LETTERS

School Administrator, Sept, 2000

The Dentist Analogy

I loved the analogy used by John Taylor in his guest column, "Absolutely the Best Dentist," in the June issue.

Our state department of education is requiring performance assessments and issuing report cards because they are mandated by the legislature. I sent a copy of Taylor's article to several state board members, the state education director and the state department of education. I received no response.

RANDY SCARBROUGH

Superintendent,

River Valley School District,

Strawberry, Ark.

How ironic that my superintendent gave me a copy of John Taylor's column the day after the Massachusetts Department of Education decided it would test math teachers whose students score poorly on the state mathematics test.

I would have liked to share his column with our state education department, but I'm not sure the staff there would have understood it.

CURT SIMPSON

Coordinator of Administrative Services,

West Boylston School District,

West Boylston, Mass.

Shortchanging Women

Thomas Glass shared a lot of insight on the dearth of women in the superintendency ("Where Are All the Women Superintendents?" June 2000), but he overlooked a major reason.

Because of their unwillingness and/or inability for family reasons to relocate or to work in a poor, nonurban area, women in Virginia rarely apply for about 100 of the 134 superintendents' jobs.

During the past several years, we finally have convinced some women that even men rarely move from the classroom to the superintendency in the same school system without advancing from small to intermediate to large districts.

If more women would agree to serve as superintendents in the small, rural, poor districts, they would gain the experience to be even more competitive in the choice locations.

FRANK E. BARHAM

Executive Director,

Virginia School Boards Association,

Charlottesville, Va.

Tom Glass failed to mention one barrier: Women, particularly at the lower levels of the organization, often are reluctant or resistant toward working for a woman.

I am a successful superintendent with five years of experience. I recently applied for a position in another district that previously had a female superintendent. After I was interviewed by the board in a first round of interviews, a list of candidates was circulated. The union members began calling the candidates' school districts. The president of the secretaries union called the president in my current district to say, "We just had 10 years of a woman superintendent and we don't want another one."

The three finalists were all male although our experiences and profiles were very similar.

MARY LYNNE DERRINGTON

Superintendent,

Chimacum School District 49,

Chimacum, Wash.

When I announced my resignation after six years as superintendent to accept a university position, a former member of the school board asked to serve on the community selection committee for the sole purpose of ensuring the board would not consider another female candidate.

When a woman accepts a superintendency and already has community members set against her because of ingrained cultural biases, it is difficult to survive, much less succeed.

GAYLA FREDERICKSON

Assistant Professor of Educational Administration,

South Dakota State University,

Brookings, S.D.

A Not So Torrid Tale

I was disappointed and quite frankly outraged by Marilyn Grady's guest column ("The Torrid Tale of a Superintendent's Secretary," June 2000).

I have worked for my current school district almost 26 years. During that time, I have been the executive secretary to four outstanding superintendents. Each encouraged me to take on more responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the office and to become a problem solver,

Through their mentoring, I returned to school and earned my bachelor's degree and had my position upgraded to executive assistant. Yes, on occasion, I incurred the jealousy of other administrators who lacked the ability to make a decision or referred to me as "being out of my box." I earned the respect of the superintendents who considered me a part of the management team by including me in administrative workshops and seminars and who, on many occasions, solicited my input when considering new ideas and procedures.

I find it foolish to believe that one individual or one isolated incident contributes to the downfall of a superintendent.

CECILIA R. BIRDSELL

Executive Assistant to the Superintendent/Board Secretary,

East Penn School District,

Emmaus, Pa.

ISO 9000's Value

I read Amy Zuckerman's article ("Quality Assurance Through ISO 9000," June 2000) with keen interest.

As director of finance in a district of 9,000 students and 17 schools, I was intrigued by the idea of applying internationally recognized quality standards to school districts. We are very interested in pursuing ISO 9001 certification.

J. GREG MACK

Director of Finance,

Lexington County School District 2,

West Columbia, S.C.

Jane Hammond contributed a wonderful article ("Our Application of ISO 9000") in the June issue.

The Jefferson County, Colo., Public Schools have achieved a great milestone through their ISO 9000 recognition. It is especially noteworthy in light of the tragedy at Columbine High School.