His Quirky Style Scores Well in Rural Kentucky

School Administrator, April, 1999 by Jay P. Goldman

It's probably a superintendent's worst nightmare. You land in a new position and discover the untold truth of the school district's financial state.

Consider what Craig Bangtson found when he came aboard the superintendency of the rural Grayson County Schools in central Kentucky in 1992: A federal audit issued two months earlier threatened to withhold about $4 million in funds because of the lack of proper accounting controls and irregularities in the school lunch program.

"It was my first week on the job and it really scared me," admits Bangtson, an amiable, soft-spoken educator of Swedish stock who uses humor to disarm those inclined to dislike him.

Over the ensuing two months, Bangtson would be forced to cut the district's spending by 4 percent and ask the public for a tax increase to keep the schools afloat. As part of the latter campaign, he agreed to appear with several school board members on a local radio talk program to field questions from taxpayers. But no board members showed up at the studio, leaving Bangtson to go it alone. "I saw my job going right down the toilet," he muses.

The questioners were predictably hostile, starting with the first caller who demanded: "How come the school board hired a Yankee instead of one of our local boys down here?"

Even Wayne Keller, executive director of the Kentucky Association of School Administrators who is now an ardent admirer of Bangtson, questioned his fate. "He came into a district that was isolationist in nature [one that had] few dealings with the outside world. ... I was convinced he would last about six months."

But Bangtson, having risen to the challenge and then some, already has completed his seventh year as superintendent. He has made dramatic improvements to the curriculum of the 4,300-student district and upgraded most facilities using only operating fund reserves.

The native Midwesterner had spent most of his career in Wisconsin and Minnesota, serving as superintendent of three successively larger districts over a 13-year period. Two of those districts had fewer than 1,000 students so Bangtson acquired a deft hand in financial management and community relations. Those skills, plus a tireless approach to his work, all came into play in Grayson County.

"Initially, he tried to cover everything himself," says Thomas Byrd, who joined the school board two years after Bangtson's hiring. "We had to say, 'Hey, you've got to delegate some things,' and he's starting to do that."

The school district consistently scores above national and state norms on standardized exams, and during a recent three-year period, Grayson County ranked 22nd among Kentucky's 176 school districts on the statewide achievement test. Meanwhile, Bangtson gained distinction as the first superintendent in the state certified to assess skills of other superintendents.

He works hard to keep the focus on students. Among other things, he includes two questions on the bottom of every school board agenda: Have we done anything to help students tonight? Have we done anything to hurt students tonight?

Bangtson also is quick to credit his effectiveness as a school leader to his substantial involvement in AASA activities over the years. He's presented eight times at AASA national conferences, including recent sessions on how superintendents can improve the work of their boards. He has completed AASA certification programs for long-range strategic planning and curriculum auditing and traveled with AASA leaders last October to Cuba for a week-long education seminar. He currently chairs the AASA Advisory Council and sits on the Resolutions Committee.

"I've never been disappointed once going to a (AASA) national convention or curriculum workshop," Bangtson says. "I've always gained new ideas."

What also seems to work advantageously is a quirky sense of humor, his ability to poke fun at himself and trade good-natured barbs with school board members and community leaders. This has enabled Bangtson to break through the insular shield of the rural county. "Here they don't even talk to you unless you're one of them," he says.

Byrd, a board member for six years, has a different take. "We don't laugh at his jokes--just the way he tells 'em."

Jay Goldman is the editor of The School Administrator.

BIO STATS: CRAIG BANGTSON

Currently: Superintendent, Grayson County Schools, Leitchfield, Ky.

Earlier: Superintendent, Mountain Iron-Buhi, Minn., Public Schools

Age: 48

Greatest Influence on Career: My mother, who taught all her children that giving of yourself to others should be the major focus of our lives

Best Professional Day: As a first-year superintendent in Kentucky, I was selected by the state to evaluate all superintendents in the areas of school law, school finance, curriculum and assessment, leadership/management and site-based decision making. What an honor having only been in Kentucky for one year.

Books at Bedside: Soar With Your Strengths by Donald O. Clifton and Paula Nelson, Preparing Students for the 21st Century by Donna Uchida, Marvin Cetron and Floretta McKenzie and A Great Place to Work by Robert Levering