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Proposed Cole contract goes to EBR school leaders Thursday; how will council replacement be picked?
BATON ROUGE — East Baton Rouge Parish School Board members Thursday will consider paying its new superintendent a base salary of $285,000 — a figure 12 percent higher than the amount paid to his predecessor.
The board last week voted unanimously to hire Metro Council member LaMont Cole as the 41,000-student district's new leader. Cole has given up his council re-election bid but has not yet resigned his current seat on the panel. Council officials believe that will occur after he reaches a deal with the school board.
Cole's proposed base pay exceeds that given to Sito Narcisse throughout his tenure. The board considered raising Narcisse's salary from $255,000 to $310,000 last winter, but instead voted not to renew his contract. Current deputy superintendent Adam Smith filled in between Narcisse's and Cole's tenures.
The council must act within 20 calendar days of the effective date of his resignation letter, Beck said. If that day falls on a weekend or holiday, the next business day after that is the deadline.
Also, the city-parish must advertise the vacancy. Anyone interested submits a letter to Beck's office and the name will be placed on a ballot that will go before the Metro Council. If it chooses, the panel could conduct interviews, but it doesn't have to, Beck said.
The board did hold interviews before Darryl Hurst was selected in 2022, but not when Denise Amoroso did in 2018. She replaced her husband in 2018, before the advertising rule was in place.
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