New Caddo superintendent has five-point plan to ensure district's success

(The Center Square) — The new superintendent for the Caddo Parish school district says his goal is make the district better and has five ways he plans to accomplish this goal.

Keith Burton, formerly the district's chief academic officer, is the district's new superintendent. He said the overall big picture goal is to improve student outcomes in the parish regardless of their background, skin color, neighborhood, etc.

To help accomplish that, he's focused on five key points of emphasis.

The first is building trust and establishing personal relationships with representatives from each district.

"I will being very soon meeting one on one with every board member to be able to dialogue what's important to them," Burton said.

The second is increasing parent and community engagement in school success.

"We have incredibly talented people throughout this community that are willing to be apart of the solution. And I'm willing to bring them on," Burton said.

The third is supporting schools and the people who run them, like principals and teachers.

"Nothing else matters unless our principals and teachers have what they need to be successful," Burton said. He also talked about the Let Teachers Teach initiative and supported removing non-teaching tasks that were bogging down their daily work lives.

The fourth is improving kindergarten readiness with an emphasis on literacy.

Burton said he and his team, "will continue our steadfastness around early childhood education and ensure that is a priority."

When asked how he would improve kindergarten readiness, Burton said they first need to look at access to this service. He wants to add early childhood and pre-k classes to all the neighborhood schools that need them in underserved populations.

Lastly, he wants to stop, listen and learn.

"I've told the board through the interview process and I'm telling the community. You don't have to come to me, I'm going to come to you," Burton said. "Let's sit down, and I am going to listen intently to what the needs of the community are.

Burton said although he doesn't officially start until October 1, he's got plans in the days immediately following to get a head start on community engagement. With Caddo Parish Schools scoring a C in the Louisiana Department of Education's 2022 and 2023 accountability grades, the district may need his quick-to-act attitude.