Today, the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) elected John White as the new state Superintendent of Education.
Since May 2011, John White has served as the Superintendent of Louisiana’s Recovery School District. White began his career in education as an English teacher in a high-poverty school in New Jersey. He later became the Executive Director of Teach For America-Chicago, where he worked for three years before taking a job with the New York City school system. In New York, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer for the Portfolio Division, leading efforts to turn around failing schools and develop new ones, and later he served as NYC’s Deputy Chancellor, overseeing talent, labor and innovation.
John White has named Patrick Dobard as the new Superintendent of the Recovery School District. Dobard is a local New Orleanian and a career educator who taught for eleven years in Louisiana schools. In 2001, Dobard joined the Louisiana Department of Education, and over the next ten years he served in several key positions before moving to the Recovery School District. As the RSD’s Deputy Superintendent for Community and Policy, Dobard led the RSD’s 100-day strategy sessions that resulted in the comprehensive “What Will It Take” strategic plan for the RSD.
For more information, read the Louisiana Department of Education’s press release.
