Interim chief for Concordia Parish schools leaving in May

VIDALIA, La. (AP) - The Concordia Parish School District soon will be looking for a new superintendent to run its schools.

Interim Superintendent Loretta Blankenstein said she’s stepping down in May to spend more time with her family. Blankenstein retired as superintendent in 2012 but returned in an interim role in January 2016 to replace Paul Nelson, who resigned in December 2015.

The Natchez Democrat reports (https://bit.ly/2kN7R7w ) Blankenstein is moving on to help her husband, Don, with their family business, Blankenstein’s Supplies and Equipment, and to spend time with her 7-year-old daughter.

“I will stay until school is finished to help with the transition,” Blankenstein said. “It is difficult for me to leave, but we have a wonderful school system. Our district and school faculty and staff, board members, students, parents and communities have been great to work with.”

Concordia Parish School Board President Raymond Riley says the district would begin advertising for the position on March 1. Riley says the advertisement has to legally run for two weeks, at which time the interview process would begin.

Riley said Blankenstein has done a good job for the district.

“She came back and led our system,” Riley said. “We asked her to come back to take over for us until we began a search - that’s what she did.”

School board member Fred Butcher said Blankenstein has been an innovative leader for the district and he hopes in the search the board can find someone cut from a similar mold.

Riley said the district would advertise in several newspapers and on the district’s website. He said the school system is in good shape, but he is looking for a superintendent candidate who can take Concordia Parish to the next level.

“Regardless of whether the person is from within the system or from outside, I hope it is someone who can lead our system to be the best system it can be, wholeheartedly,” Riley said. “I am hoping the person will have a background in excelling in whatever system they are a part of.”

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Information from: Natchez Democrat, https://www.natchezdemocrat.com/