

The Lafourche Parish School Board is piecing together its method for choosing a new superintendent of schools to replace out-going schools chief JoAnn Matthews.

School system spokesman Dean Guidry said the board will determine how many applicants will be interviewed at its Sept. 19 meeting.

The field of candidates stands at five, with most having roots or experience in Lafourche and surrounding parishes. Only one candidate is from outside the state of

Louisiana.

Candidates for the position are as follows:

·Aubrey ‘Bubba’ Orgeron, an educator in both Terrebonne and Lafourche, who has served as an assistant superintendent in Terrebonne and director of schools in Lafourche. He was also the principal at South Lafourche High School.

·Niles Riche, principal of Assumption High School.

·C. Michael Robinson Jr., former superintendent of the Pine Bluff, Arkansas school district.

·Louis Voiron, director of human resources for the Lafourche School District.

·Clyde F. Washington, deputy assistant superintendent of administration for the Rapides Parish School District.

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At their meeting next week, board members will also determine the time they will allow for each candidate’s opening statement, questioning, and closing statement, and the number of questions to be asked, Guidry said in a statement released Friday.

A meeting, Guidry said, has been scheduled for Sat. Sept. 29 for first round interviews and “to consider whether to invite any candidates for a second interview, or to proceed with the selection of the Superintendent and determine the date of selection.”

Matthews is retiring in March, after 14 years on the job. Paid $149,623.25 when she was hired in 2005, her salary rose to $219,937.10 by 2015.

Matthews asked that her pay be frozen at that amount. Now that a new superintendent is sought, school board members will need to determine how they will structure salary and benefits for a new choice, at a time when the system is struggling financially.

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