VIDALIA &045; After four months of interviews, advertisements and votes, the Concordia Parish School Board elected a new superintendent Tuesday night &045; Kerry Laster.

On a 4-3-2 vote, with four members voting for Laster, three for Julius Huhn and two abstaining, the decision came after only 20 minutes of deliberation in executive session.

&uot;I’m glad to see the board come together and elect one,&uot; board President Ernest Lynn White said about the decision.

Laster was excited about it as well.

&uot;I am very excited about the opportunity, but I’m relived it’s over,&uot; Laster said. Laster said she is ready to &uot;pull the community back together and focus on academic achievement.&uot;

The board set a special meeting for next Tuesday night to negotiate a contract with Laster.

She will &uot;sign a contract and start working as soon as I can,&uot; Laster said. &uot;I’m ready to go. I’ll live out of a suitcase for a while&uot; if necessary, she said.

And while board members wait for Laster’s signature on their agreement, Fred Butcher is still the interim superintendent.

Butcher thanked the board for putting faith in him to serve as interim, saying he enjoyed it and congratulated Laster.

And as he spoke, members of the audience thanked him for his service, telling him they were proud of him for an outstanding job. The audience honored him with a standing ovation.

&uot;Whoever the superintendent is, I will work with them,&uot; Butcher told the audience, board and Laster. &uot;I’ve been in this system for 32 years Š because I believe in kids and the people that we serve.&uot;

Butcher even told Laster his seat was hers, got up and congratulated her with a handshake.

For Laster, the job is an opportunity to come home. Having grown up in the Concordia Parish school system, she graduated from Ferriday High School and even taught one year in the system.

Currently, she is principal at Shreve Island Elementary School in Shreveport.

What is she looking forward too most?

&uot;Getting out in the schools and getting to know the principals, teachers and students,&uot; Laster said. &uot;I’m not sitting behind a desk.&uot;

This will be Laster’s first job as a superintendent of a school system, and she said there are a lot of emotions with her new title.

&uot;It’s a very emotional time for me but it’s also something I’ve always wanted to do,&uot; especially getting to come back home, Laster said.

Laster hopes she has support from the people who know her, who have been contacting her lately about the prospect of getting the job.

At first, the board had four applicants for the position and narrowed it to three in July &045; Butcher, Laster and Huhn, the district’s director of federal programs. After deadlocking twice, the board voted to readvertise for the position. After interviewing seven applicants, the board narrowed the field to two &045; Laster and Huhn &045; Oct. 28 and deadlocked when voting between the two.