IN BRIEF: Rockdale County Superintendent Dr. Samuel King is one of six semi-finalists for the East Baton Rouge Parish School System superintendent position in Louisiana.

According to Louisana publication reports, the semi-finalists are:

• Herman Brister, Chief Academic Officer East Baton Rouge Parish School System Baton Rouge
• Kelt Cooper,Superintendent San Felipe Del Rio Consolidated ISD Del Rio, TX
• Tisha Edwards, Chief of Staff Baltimore City Public Schools Baltimore, MD
• Samuel King, Superintendent Rockdale County Public Schools Conyers, GA
• Maria Pitre-Martin, Director of K12 Curriculum and Instruction North Carolina Department of Public Instruction Raleigh NC
• Elliot Smalley, Deputy of Strategy and Communications Charleston County School District Charleston, SC

King said in a released statement, “A search firm initially contacted me about the opportunity. My family and I are very happy here in Rockdale County and I am proud to be part of such a great team of educators, students and parents in this community. After a couple of conversations with the search firm, I felt that this may align with my long-term goals and consider it an opportunity for advancement in my career as a superintendent.”

King is being interviewed today, Wednesday, along with Cooper, and Smalley. Brister, Edwards and Pitre-Martin are being interviewed on Monday, Jan. 23. The EBR school board will convene Jan. 25 to narrow down the list.

The current EBRP school system superintendent, John Dilworth, was hired in 2009 and reportedly was going to resign in 2010 but stayed on. His contract will not be renewed when it ends June 30, 2012.

The EBRP has approximately 42,000 students in preK-12 in 86 schools with approximately 6,252 full-time employees and more than 3,509 teachers, according to the school system's website. About 81 percent of the students are black and 82 percent live in poverty, according to The Advocate.

RCPS has about 16,000 students and 18 schools (excluding non-traditional schools such as Rockdale Career Academy), with a student population that's about 60 percent black.

The EBRP school system website to track the superintendent search is: http://news.ebrschools.org/explore.cfm/2012suptsearch/

 King was reportedly a finalist in superintendent search last year for Cobb County School District and was considered for the DeKalb County School District superintendent before his name was withdrawn.