The School Superintendent: The Profession and The Person

School Administrator, August, 1997 by Edie Holcomb

In The School Superintendent: The Profession and The Person, William Sharp and James Walter accomplish their twin goals of creating a textbook for superintendency courses and a guidebook for practicing district administrators.

Professors will appreciate the book's content on the history and legal authority of the position, while their students will relish the real-life examples and anecdotes that come from the authors' own experiences as superintendents. Discussion questions and case studies at the end of each chapter make it useful in staff development contexts.

Building-level and central-office administrators considering whether to pursue the superintendency will find here some candid accounts of the tradeoffs of the position. Careful reading would enable them to diagnose their readiness for the position.

Even experienced superintendents may find new insights in the chapters on dealing with the union and negotiations, serving as public relations expert for the district, and working as the business manager.

A chapter by the authors' wives provides a unique perspective.

(The School Superintendent: The Profession and The Person, William L. Sharp and James K. Walter, Technomic Publishing Co., 1996, 224 pp. with index, $33 softcover. Available at a discount from AASA Distribution Center, P.O. Box 411, Annapolis Jct., Md. 20701-0411. Toll free: 888-782-2272 or 301-617-7802, Stock #753)