Of the 23 applicants for the Superintendent position that is currently open in East Baton Rouge Parish School System (EBRPSS), a number of them are highly qualified with decades of experience in education. A Texas consulting firm recommended 14 of them to continue in the hunt. At last week’s meeting, the School Board selected 5 candidates to advance to the interview round of the process and despite his notable community presence and career as an educator, Lamont Cole was not one of them.
While there are a number of qualified candidates in this race to become the next superintendent, we believe that Lamont Cole, the students and their families and our community at large were done a disservice by not allowing Cole the opportunity to interview for this position. There are still some local candidates who by their credentials and accomplishments are deserving of further consideration that are still eligible. However, we believe that Cole should have been included in that number.