Caddo School Board Selects Nebraska Firm To Find New Superintendent

Caddo Parish School Board voted last night to go forward and use Nebraska-based McPhearson and Jacobson, LLC to find the district's next superintendent.

The board voted 8-2 to spend about $26,500 to retain the firm.  Caddo Schools President Larry Ramsey said the search will be paid for using funds in the current budget.  He added the district has spent upwards of $50,000 in previous candidate searches when they did the search in-house.

What is the district looking for in the next superintendent?

"Someone that can communicate the issues.  Work with the public," Ramsey explained. "Be the face of the school board.  Unite people, unite them and move them forward."

The current superintendent's contract expires in August.  Ramsey said the board chose to let Dr. Gerald Dawkins go for a myriad of reasons, but overall, there had not been major improvements done to the district.

He noted Dawkins was with the district for five years, longer than the usual three-to-four year average for Caddo schools.  Across the country, the average tenure of a superintendent is five and a half years.

McPhearson and Jacobson, LLC, is also working for Rapides Parish and Texarkana, AR, to find superintendents.