BATON ROUGE – The East Baton Rouge School Board introduced newly selected superintendent Lamont Cole and new deputy superintendent Adam Smith during a news conference on Thursday. Cole was unanimously selected at a board meeting on Wednesday night, while Smith was approved with only Nathan Rust voting against him.
Cole currently serves as Mayor Pro Tem on the Metro Council but announced his plans to withdraw from reelection and begin stepping away from the council.
“I simply want to thank Baton Rouge for allowing me an opportunity to serve in this capacity,” Cole said. “I want to thank the president and vice president of the school board for having faith in me to do what I consider to be the most important work of my lifetime.”
Cole outlined his priorities for the district, emphasizing that teachers and students are his main focus ahead of the new school year. He also mentioned addressing potential teacher sickouts by having candidate and transparent conversations with teachers’ unions.
“We need to focus the conversation and bring it back to what’s important,” Cole said. “Two weeks from today, our students will be returning to school. We need to start talking about how we do that in a way that puts them on a path to be successful.”
Cole succeeds Sito Narcisse, who departed after the board chose not to renew his contract. Narcisse opted for a voluntary buyout in January after being hired three years earlier to revamp the struggling school district.
The first day of school for East Baton Rouge Parish students is Thursday, August 8.
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