Senior citizen superintendents; symbols of a new age: working at 70 and beyond

School Administrator, Oct, 2002 by Jay Mathews

The bond referendum for a new elementary school produced the usual flurry of protests. Residents without school-age children worried it would severely inflate their tax bills. The community organization opposing the bond issue distributed flyers the weekend before the election suggesting some people could lose their homes. Spokespersons for both sides debated the issue vigorously one evening at the Methodist church.

But Burdette W. Andrews, 44, the energetic and determined school superintendent, stuck to his message, buttressed with charts and graphs. The population of his district, Vandercook Lake, Mich., was increasing rapidly and the voters had to be responsible for the education of the children. In the end, his side won and the school was built.

It sounds like a typical bond issue dispute in a typical American town, just like many others in recent years of tax debates and deficits. Yet it happened a half century ago, and Andrews's successful conduct of the campaign to improve his schools worked so well that he has remained on the job ever since, retiring (if that is what you want to call it) only this year when he reached the age of 94.

Andrews's 56 years as superintendent in Vandercook Lake--that doesn't count his five previous years as superintendent of two neighboring districts--probably set a record for longevity. People who know him say it is a remarkable testament to his devotion to his job and his robust health. Many school administrators young enough to be his children already yearn to stay home at night and spend their mornings on the golf course.

Growing Older

But he is not alone. Being a school superintendent, surveys indicate, is more difficult than ever, with school boards becoming more restless and federal and state governments imposing more requirements for things like improved test scores and expanded social services. Yet many older superintendents are showing that enjoyment of their work, deep knowledge of their districts and modern medical care is keeping them energetic and productive far beyond the usual retirement age.

"Once you get in there and get established, the days go by and then the years go by," says Bruce S. Cooper, associate professor of education at Fordham University and lead author of a 2000 AASA study., "Career Crisis in the School Superintendency."

Andrews in Vandercook Lake is an extreme but intriguing symbol of a new age of increasingly older superintendents who are willing to take on the challenge. The demands of running a modern school district appear to have increased, not reduced, the portion of superintendents in their 50s and older.

The School Administrator identified about a dozen superintendents at least 70 years of age who continue to practice on a full- or part-time basis. Not all were anxious, however, to discuss their senior citizen status, including a female superintendent in California who is 81.

AASA's Study of the American School Superintendency 2000 by Thomas E. Glass, Lars Bjork and C. Cryss Brunner revealed that in the largest districts (those with 25,000 or more students), the portion of superintendents aged 55 or above increased from 35.5 percent in 1971 to 49.5 percent in 2000.

A 1923 survey by AASA found the median age of superintendents to be 43.1, but that has jumped up since. During most of the past half-century, the median age of superintendents hovered around 48 or 50. "Since 1992, however, the median age of superintendents increased to 52.5, the oldest recorded median age during the 20th century," the study said.

The latest AASA study showed increases over the last 20 years in the number of superintendents aged 60 and older in school districts of all sizes. In the largest districts, nearly 16 percent of superintendents were over 60 in 2000 compared to 10 percent a decade earlier. Among school districts with fewer than 300 students, the percentage of superintendents over the age of 60 increased from 5 percent to nearly 9 percent.

Although research so far cannot explain the rise in the age of superintendents, experts offer several possible reasons. School superintendents are more likely to be trained professionals with doctorates in administration who see themselves developing careers rather than just filling a job and building up Social Security credits for retirement. Also, experts say, the talented administrators most likely to become superintendents are waiting longer to take those big jobs.

"A lot of principals or central-office administrators are reluctant to take on superintendencies until pretty late in their careers," says Glass, a professor of educational leadership at the University of Memphis.

With the job so heavily politicized, and the potential of an unhappy ending so high, many administrators prefer to leap into that cauldron when their children are grown and their retirement plans in good shape so they don't have to worry so much about their next job.

Also, Glass says, the growing number of female superintendents seems to be raising the average age. "They stay longer in the classroom and they have children, so they are likely to be older when they have a chance to be superintendents," he says.