Changes in Central Private School Leadership

From Central Private School

On the afternoon of Tuesday, October 11, faculty, staff, and school families learned the news that Central Private’s superintendent/principal, Mr. Charles Hoots, was resigning to accept a job at a sister MAIS school in eastern Mississippi.

“I have learned that as an administrator your job is to do your best at the school that you are serving while you are there, make ethical and fair decisions in the best interest of students, and to leave the school in a better position academically and culturally than when you arrived.  I feel that this task has been accomplished at Central Private and that now is the right time personally for me to move on,” said Hoots in his letter to school families. “I want everyone to know that I am very proud of the fine young men and women that I have had the privilege to serve as the Principal of Central Private.  Words cannot adequately express how proud they have made me as a result of their many wonderful accomplishments.”

“Mr. Hoots has done a tremendous job at our school,” said members of the CPS Board of Directors in a letter issued the same afternoon.  “We will all agree that we are better now than when he arrived [in 2014].  This is a positive move for him, and he wants it to be positive for CP.”

Fortunately for the CP family, the Board of Directors was able to quickly look within the school to find Mr. Hoots’s replacement.  Mr. Wayne Cook, remembered by many alumni as Coach Cook, was asked to move from a part time teaching position to a full time roll of principal.  Mr. Cook served as assistant principal of CP in the 1990’s before serving as principal of various schools around the Baton Rouge area.  He returned to CP after retiring from the public school system to serve as a part time history teacher.

“His familiarity with the school, students, and staff should make this a smooth transition,” read the Board or Directors’ statement.  

In the hopes of creating a smooth transition, Mr. Cook spent two weeks working alongside Mr. Hoots before the latter’s departure from CP.  Mr. Cook’s first official day as principal was Thursday, October 27.