New BCS superintendent plans to start Tuesday

Louise Smith, 64, plans to start her job as superintendent of Bogalusa City Schools on Tuesday. Smith, who was selected last Friday evening, will be the third superintendent in the district in seven years. She replaces Ruth Horne, who abruptly resigned in mid-March, and was a finalist when Horne was hired in 2008.

Louise Smith

Smith was chosen by a 5-2 vote that followed racial lines, although trustee Eleanor Duke said she voted for Smith because of her open and direct approach.

"She told it like it was," Duke said. Duke also drew an audible response from the approximately 50 persons — most of them black — in the Media Room at the Central Office, when she said she felt either candidate could have done a good job.

Board President Paul Kates said that despite the candidate he favored coming out on the short end of the vote, his job was to try and get the district moving in a positive direction.

Despite period and spotty improvements in various tests, the Bogalusa system consistently is one of the poorer performing in the state despite the district spending the 15th greatest amount per student statewide.

"There's certainly no correlation with the money they (school system) spend and the results they get," a veteran school board observer noted.

Kates said he supported Lionel Jackson, who was previously unsuccessful in efforts this year to become a superintendent of the Monroe City Schools and also in St. Helena Parish, because he felt Jackson could have been successful going into homes and gaining community participation.

"I can't see her doing that," he said.

Some concerns have been expressed over threats to remove students from the district because of Smith's having been chosen over Jackson.