The Interim Superintendency

School Administrator, March, 2000 by Krista Ramsey

Second careers for some, temporary school system leaders fill increasingly crucial roles during transitionary times

For many years, the succession of leadership in American schools was comfortably predictable. Typically, one school superintendent followed another in nearly inevitable fashion, generally destined for a tenure that spanned many years and often decades.

Now, as with many other facets of education, that pattern is regularly altered. One full-time, permanent superintendent may be followed by another, but in a significant number of school districts, he or she is being followed by an interim superintendent.

The reasons are many. In some cases, the job has grown too large and too stressful for administrators to inhabit for long. In other situations, the pool of willing replacements has grown too small for quick or automatic transitions. The result is the widespread use of interim superintendencies--a development worthy of note because it reflects wide changes in the field of educational administration.

Special Expertise

School districts that have employed interim superintendents say the position offers special, albeit hidden, advantages. It can add new options and flexibility to the hierarchy of educational leadership--allowing, for example, a school board to bring in a specialist in contract negotiations or bond-issue passage at a crucial moment.

It also can provide needed breathing space in the stressful and increasingly important superintendent selection process. And it clearly offers an avenue for productive use of the growing pool of willing, experienced and still-youthful retired superintendents.

But the interim superintendency also signals a dropped link in the chain of administrative continuity. "Usually it's not in the board's favor to have an interim," says I. Phillip Young, professor of educational administration at Ohio State University, who has studied the phenomenon. "It would usually be better for everyone if they could hire a regular superintendent. The interim will have a lot less authority, both from the bottom up and the top down."

The right interim superintendent at just the right juncture can bring respite to a troubled district, focus to a chaotic one and unity to a divided one. Garth Errington left retirement after 42 years as a professional educator to become interim superintendent of Norwood City Schools outside Cincinnati, Ohio, after conflict had led to the resignation of the superintendent, assistant superintendent and a board member and left the school system in turmoil. In 21 months, Errington calmed the waters, replaced 14 of 20 administrators, opened an alternative school for potential dropouts and won back public confidence.

Unfortunately, not every temporary superintendency works as smoothly. An interim superintendent who is too bold or too timid for his particular position can worsen a delicate situation considerably. Further, the position itself can prove a complication. It can pit inside candidates against outside candidates in the race for the permanent position, leaving lasting scars and creating a battle that is difficult for anyone to win.

And while a brief, well-timed interim superintendency can bring healing and focus, a series of interim appointments is almost sure to harm staff morale and public confidence in the district, experts say. "If the district leadership changes suddenly two or three times, the mantra is "This too shall pass,"' says Susan Moore Johnson, a professor of education at Harvard University and author of Leading to Change: The Challenge of the New Superintendency. "Teachers and principals won't submit to the new person s directives."

A Growing Presence

Despite their significance to the field, interim superintendencies have drawn surprisingly little scholarly attention. When Leslie T. Fenwick started researching the topic as a doctoral student at Ohio State University in the early 1990s, she found few studies to draw upon.

After tracking their number through state departments of education, Fenwick found that interim superintendencies were growing both in length of tenure and in number. From 1982 to 1992, the average annual number of appointments rose from 10 to 36. In the same period, tenure increased from 4.7 months to 5.8 months. In casual observations of the field since then, she believes both numbers have continued to increase.

The use of interims varies by place and type of district. States such as California that have seen a marked increase in contract buyouts by school boards have more superintendent vacancies and a larger pool of experienced interim candidates with which to fill them. Urban districts, where student needs and public demands for accountability have escalated, are far more likely to have temporary leaders than are suburban or rural districts. As of January, at least eight of the nation's big-city school districts were being overseen by interim leaders, according to the Council of the Great City Schools. "Interim superintendencies are everyday, run of the mill for us," says Michael Casserly, executive director.