Pressure builds on school superintendents
http://www.reporternews.com/news/2010/feb/25/superintendent-xyl-xyl-yxlylxxy/?partner=RSS
- Emily Peters peterse@reporternews.com / 325-676-6776
- Posted February 25, 2010
Texas school district superintendents are facing increasing burdens at a time when the economy is slumping and the state is enacting sweeping changes to accountability and curriculum, according to school leadership consultants.
“The superintendency is a difficult, difficult job, and some people just get worn out,” Bob Griggs recently told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Griggs is now a superintendent search consultant after retiring in 1993 as superintendent of the Birdville district.
“The stress is enormous on a day-to-day basis,” he said.
Often, that stress results in turnover. Texas superintendents have been in their current position for an average of four years, according to the Texas Association of School Boards.
When David Polnick retires from the Abilene Independent School District superintendency June 30, he will have served seven years.
Texas typically has about 150 superintendent vacancies a year among the state’s 1,030 school districts, Mayo Neyland with the TASB executive search firm told the Star-Telegram. Smaller districts are usually where superintendents come to get their start, develop and move away, he said.
That may be the case in many Big Country districts. Last summer, at least 10 smaller Big Country districts had superintendency vacancies. Right now, Ballinger and Colorado ISDs are still on the hunt, according to Texasisd.com.
Some contracts not renewed
Politics also come into play with superintendent stress, said former Haskell Superintendent Billie McKeever.
“Many times a new superintendent is brought in to make changes,” said McKeever, who facilitates the superintendent certification courses for Region 14 Education Service Center. “Then, those changes get implemented, things get stirred up and some people aren’t happy. Those people run for school board. That’s a challenge for superintendents.”
In January and February, most school boards vote whether to tack another year onto the end of a superintendent’s contract, which is typically three years.
This year, at least four Big Country superintendents didn’t get that extra year, including those in Ranger, Baird, Gorman and Clyde ISDs.
Ranger ISD has four new board members out of seven. In recent weeks, the board decided not to add another year to Doyle Russell’s three-year contract. Now, his contract ends in two years.
“I’m sure there was probably a lot of apprehension when this board changed,” said board President Karen Clifton, adding that she wants to keep administrators on shorter contracts. “I’m sure he was very apprehensive as well as other administrators. As a former teacher, I know when we changed principals, we’re always apprehensive about what’s coming down.”
Baird ISD Superintendent Edgar Camacho’s also is working on a two-year contract after the board declined to offer him an extension at a recent board meeting. Camacho, who was hired in 2008, said the board critiqued him on “micromanagement and not being approachable.”
“In a small school district, it’s hard not to be a micromanager when you don’t have specialists like larger districts,” he said. “But I’ll do what the board requests as long as I still have a contract. You don’t cry or anything. You just keep working.”
Impact affected
National averages show it takes about five years for a successful new superintendent to turn around a troubled district, according to the Star-Telegram.
Incoming Abilene ISD Superintendent Heath Burns spent about five years as superintendent in Anderson-Shiro CISD and about five years in Angelton ISD. During that time, both districts posted big academic improvement and passed bond elections.
In Abilene, Burns requested and was granted a five-year contract.
Reform is not an easy task as accountability systems become more rigorous and districts are held accountable for improvement among all student groups, including minority, low-income, and special education.
McKeever said that’s one of the main issues facing the aspiring leaders in her superintendent certification courses.
“I think sups (superintendents) and principals have such a hard job expecting high performance, but not letting it get so over powering that their teachers are stressed and students are stressed,” she said.
But accountability is just one factor. McKeever said it takes a “very diverse skill set.”
“The superintendent is a face of a district,” she said. “They not only have to be skilled in finance and accountability and curriculum, but they have to be skilled in dealing with all the stakeholders, partners businesses, media. It’s not an easy job.”