Following three intense days of community meetings, tours of schools, public forums and School Board workshops, two of the three semi-finalists remain in competition for the superintendent’s position at East Baton Rouge Parish School System (EBRPSS).

Tonight, March 4, the EBRPSS School Board held an executive session immediately after an interview with the third candidate, John Dilworth, superintendent of Montgomery Public Schools in Alabama.  At that time, the School Board voted to name Dilworth and Dr. Bonita Coleman-Potter, deputy superintendent of Instruction for the Jackson County School District in Mississippi, finalists for the superintendent’s position.  Coleman-Potter was interviewed yesterday, March 3.  Dr. John Covington, superintendent of Pueblo City Schools in Colorado, who was interviewed March 2, took his name out of the ring earlier today. 

Board members plan to visit both candidates’ school districts before making a final decision on who will be EBRPSS’s next superintendent.

The current EBRPSS superintendent, Charlotte Placide, plans to retire, and her last day will be June 30.  A new superintendent must be in place at least by July 1, the beginning of the School Systems 2009-2010 fiscal year.

Dilworth has been superintendent of Montgomery Public Schools, Montgomery, AL, for the past two years.  The K-12 district has enrollment of 31,500, staff of 5,150 and an annual budget of $350 million.

Previously, Dilworth was vice president of University Affairs at Northwestern State University in Natchitoches and chief operating officer of Caddo Public Schools in Shreveport, both in Louisiana. Dilworth holds a master’s degree in Education Administration and a bachelor of science degree in Health and Physical Education from Northwestern State University. A winner of the Northwestern University Hall of Distinguished Educators 2008 and the Northwestern Athletic Hall of Fame awards and a graduate of the Broad Academy, he serves on the local Chamber of Commerce’s Board Committee of 100 and is a member of the Montgomery Area YMCA Board, among others.

Coleman-Potter has been deputy superintendent of Instruction, Jackson Public School District, Jackson, MS, for the past three years.  The K-12 district has enrollment of 31,000, staff of 4,900 and an annual budget of $320 million.

Previously, Coleman-Potter was associate state superintendent for Academics at the Mississippi Department of Education and the state department’s bureau director for the Office of Reading, Early Childhood and Language Art. Coleman-Potter has a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from Jackson State University, a master of arts degree in English from the University of Mississippi and a bachelor of arts degree in Secondary Education/English from Tougaloo College. A fellow of the Broad Urban Superintendents Academy 2008, a national
rater for the Broad Prize in Urban Education and the winner of the Regional Superintendent of the Year 2007 Award from America Reads Mississippi, she is a member of the Higher Education Literacy Council, the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, the National Education Association and Phi Delta Kappa, among others.