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School superintendent contract up for renewal

by Minden Press-Herald

The contract for Webster Parish Superintendent of Schools Dr. Dan Rawls is up for renewal.

In Monday’s meeting, an evaluation sheet was put in the packets of school board members to grade his performance over the last two years. Board members will fill those out and turn them in to Board President Charles Strong at a special meeting Aug. 24. Based on the compilation of that evaluation, the board will consider renewing Rawls’ contract.

His notice to continue his employment must be submitted 120 days before the expiration of his current contract. Then the board must submit an answer either way 90 days before the expiration of his contract.

Rawls says he hopes the board continues his contract because he loves Minden and Webster Parish. Not only that, but he feels the parish has made some real progress during his time here.

“We’re doing well,” he said. “We’re doing some good things.”

Some of the things the board wanted to see at the time of his hire, he says, is to improve the graduation rate, improve the school performance scores and test scores.

He says those things have been done, but with the sweeping changes in testing, it’s hard to say whether test scores have improved, because for at least the last year, the scores don’t count.

“I got not one but two emails from (state superintendent) John White telling me not to use those numbers, because it’s been corrupted,” he said. “As far as internally, the trend data from 2012-13, 2013-14 and 2014-15, out of six subjects, five out of the six have increased. Those are the kinds of things I look at.”

If his contract is extended, he says he’d like to focus more on the block schedule for all schools in the parish as well as offering more college credit courses. He also wants to begin incorporating career pathway courses such as a certified nursing assistant program or an ag pathway for students who won’t go to college.

He also feels the board will want to increase scores as well.

“I think the board is going to want to increase our district score,” he said. “We’re performing at a higher level every year. Since I’ve been here, we have, and we want to continue. And that’s not something we give up easily. We don’t want to go backward. We want to go forward.”

These are just a few of the things he says the board will be looking toward, but once he gets feedback from the evaluation scores, he’ll know more.

Rawls will be evaluated on his educational leadership, district management, meeting performance objectives and board and community relations.

He is paid a base salary of $120,000 per year.

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