Back to the Trenches - school superintendents who choose lower-profile positions in school administration

School Administrator, March, 1996 by Krista Ramsey

"It wasn't a messy divorce when I left the superintendency, but I'm a happier man now," Withee says. "Every day when I'm shaving, I realize how much I enjoy going in and being a principal."

Conversely, some in the superintendency feel a shrinking sense of authority. They find they are only one of an increasing cast of powerful players that extends from the state legislature to well-organized special-interest groups within their communities.

"There was a time when the definition of quality education in a local community was pretty much what the local superintendent said it should be," says Dust, of the Indiana superintendents group. "These days a variety of entities are defining quality of education for the community, including the state and local politicians, advocates for special education, business leaders, etc.

Some superintendents feel they are on the firing line of public distrust and discontent--with no reserve troops behind them.

"People are in an anarchic mood," says Ryan of the Aleutians East district in Alaska. "They don't want government solutions to things any more, and we're often the biggest representative of Big Brother in our small communities. People are being poisoned by the conservative mood in the country. Public school bashing is an applause line used by every politician."

Unresponsive Public

The superintendents say they suffer from a public perception of educational crisis. And they admit that sometimes, within their own districts, the crisis is real.

In many school districts, state aid is shrinking, buildings are aging, and mandates are mushrooming. Local taxpayers seem in no mood to shoulder an extra financial burden.

Voucher programs, charter schools, and open enrollment threaten to erode a strong constituent base, making it harder to rally community support and to pass money issues. In AASA's latest nationwide survey of superintendents, 69 percent said financial difficulties could make them leave the superintendency.

No matter how stable their districts may currently be, many leave because they see trouble on the horizon.

Scriber, the Louisiana superintendent turned principal, knew that nine of the 10 aging schools in his district soon would need extensive remodeling or replacement. Professional good sense told him to take on the issue before ceiling tiles started falling around students' heads.

He had helped put the district on solid financial footing, enjoyed the confidence of his constituents and his school board, and felt he should have been able to rally support for a necessary bond issue. But when he talked to local politicians at the county courthouse up the street--opinion leaders in his rural Louisiana district--he found no support for a money issue.

"No one would be ugly to me, but the county officials would take me aside and talk to me friend to friend and say, 'We just can't do this,'" he remembers.

"It was hard to hear that, being in a position where I knew we had to do something," Scriber says.

Being unable to rally support for the hard decision--even after enjoying a successful superintendency--was one reason Scriber returned to the principalship.