Dr. T. Lamar Goree | Superintendent, Caddo Parish Public Schools

There is a saying that it takes a village to raise a child, and that proved true in my life. As a product of public schools, I was fortunate to have my parents as educators in the same district I attended, Caddo Parish Public Schools. They were heavily involved in my life and expected me to be involved in school activities. Plus, if the church doors were open, we were there and most of my neighborhood friends were too, with everyone’s parents making sure we all behaved.

Even with that level of support, I struggled learning to read. But my mother was a trained teacher who, once she recognized I was struggling, would spend every night pre-teaching me the next day’s lesson before I would go to school the following day. My reading improved, and my grades got better.

However, because I had struggled early, I was immature and had some growing up to do. Therefore, I was not on the “advanced track” when I went to middle school. However, one of our assistant principals recognized my good grades and began to advocate for me.

She wondered to my mom why I was not on the advanced track. My parents did not want to make an exception for me that they could not make for others. Rules were rules. Plus, they were teaching me an important lesson about advocating for myself.

My assistant principal had a different philosophy. She supported the notion that student interest and effort should be considered for placement. Because of that adult intervening for me, I was able to transition to and graduate on the advanced track. I left Caddo Parish with the confidence to believe anything was possible. I could go anywhere and achieve anything.

Those experiences still resonate with me today. Now as superintendent, it is my responsibility to ensure students who may not have the same advantages I had at home have every opportunity to succeed at school. We must never put limitations on students nor keep them from challenging themselves, especially those who struggled. They can achieve any goal they put their minds and efforts toward.

My parents graduated from Grambling State University and expected me to attend a top-tier college. Morehouse College was my choice and looking to break the mold in a family full of educators, I majored in business. After graduation, I accepted a business management position with GE Capital.

An important part of that management program was to develop a job fair for students who attended what was at the time Kennedy Middle School in Atlanta. I also volunteered there as a math tutor, and those two experiences helped me realize that education was what I wanted to do with my life. Nothing I had ever done felt as good as connecting with those students, especially when the “light” came on, and they finally, truly understood an important math concept. I discovered my “why” with those students.

After getting certified to teach, I taught math in Cobb County School District where my wife also taught. When we became parents, we decided to look for opportunities to be closer to our parents, and we both wanted to earn master’s degrees and possibly doctorates.

Coincidentally, at that time Atlanta was hosting a job fair for schools from all over the country. We talked to several districts but felt most at home with the Fort Worth ISD recruiter. Soon, we were both teaching math at Dunbar Middle School in the heart of Fort Worth’s Stop Six area. Fort Worth provided exactly the professional opportunities we were looking for and was a wonderful place to raise our son.

Fate smiled on us at that time in our lives as we met the most amazing leader, Ms. Helen Curtis, the principal of Dunbar Middle School. She assigned me to classroom 109 and immediately took an interest in my development. Ms. Curtis, who we still love and visit (we enjoy her birthday celebrations), is tiny in stature, yet she had a powerful presence in the school and in the neighborhood.

She outworked everyone and taught me powerful lessons on how to build relationships with students and adults, how to teach every child, the importance of a good curriculum, that every child matters and to be the first one there and the last one to leave.

Ms. Curtis saw more potential in me than I saw in myself and nominated me for a unique intern program where I could serve as an assistant principal and have release time to earn my master’s degree concurrently. Entering that program, fate smiled on me again as I met two more amazing leaders, Ms. Jannis Dilworth and Dr. Pat Linares, who also had a strong influence on my life and career.

Ms. Dilworth was my principal’s supervisor. I vividly remember her presence the first time she observed me teaching. She told me right then she saw in me a future leader. Ms. Dilworth modeled the importance of building relationships with all stakeholders, something that I rely on still today.

Dr. Linares, another legendary Fort Worth ISD district-level administrator, invested in me from the moment I became an assistant principal. She provided me opportunities to grow. When I was promoted to principal, she empowered me, and I was humbled by the way she encouraged me to consider opportunities beyond the principalship.

She even supported me as I took an opportunity to open a brand-new campus in a neighboring district, Mansfield ISD. The opportunity to establish a culture and bring the community together into our new Danny Jones Middle School family was highly rewarding. I also loved serving as principal of Mansfield Summit High School and in central administration as an assistant superintendent.

In July of 2013, I successfully defended my dissertation and earned my doctorate, and a few close friends and my family went to Joe T. Garcia’s to celebrate. That’s when I learned that the Caddo Parish School Board was reopening its superintendent search.

Caddo Parish had a long history of superintendent turnover. In the three previous decades, no superintendent had lasted longer than 5 years and most lasted much less than that. They have 12 Board members and had narrowed this search down to two finalists. When it came time to choose one of them to be superintendent, the Board was evenly split in a 6–6 tie.

Unable to break the tie vote, they decided to take a 10-day recess and then voted again, still 6–6. They were hopelessly deadlocked and decided to reopen the search and consider new candidates. After talking with my family, trusted friends and colleagues, I decided to apply for the job. Caddo Parish had been exceptionally good to me and my family, had prepared me well, and I wanted to give back.

After going through the application and interview processes, the same situation happened again. I was one of two finalists, and when the Board voted, they were evenly split. Eventually, I was approved as Caddo Parish superintendent by a 9–3 vote, and I tell people that the job I walked into was not the job that I thought it was going to be.

The community and school system were extremely divided, and it seemed everybody was mad at somebody or something. School administration had lost the trust of many in the community. To compound those problems, overall enrollment was declining, which created budgetary issues that had to be addressed.

Shortly after the vote that named me superintendent, our Board president, Larry Ramsey, shared with me a list of our 10 schools that were about to be taken over by the state due to years of poor academic performance.

After some research, it seemed Caddo Parish had evolved into three different systems instead of one united system. There was a group of extremely high-functioning, highly competitive magnet schools. There were traditional neighborhood and rural schools that the communities loved. Finally, there were those 10 schools that were on that list for possible state takeover.

However, Caddo Parish stakeholders had one thing on which we all could agree. Everyone wanted our children and grandchildren to have opportunities to be successful. That was the foundation on which we began to rebuild trust.

The Board was clear in their expectations: bring the community together, solve the budget issues, improve all of our schools and keep the state of Louisiana from taking over any of them. We had a lot of work to do, and none of it was going to be easy.

Now completing my 8th year as superintendent, I am incredibly proud of this community and the progress we have made for children. Graduation rates have increased by 18%. We have regained our community’s trust as evidenced by seven successful tax renewal elections, the most recent one passing with over 80% voter approval.

We are in a season where parental choice is important and choice is something Caddo Parish supports and appreciates. Our magnet schools are thriving, and not at the expense of our neighborhood schools.

Think for a moment about the importance of neighborhood schools, like those many of us attended from kindergarten to graduation. We also went to church together, were in the same swim program, on the same sports teams and attended summer vacation bible school. The importance of those shared experiences allows us to remain friends throughout our lives. Our neighborhood schools are important, and they are also thriving.

As for those 10 schools that were absolutely on the verge of being taken over by the state, we managed to keep all those schools under local control and improved students’ academic achievements while fundamentally changing the climate and culture of the campuses. We are so proud of that work and what it means for children.

Obviously, the district did not accomplish this alone. It has been a team effort. As a single-member school district, our Board members recognize that for the district to be successful, there must be a balance between doing what is best for their district and what is best for the entire district overall. They have the philosophy of “One Board, One Voice.” All our success has begun with Board support.

We have learned that the greatest way we can support our stakeholders is to listen and communicate consistently across all groups. Our parents, grandparents, businesses, faith institutions, city government, Committee of 100, Downtown Rotary, the Strategic Action Council, the Greater Shreveport Chamber of Commerce and many more have all been vital partners in these conversations and decisions.

“We are Caddo!” … It’s Our Superpower

Dr. T. Lamar Goree serves the Caddo Parish community as its superintendent of schools. He earned his Bachelor Degree in Management from Morehouse College, his Master of Educational Leadership from the University of Texas Arlington, and his Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from the University of Texas Arlington. He may be reached at TLGoree@caddoschools.org.