Aggressive interview schedule awaits finalists for Bogalusa City Schools superintendent

Lionel Jackson,
Tangipahoa Schools

“They’ve got a pretty aggressive schedule for me,” said Bogalusa City Schools superintendent candidate Dr. Daniel Slack told wpnewsblog in a late night conversation  Wednesday. Slack is superintendent of the East Carter R-II district in El Dorado Springs, Mo.

Slack said he had visited several  web sites connected to Bogalusa, especially that of the school district, and generally liked what he saw.

Dr. Daniel Slack,
El Dorado Springs, Mo.

Not only is the interview schedule aggressive, so is the district’s plan for hiring a new leader — the third since 2005. The board plans to select the new superintendent at the June 28 board meeting and hopes to have them on the job by July 1. That means from the end of interviews next week until reporting for work, the new superintendent will have nine total days to give notice to their present employer, tie up loose ends and get ready to move.

Slack will be the last of the three candidates to visit the community and go through the interview process, arriving Tuesday in order to meet his Wednesday schedule. On Monday, Louise Smith, support staff specialist for the Poplarville (Miss.) School District will visit the community while Lionel Jackson, an assistant superintendent with the Tangipahoa Parish School District, will interview on Tuesday.

Louise Smith,
Poplarville, Miss.

Slack and Jackson have both been finalists for positions earlier this year, while Smith was a finalist when Ruth Horne was hired in 2008.

According to the plan developed by the school district and McPherson & Jacobson, LLC, each candidate will spend a full day in Bogalusa. During that time frame, they will meet with seven focus groups representing students, parents, community members, and employees. The schedule will also include a daily public forum where citizens are invited to meet the candidates and hear their answers to questions submitted by the community.

Following the forums, the board will conduct its formal interviews in executive session during a special board meeting each evening.

Interim Supt. Stephanie Hoppen hopes there will be a good turn out.

“Your input is very important to us,” she wrote in a memo. “Since there will be meetings throughout the day, beginning at 9 a.m., we are asking each group to please be prompt so that other groups will keep their assigned time slot.”

The daily schedule is as follows:

8 a.m. — Tour of District/Schools

9 a.m. — Principals & Supervisors Group

10 a.m. — Teachers

11 a.m. — Open Forum in Board Room with External Stakeholders invited (Moderator in charge)

12 p.m. — Lunch

1 p.m. — Student Council

2 p.m. — Classified Staff

3 p.m. — Union Representatives

4 p.m. — Open Forum in Board Room with PTA and Parents invited

(Moderator in charge)

5 p.m. — Break

5:30 — 7 p.m. Formal Interview with Board of Education

7:30 — 9 p.m. Dinner with the Board 

Three finalists for Bogalusa superintendent

Lionel Jackson

Lionel Jackson of Tangipahoa Parish, Dr. Daniel Slack of El Dorado Springs, Mo. and Louise Smith of Poplarville, Miss. are the three finalists chosen for the vacant Bogalusa City Schools superintendent position.

A total of 15 applicants were screened by McPherson & Jacobson, to submit to the Bogalusa City School board for the position, which became available when Ruth Horne resigned March 11.

Dr. Daniel Slack

Each candidate will spend one day in the community and will be interviewed by principals, parents, students and members of the public in addition to the board. The new superintendent will be chosen on Thursday, June 28.

Jackson currently serves as assistant superintendent for child welfare and attendance in the Tangipahoa Parish Schools. He has been a teacher in both the Orleans and Tangipahoa Parish Districts before being named as an assistant superintendent in Tangipahoa in 2005. He has more than 15 years' classroom experience.

Jackson was named director of child welfare in 2007, then served as a principal in 2008 and 2009, when he was promoted to his current position. The Tangipahoa district has almost 20,000 students and 37 schools.

This is at least the fourth time for Jackson to make a district's short list — in 2008 and again this spring in St. Helena Parish and last year for the Monroe City Schools.

Jackson earned both his bachelor's and Ph.D. from Southern University and his master's from Xavier.

Slack has served as superintendent for the East Carter R-II School District since May, 2008 and is the second time he has been a finalist for another position since arriving in Elsinore, Mo. In April, he was one of five finalists in Mansfield, Ark.

Prior to being named superintendent of the 772-student, three campus East Carter district, Slack served as a superintendent at two other Missouri school districts — Cainsville R-1 and Climax Springs R-IV. He has nine years' experience as a superintendent and 26 years in education, having spent his first 10 years in the classroom as a math and science teacher.

He received his BSE in from Central Michigan University, is masters from Missouri State, a doctorate from Missouri State and a second doctorate from NOVA Southeastern University.

Smith is a Bogalusa finalist for the second time, the first when Horne was hired two years ago. A 1980 graduate of the University of Southern Mississippi, Smith also earned her master's from Southern. She has spent her entire career in Poplarville, beginning as a teacher in 1982. In addition, she served as principal from 1991-1995. She was then named support staff specialist and has been successful in obtaining a number of grants for the district.

Poplarville has four campuses and a high school enrollment of 588.