Starkville School District Assistant Superintendent Dr. Walter B. Gonsoulin is among the 23 candidates still being considered for the district’s top job. But he also is one of three final candidates in consideration for superintendent of the Lafayette Parish School District in Lafayette, La.
Gonsoulin, who has held his current position since 2007, learned Tuesday night that he is one of the final candidates for the Louisiana job. He also had applied for a position with SSD as superintendent, to fill the position vacated by former superintendent Judy Couey in April.
The Lafayette Parish School Board chose Gonsoulin, along with two other candidates, to enter the final round of interviews to replace current Lafayette Superintendent Burnell Lemoine, who is leaving in January.
Board members began with an applicant pool of 37. According to the Daily Advertiser newspaper in Lafayette, Gonsoulin was chosen unanimously on a first narrowing of the candidate pool, and he received more votes than any other candidate during Tuesday night’s meeting.
“I’m feeling very confident,” Gonsoulin told The Dispatch this morning. “I prepared well to be a superintendent. I was able to go in and present my philosophy. You never know how this is going to go, but I had a feeling I’d make the top three. You’ve got the best of the best, so who knows? Now it’s about nine board members coming together and making a decision.”
The Starkville superintendent search, which is being conducted by the Mississippi School Boards Association, has been narrowed to 23 candidates from eight different states.
Gonsoulin will be interviewed by MSBA for the Starkville job Nov. 30 in Clinton. MSBA will then give the results of the interview to the Starkville board, without making a recommendation.
Gonsoulin, a native of New Iberia, La., will find out if he has received the Lafayette job on Dec. 14. If hired, he will begin work Jan. 1. The Lafayette district, which serves 29,000 students, is roughly seven times the size of the Starkville district.
Starkville’s superintendent selection is not expected to be finalized until after the new year.
“I’ve always contended that it would be nice to go back home, where you’re from,” Gonsoulin said. “I would welcome that opportunity. But I’m very content in Starkville. My one reason for applying for these jobs was because one, I wanted to get my name out there. I didn’t know Starkville or Louisiana would come up. The second was to get experience interviewing at this level.”
Prior to his tenure with the Starkville School District, Gonsoulin served as an assistant professor of curriculum and instruction for the University of Louisiana in Lafayette — a position he held from 2001-2007.
He has also served as assistant director of Millsaps Career and Technical Center in Starkville, assistant principal of Lee Middle School in Columbus, principal of St. Martinville Junior High in St. Martinville, La. and as a sixth-grade teacher in the St. Martin Parish School District in Louisiana.
He earned his doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Mississippi State University in 2001. He also holds a master’s degree in administration and supervision from Southern University in New Orleans and bachelor’s degrees in elementary education and interpersonal counseling and communication from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in Lafayette, La.
Dispatch reporter David Miller contributed to this report.
Carmen K. Sisson is the former news editor at The Dispatch.
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