BATON ROUGE - The East Baton Rouge Parish School Board is already making significant progress in efforts to select a new superintendent for the Parish's school system. 

By the close of 2020, the Board had whittled its list of candidates for the position down to three finalists. It will now conduct in-person interviews with each of the candidates from January 6-8. During each of these interviews, time will be allotted for members of the public to question the candidates. 

Less than a week after these public, in-person interviews, a new superintendent is expected to be selected on Jan. 14.

The three finalists are Marla Sheppard, Sito Narcisse, and Adam Smith. 

The first of the in-person interviews begins with Sheppard on Wednesday. Narcisse will then be interviewed on Thursday, and Smith on Friday.

At the moment, Smith serves as interim superintendent. He was chosen to fill the role in October, after Leslie Brown resigned from the position in September due to a severe health problem.

Brown, who began working as superintendent in August of 2020, remained in her position for seven weeks before taking emergency medical leave and then resigning two weeks later. 

Her replacement is being selected with the assistance of Austin, Texas-based search firm JG Consulting, the same firm that helped EBR Schools select Brown. 

According to the School Board's website, each of The Superintendent Search Town Hall and Interviews scheduled for January 6-8 will begin at 4 p.m. and can be watched by the public via a YouTube livestream.

A link to watch the town hall and interview can be found on BoardDocs located on the School Board’s website: https://ebrschools.org/about/