BATON ROUGE - The finalists for the job of East Baton Rouge Parish Schools superintendent spent Monday in a series of interviews with business leaders, community leaders and school system employees.

Afterward, finalists Kevin George and Andrea Zayas met with the public and were interviewed by a panel of parents.

Community members asked about teacher burnout, employees leaving the system and about schools not meeting students’ needs across the parish. 

Jamie Robinson, a community leader on one of panels, said some parents are pulling their kids from the parish public schools to move to charter schools or “higher quality" schools due to their dissatisfaction.

“We have too many children that are leaving their communities to go to a school that is determined to be high quality instead of addressing the needs in every single school to make sure every child and every school has the opportunity to receive quality education,” Robinson said.

Robinson asked the candidates about what they’ll do to combat that. Zayas responded with the suggestion of merging schools.

“It used to be a conversation 10 years ago if you're for or against charter schools, I’m for good schools, period,” candidate Kevin George said.

Questions emerged over the next superintendent's involvement with the schools, and if they’d do what’s best for them or take commands from the school board. 

“Anyone who knows my career knows what I stand for. I’ve been a lot different but what nobody will ever call me is that I'm a puppet," George said.

When asked about how to retain current teachers, Zayas responded with how to get more teachers. 

“There are multiple pathways. I think we need to deeply engage alternative education certification programs in the state to ensure that we have high quality, quick pathways into the classroom,” Zayas said.

Robinson said after hearing the two candidates speak today, he’s still convinced that Adam Smith, the current interim superintendent who was not a finalist, is the best pick for the job. 

“I think that today is just evidence of something that I’ve been saying since the start of the process that we need someone to be our superintendent who understands EBR, who understands our politics and who understands the culture dynamics,” Robinson said. “I believe that Adam Smith was the best person for the job, and I believe he still remains the best person for the job, and I would urge our school board members to pay attention to that and do something about it, because the two candidates that we have, I’m not motivated by them.”

The next East Baton Rouge superintendent will be voted on by the school board, July 11.