Rapides superintendent signs contract

Nason "Tony" Authement has signed a four-year contract to remain superintendent of Rapides Parish public schools.

Authement signed the contract Wednesday. It takes effect June 1 upon expiration of his current three-year contract.

The Rapides Parish School Board voted 8-1 on Nov. 3 to offer Authement the new contract at the same "minimum base salary" of $160,000 as the one he signed April 27, 2013. Authement had 15 business days to accept or reject the new contract. The deadline was Wednesday.

The new contract includes performance objectives from the previous one as well as one additional objective about diversity.

"At the option of the Superintendent, he may devise a diversity plan for district employees," the contract states.

But performance targets — which are less broad than objectives and come with specific numbers attached — from the last contract have been dropped. Authement's first contract included targets, meeting state law Act 1 requirements for districts rated C or lower by the state Department of Education. Rapides Parish went from a C to a B last year when its district performance score improved more than 10 points.

Superintendent has option to stay 4 more years

Board member Wilton Barrios said that improvement and increases made in individual scores at some schools are behind his decision to support renewing Authement's contract. He said Authement's plans to improve school performance scores have been effective.

"We've made a tremendous amount of progress," Barrios said. "... We still have a long way to go, but we went from a C to a B last year. And that's a good enough reason for me to give him more time to continue making progress."

That's what Authement intends to do.

"Our major goals remain the same," he said. "We must have an effective teacher in every classroom, an effective principal in every school. ... We will continue to work with our failing schools."

His overall goal remains making sure "we are preparing every child for success in college or career." Reaching these goals mean continuing efforts Authement implemented like turnaround teams, curriculum specialists and the data teams process.

"Those are foundational practices that are research-based," he said.

But he also has a new focus — increasing teacher pay.

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"That's a priority for me," he said. "We've got great teachers in our district. They've done a tremendous job. ... (But) we currently rank No. 52 in starting teacher pay and No. 55 out of 69 school districts (in Louisiana) in average teacher pay. Our teachers deserve a lot better than that."

To increase teacher pay, Authement said a "major initiative" of his will be for a half-cent sales tax proposal to go before voters this spring.

Local parent Stephanie Riley said she was disappointed with the board's decision to offer a new contract to Authement. They often have been on opposite sides when it comes to issues like Common Core and other educational reforms coming from the state.

"As for the board's decision, I am very disappointed," Riley said. "They had the opportunity to make dramatic changes in Rapides that would have had a very positive effect on both students and teachers. They chose not to. ... Rapides needs a leader and an administration that will do everything in their power to protect the children from the harmful effects of education reform — I consider it damage control — and the current superintendent and his staff have no inclination whatsoever to do this."

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