Leadership Team
BYRON R. ARTHUR
President | CEO
Byron Arthur will serve as the President/CEO of The Delores Taylor Arthur School for Young Men. He is the architect of the mission and vision of the school. He brings to the position experiences in strong schools - Jesuit High School, The Stuart Hall School for Boys, and Holy Cross School all institutions where academic and personal excellence are part of the culture and rich traditions have allowed successful men to be produced across multiple generations. The Board believes that he will bring that same commitment of excellence to The Delores Taylor Arthur School for Young Men. His resume includes teaching experiences at Harvard University, Stanford University, Northwestern University, the University of California - Los Angeles, and American University where summer programs allowed him to teach young people from virtually every state in the union as well as the People’s Republic of China, Japan, the Republic of China, Mexico, Canada, Thailand, India, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, France, and South Korea. We believe that these experiences give him a unique view of high school students in other parts of the world and the ability to lead the implementation of a curriculum that will allow our students to be competitive with their international peers. His career as a Hall of Fame coach of debating has allowed him to develop relationships across the United States that he will be able to leverage in growing The Delores Taylor Arthur School for Young Men.
Outside of education, Byron is a practicing trial attorney and it is the belief of the Board of Trustees that this background will aid the leadership in its ability to make decisions that will not expose the school to liability. His career as a corporate communications professional, specifically as the Press Secretary/Communications Director at the Louisiana Department of Revenue demonstrated to us that he will be an effective and skilled messenger for The Delores Taylor Arthur School for Young Men. His time as Director of Debating at Holy Cross School has given him an opportunity to raise monies to sustain a nationally competitive program which he has done by leveraging existing relationships and establishing new ones.
To further expand his capacity to serve as the President/CEO, Arthur was named a Camelback Fellow by Camelback Ventures, Inc. After an application process that included 530 men and women he joined 12 other entrepreneurs who received one-one coaching and group instruction in critical competency areas such as stakeholder engagement, public relations and marketing, hiring and human resources, raising capital, and design thinking.
Currently, he is part of the New School Creation Fellowship offered by the High Tech High Graduate School of Education, a two-year program that guides individuals and teams in designing schools that educate traditionally underserved student populations with an eye toward equity.
DARRIN BEDELL
Dean of Student Life
Darrin Bedell is a native of New Orleans, LA with 20 years of educational experience. Bedell is a
graduate of Southern University and A&M College with a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in
Mass Communication. He brings a wealth of leadership skills, team building, parental, and
community involvement to The Delores Taylor Arthur School for Young Men. Bedell has worked
on all educational levels spanning elementary to high school. His educational career began as a
substitute teacher and later became an ELA teacher in East Baton Rouge School System. Later
during his career in East Baton Rouge School System, he became a Behavior Interventionist
which propelled him to become a very respected Dean of Culture at Esperanza Charter School,
Andrew J. Wilson Charter School, Smothers Academy Preparatory School for Boys, Sophie B.
Wright Charter School, and Robert R. Moton Charter School.
In Tallulah, LA, he served as the Director of Operations at the Associate Marine Institute for
Adjudicated Youth. Upon his return to New Orleans, he worked as a Speech teacher, ACT Prep
teacher, Behavior & Academic Interventionist, Asst. Volleyball Coach, and Head Baseball Coach
at O. Perry Walker High School/Landry-Walker High School.
This lifelong educator is also the voice of the Southern University Marching Band, a member of
Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc., and Kappa Kappa Psi Band Fraternity.
MARIE ROTH
Director of Student Support
Marie Roth brings 15 years of educational experience to The Delores Taylor Arthur School for Young Men. She has extensive experience in both general education and special education. She has served in leadership roles such as Instructional Leader, Teacher Mentor, and Special Education Coordinator. Ms. Roth has dedicated her career to working with public school students in the city of New Orleans and along the MS Gulf Coast.
Passionate about seeing our Airmen take flight, Ms. Roth has been a fervent advocate for creating extensive individualized educational plans that provide a complete picture of our young men with learning exceptionalities. During our inaugural year, she has been a catalyst in creating a Student Assistance Team to better identify our students at risk of struggling both academically and behaviorally. She has also collaborated with other members of our leadership team and faculty to institute a positive behavior intervention system to mitigate negative behaviors and celebrate student successes both small and large.
Ms. Roth was selected as the University of Southern Mississippi’s top graduate student for the School of Education and Human Sciences upon completion of her masters in Educational Administration and Supervision. She has also had the honor of being selected by her alma mater to mentor teacher candidates in the final stage of their educational program. She continues to use her mentoring experience to enrich her team’s knowledge of classroom strategies to help make excellence possible for learners all along the academic spectrum.
Because she believes our Airmen deserve the very best, she is committed to being a lifelong learner in order to both fine-tune her craft and make data-driven decisions to help our young men realize their potential and take flight.
DR. JOSEPH H. MURRY, JR.
Special Advisor for Academic Affairs
Dr. Joseph H. Murry, Jr. has always loved the energy of being in a school. He worked as an assistant coach in football, Head Tennis and Soccer Coach, and the Athletic Director at Abramson High School, before being promoted to Principal of the New Orleans school. His hard work, innovation, and results-oriented approach was recognized earning him Area II Principal of the Year (1997-98) of Orleans Public Schools as well as High School Principal of the Year for Orleans Parish (2001-02).
Dr. Murry would next serve as principal of Holy Cross School in New Orleans . He was a leader in the re-building process of the school following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. He and a team of educators not only rebuilt the physical plant of the school, but who added successful Advanced Placement programs and a rigorous and challenging curriculum that saw significant gains in ACT scores, AP attainment, and TOPS eligibility. Because of his support in creating and rebuilding successful academic programs, Dr. Murry was named the 2015 National Principal of the Year by the National Speech and Debate Association. Dr. Murry is a graduate of St. Aloysius High School, New Orleans, earned his B.A. from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (presently ULL), a Masters from Southeastern Louisiana University, and his PhD from the University of New Orleans.