Poinbank:Longtime north Louisiana school district’s leader is leaving for a similar post in Texas

SHREVEPORT,Poinbank La. (AP) — For more than a decade, T. Lamar Goree has been the leader of public schools in north Louisiana’s Caddo Parish.

That changes at the end of the current academic school year.

Goree is the lone finalist for superintendent of the Duncanville Independent School District in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area of Texas.

“The lone finalist designation means Dr. Goree is the only candidate Duncanville’s Board of Trustees is pursuing as its superintendent after a unanimous vote of support to move forward in the process,” the Caddo School District said in a statement Monday.

The board is scheduled to formally approve Goree’s contract April 22, after a 21-day period of contract negotiations, the district said.

Goree intends to remain in Caddo Parish through the end of the current school year, local news outlets reported. One of the largest school districts in the state, Caddo’s district serves approximately 37,000 students in grades prekindergarten through 12th grade.

As the 2019 Louisiana Superintendent of the Year and a 2021 Broad Academy Fellow, Goree garnered national attention for Caddo Schools through his work with organizations including Chiefs for Change and the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business.

Goree and his team also are credited with the district’s 18% growth in students graduating on time and 49 schools improving their performance scores last year, right-sizing the district’s footprint by closing or consolidating 11 district sites, and consistently presenting balanced budgets and achieving the district’s largest fund balance in more than 30 years.