Look Who's Talking: Paul Pastorek, Louisiana Superintendent of

New Orleans CityBusiness, Mar 26, 2007 by Craig Guillot

Age: 52

Education: bachelor's degree in finance, Loyola University New Orleans; juris doctorate Loyola University School of Law

Family: wife Kathy; children Ryan, 27, Jeffrey, 26, Kaitlin, 20

Hometown: New Orleans

Serving on the Louisiana State Board of Education from 1996 to 2004, attorney Paul Pastorek was recently named the Superintendent of Education. He oversees 69 public school districts with more than 1,400 schools and 650,000 students. Pastorek is a partner with Adams & Reese law firm.

What made you want to take on the task of overseeing Louisiana's public school system?

I was asked by the governor and members of the board. Some close business associates and friends also encouraged me. From my personal perspective, I thought it was an opportunity to make a mark. It's a very important point in time for the state and city of New Orleans.

What are you going to do to lift Louisiana from the bottom of school rankings?

We have fine systems but serious challenges including a large number of academically unacceptable schools and a significant difference in the achievement gaps between African-Americans and whites and the poor and the wealthy. There are strategies that have been adopted in other states and I would like to explore those and bring those to Louisiana so we can move to the next level of reform in public education.

The department is asking for a $277 million increase in public school funding from the Legislature. How is this money going to be used to improve the system?

The funding is in part to pay for the numbers of kids we expect to be in school, and there are going to be more kids in school next year. There is also money to improve the quality of the classrooms and academic achievement. That's funding for our high school redesign reform, an effort to increase the rigor and relevance of high school to children. We're also looking to expand our nationally- ranked pre-K program to more at-risk children.

Why is better public education in the best interest to all of us, regardless of whether we have children or whether we send them to

private schools?

Whether we send our children to public schools, the quality of life in the state of Louisiana is directly dependent upon the quality of education we have for all of our children. If we think we're not going to be affected by how the schools work in the city of New Orleans, we are sadly mistaken.

Many high school students aren't that far from entering the workplace. Are there more trade programs and things being done to get students into careers such as the construction industry?

It's spotty at best. There are some places in the state where it is done very well but in others it's not. I think this is an area of weakness the state has suffered from. The state has tried to reform the post-secondary systems in the technical and community colleges to have a stronger relationship with the K-12 system.

What role is education going to play in the recovery of New Orleans?

I think education is further along than any part of government or infrastructure in the city. However, New Orleans public schools have to work well or the city will become irrelevant.

How were you as a student?

I was actually a pretty good student. I think I ended up in the top 10 percent throughout most of my educational career.