New Ouachita Parish Superintendent Todd Guice did not start his career thinking he would be sitting in the chair he is in today.
In fact, he didn’t think he would be sitting at all. In his mind, he would be standing on the sidelines coaching high school football.
Two things changed that master plan. First, his wife DeLaine gave birth to their first child – a daughter named Kelsie, who is now in her second year of residency at Oklahoma University Medical Center.
That prompted him to make a move into administration because teaching and coaching put him home late, and a lot of nights that meant not seeing her awake.
Administration put former Superintendent Dr. Bob Webber in Guice’s path – first, as Webber’s assistant principal at Ouachita Junior High.
“He wanted to go with me and take a pay cut,” Webber said. “To see him work so hard without getting paid for it, then working ballgames and working dances, I really saw the relationship he had with people. He got along so well with the faculty and students and the parents.”
Once Webber became Superintendent, Guice moved up to principal at Ouachita Junior High. Superintendent still was not part of his master plan or wish list, but Webber thought differently.
“It was probably my plan before it was his plan,” Webber said.
The next step toward that plan was revealed over fried chicken – of all things.
“We would fry chicken at Ouachita Junior High every Wednesday,” Guice said. “It wasn’t unusual for him (Dr. Webber) to come eat fried chicken, and he would get there 30 minutes before the lunch shift, and we would go down.”
On this particular Wednesday, as they were walking, Webber dropped a bomb on Guice and told him he was going to Ouachita Parish High School.
“I said, ‘To do what?’ and he said, ‘To be the principal,’” Guice recalled. “I said, ‘When?’ and he said, ‘Monday.’”
“I knew I wanted him there,” Webber said. “It was an easy thing. He did such a great job at the junior high.”
Less than a week later, Guice was the principal at Ouachita Parish High School. The distance from the junior high to high school was about 6 miles, but the move itself opened up doors and relationships across the state.
“Bob was a mentor to me,” Guice said. “He really pushed me to do things.”
The Ouachita principal job led to more opportunities like serving on the executive committee for the LHSAA. He and Mickey Merritt, who was the principal at West Ouachita High School at the time, served on the committee together. They already knew each other and bounced ideas and advice off each other as principals. However, the hours in the car driving to and from Baton Rouge for LHSAA meetings, really solidified their bond.
“He became President (of the LHSAA), and I was Vice President,” Merritt said. “Over time, 25 to 30 years, he’s become like a brother to me.”
Merritt coached high school football, and later on the college level at Ole Miss. Although he had more years on the sidelines than Guice, Merritt said Guice still thinks like a coach, which will serve him well as Superintendent.
“First of all, he’s very bright,” Merritt said. “He wants things done the right way. Being an old coach, and coaching on the college end, things have to be done the right way or you’re not going to be there very long. He has those qualities.”
Guice’s tenure as principal and with the LHSAA also put Lincoln Parish Superintendent Ricky Durrett in his path – and on a lot of those road trips with him and Merritt.
Durrett said their first few meetings, however, probably came when Guice was the principal at Ouachita and he was throwing Durrett, a state championship girl’s basketball coach, out of the gym.
“I developed a lot of respect for Todd, and the things he did on the (LHSAA) board and while president,” Durrett said. “I watched him put a lot of thought into decisions that had to be made. I learned a lot from him – wisdom to solve problems and how to work with people.
“He was honest and upfront with them. Every decision was not going to be popular, but as far as what’s best to help students, whether academics and athletics, he would try to do.”
Guice spent 11 years at Ouachita High School before moving to the Central Office as personnel director and assistant superintendent under Dr. Don Coker for the past 8 years.
“Todd is a go-getter,” Coker said. “I love Todd Guice to death. He’s going to be good. I’m excited for what he will bring.”
Coker officially retired on July 3, and his best piece of advice for Guice was to listen.
“You can’t fix everything that comes to you,” Coker said. “It’s not possible. You can’t make everyone who comes to you happy. It’s not possible, but you can listen to them.”
Ouachita Parish School Board Member (District A) Tommy Comeaux became the School Board President this past year, and the search for the next Superintendent was one of his first tasks. The Board’s vote for Guice was unanimous.
“I felt like my thoughts and his thoughts were similar,” Comeaux said. “We had similar backgrounds. We have similar beliefs. We have a working knowledge of what a school day is all about. He’s here for a reason. That’s what I told him – ‘You’re here for a purpose.’”
When Guice was named the next Superintendent earlier this year, former Sterlington principal Jason Thompson stepped into the role of personnel director. Guice may have been named the next Superintendent of Ouachita Parish this past February, but the wheels have been turning for quite some time.
“I think anybody that knows anything about Todd Guice is he is a forward thinker,” Thompson said. “He is a really, really sharp guy. He’s been here in this position long enough to have a vision. I’m kind of privy enough to have an inside look at what that vision looks like, and I am excited about it. He’s always going to make decisions with the kids’ best interest at heart, if possible. It’s been fun to watch that vision come to fruition, and I’m real excited about the future of the district.”
Having people like Thompson at the Central Office is part of Guice’s vision too. He admits he doesn’t know everything, but he has surrounded himself with people who he can lean on to make the best decisions for the Ouachita Parish School System.
“I am more collaborative,” Guice said. “I like to get people’s opinions. Knowing that at the end of the day it’s going to be my decision on a lot of things, but I’m not an expert on anything. I am smart enough to know that we’ve got people here that know things better than me in certain areas, and I can go to them and talk things through.”
As personnel director and now Superintendent, Guice has appointed 11 new employees into district leadership positions this past year, including two positions he created as part of his vision as Superintendent – Personnel Supervisor, who will work closely with Thompson and new employees and Supervisor of Elementary Schools, who will work closely with Curtis Pate, Director of Elementary Schools, Curriculum, Testing and Accountability.
“What people are going to have to understand and realize is that he’s a hands-on guy,” Merritt said. “He’s going to know what’s going on. Do your job. I know he’s going to do his job.”
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