BATON ROUGE - The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board chose three finalists Friday for the superintendent's job, and interim Superintendent Adam Smith was not among them. 

Smith, who has worked in the school system for 28 years, has vied for the role twice before but will not be the next leader of the state's second-largest traditional school system.

"Almost 70 comments were submitted (to the board before the vote). Over 90 percent overwhelmingly put their support behind interim Superintendent Adam Smith," board member Dadrius Smith said.

But the only local finalist to advance was Kevin George, director of the LSU Lab School.

"We cannot look to a savior superintendent; if only we had the right person," said board member Patrick Martin, who favored the three finalists. "We collectively have a lot of work to do."

The other finalists are Krish Mohip, chief education officer for the Illinois State Board of Education, and Andrea Zayas, who was previously the chief academic officer of Boston Public Schools.

Smith had made the list of semifinalists for the position when seven of the nine board members included him on their finalist lists. He had more support in that ballot than any of the other candidates, but that favor did not last.

George, who was superintendent of St. John the Baptist Parish schools for six years, was selected by five board members as a semifinalist. Zayas and Mohip had been listed on four board members' ballots in the semifinal round.

"There are some decent candidates," said Shashonnie Steward, who voted for Smith on Friday. "But, ultimately, we're at a point within our district. We need somebody to jump in that is pretty familiar, that has knowledge of what's going on."

The next leader will replace Sito Narcisse, who served three years before the board voted last winter to not renew his contract. Smith had been interim superintendent both before and after Narcisse's tenure.

The three finalists move on to a round of interviews to be conducted the week of July 8. Initially, they'll meet with panels that include parents, principals and teachers, business leaders and community leaders. On July 9, they'll tour three schools and have 90-minute interviews with the board.

A new superintendent is scheduled to be named on July 11.

East Baton Rouge has more than 40,000 students.

Five school board members voted for the three finalists chosen (George, Mohip, and Zayas):
Mark Bellue
Michael Gaudet
Patrick Martin
Nathan Rust
Emily Soulé

The other four school board members all voted for one person, Smith.
Dadrius Lanus
Carla Powell
Shashonnie Steward
Cliff Lewis