New Schools Get New Faces

Directors of Central’s Community School System Excited About Upcoming Year

After the Cookin’ For Our Kids fundraiser accumulated over $330,000 to help the new school system, the excitement for the upcoming school year has become pervasive throughout the Central community. This enthusiasm extends into the school board office where new staff members are eagerly anticipating the most exciting first day of school in Central’s history.

The last issue of Central Neighbors featured an article about the Central Community School System’s new Superintendent of Schools, Michael Faulk. Now there are three other new people in Central’s school system who plan to combine their experience and passion for education to make Central’s schools No. 1 in the state.

Janet Stevens, Director of Human Resources

In her office, Janet Stevens has a large sheet of easel paper hanging on her wall that reminds her of why she’s excited to go to work every day. That’s because the list contains some of the names of the more than 200 new certified teachers and personnel that she was responsible for hiring for Central’s new school system. “It’s the dream faculty,” she said. “I cannot believe we will have such high quality teachers in our classrooms.”

As Director of Human Resources, her job is to hire the best teachers and staff available, which shouldn’t be hard to find since so many people are vying for positions in Central’s school system. “For every teaching position, we have at least three certified applicants. We may be the only district in the state with 100 percent of the teachers certified.”

Stevens said about 56 percent of all the teachers in Central’s schools are returning from last year, while 16 percent transferred from public and private schools in East Baton Rouge Parish, and 11 percent came from other districts such as Ascension and Livingston Parishes. Stevens said one of the reasons teachers are coming to Central’s school district is because of excitement over community involvement. “When parents are involved, they can reach the students easier.”

Stevens has a strong background in education. She was a teacher for more than 20 years, worked for the Louisiana State Department of Education as Director of District Educators, was a school improvement consultant for three states, and worked in human resources for East Feliciana Parish schools in Clinton. She left the EBR School System this year to take a position with Central’s school district.

Plans are already in the works to set Central on the path to No. 1. Although Central will not receive its district score for another three years, Stevens said by that time she believes the district will be at the top. The school district estimated an enrollment number of about 2,600 students, but Stevens said they have already exceeded that. “Our goal is to be No. 1 in the state. Central is expected to grow three-fold in the next ten years, and we’re looking toward the future.”

Robert Williams, Director of Student Services

Robert Williams’ career has come full circle. He began his profession in education in Central’s schools, and now Central is where he has ended up.

He started his career as a teacher and coach at Central High School where he eventually became an assistant principal. When the offer came to take a position with the new Central school system, Williams decided to return to his roots.

Williams is Director of Student Services for the Central school district. Some of his responsibilities include attendance, organizing bus routes to get students to and from school, developing a student handbook of guidelines and procedures, being in charge of hearings and suspensions, and enforcing a drug-free policy to name a few of his duties.

He spent 36 years in the East Baton Rouge Parish school system holding titles such as teacher, director of middle schools and director of secondary schools. He has worked at Northwestern Middle School in Zachary, Glen Oaks Middle School and Baker Middle School. He retired in 2002 but went back to work when he was asked to help open William Winans Middle School in Centreville, Miss. After accepting the job in Central, he left Mississippi May 31 and began his new job in Central on June 1.

One of the reasons Williams decided to return to Central was to make a contribution to the community where he spent the early part of his career. “I wanted to be a part of Central developing its own school district.”

He said he is excited about students returning to Central’s schools who might have been going to school elsewhere. After Central became integrated in 1970, Williams said he was one of the first black people to come into the community. However, as more students left for private schools, students from other areas were being bussed in to accommodate the empty space. Central was no longer a community school district, but since that has now changed, Williams said he is glad to be involved with Central schools again.

Williams also has high expectations for Central’s schools, which he said have already made a tremendous amount of growth for the students already in the district. “We’ll continue to see that progress over a period of time and move to one of the top schools in Louisiana.”

Williams said he plans to work closely with parents and students to make sure the students receive a quality education and understand the rules that affect them. “My personal philosophy is that there’s more than what’s on the printed page. Students need to understand their role in society and develop good citizenship too.”

Diane Malison, Director of Curriculum, Instruction, Accountability, Professional Development

While the majority of the attention has been on the students, Diane Malison believes the focus should also be on the teachers. She is a firm believer that the teachers filter down to the students, and having the best teachers has the best affect on student achievement. “Our motto is that ‘Students are Central,’” Malison said. “But we have a chance to work from the bottom up to build a professional learning community to affect student achievement.”

Malison is the Director of Curriculum, Instruction, Accountability, Professional Development. She oversees the curriculum, monitors student performance and identifies need for professional development.

Malison is originally from Ithaca, N.Y. She has 12 years of classroom teaching experience at schools in Philadelphia, Florida and Louisiana. She was also a math distribution coordinator. She moved to Baton Rouge in 1980, and then to Ascension four years ago. Now she and her husband are looking to relocate to Central. Malison said she is impressed with the community’s commitment and involvement in their schools. “Everyone I’ve met here wants to see things happen and wants to see the kids succeed.”

The goal is to improve not only test scores but learning as well. Malison said reading and writing will be incorporated across the curriculum, including in subjects such as math and science. Another goal is to establish a connection between information in the classroom and the real world so that students reflect on concepts rather than regurgitate facts. “We’re going for mastery. We want students to have a deep conceptual knowledge of the material they’re learning,” Malison said.

Not wanting to wait for test scores to come out, Malison plans on visiting the schools herself to assess student performance. “We want to put the focus back on achievement, and find out what students need to know and what they need to know next.”

Malison said that some existing programs will be improved to accommodate more students, such as expanding the career programs at the high school. Currently Central High offers sports medicine and drafting courses for engineering, but the plan is to include more career-related courses in healthcare and other fields as well.

Like Stevens and Williams, Malison also strongly believes that Central will have the No. 1 test scores in the state, making Central an attractive place for education. “All the students are going to want to come here,” she said.

Community commitment

Besides their goal to be No. 1, the new school directors also share the belief that Central’s community is a prime stakeholder in its education system.

“Research shows that the No. 1 source for student success is that they need to know people care,” Malison said. “Everything falls into place after that.”

Williams said there are students and people he worked with a long time ago who still live in the area and who have made a commitment to the school system. “Education is built on community involvement, and this community has established education as a first priority for young people.”

After living in Central for the past six years, Stevens said the opportunity to work closer to home and the amount of community involvement made her decision easy. “It’s too exciting to turn down. There won’t be another school district like this. I don’t think it will ever happen again. It’s an honor to work in a district that thinks so highly of education.”