“Even if you’ve been in the community for a long time, you haven’t been in the community in that role,” School Perceptions Vice President of Research Rob DeMeuse explains.
That makes a smooth transition imperative to success. And the turnover is happening more than it used to.
“We’re just seeing a little bit more churn in the superintendency,” said Rachel White, Associate Professor at the University of Texas and founder of The Superintendent Lab.
White told The School Perceptions Podcast that turnover in district top jobs was around 14% in 2019-20 but has risen to between 17% and 17.5% over the past two years.
But that, alone, isn’t a bad thing, she stressed.
“Transitions can be really healthy,” White said. “Some transitions are good, a lot of transitions are good, both personally and professionally for people.”
But it does make finding a good process especially important.
Anna Young spent four years as a principal in the Glendale-River Hills School District before becoming the interim superintendent last summer. She moved into that role at a tumultuous time, as the district faced tough financial questions after accounting mistakes.
Young said that owning the situation was key to gaining the trust of her community, especially as they asked for additional funding through an operational referendum last November.
“I knew I had to walk into the role and accept, even though maybe not my creation, I needed to have accountability for what had been and what had happened and accountability for what happens every step of the way going forward to regain and rebuild trust,” she said. “People trust you with their money and their children, and those are two of the most important things.”
At the same time, she had to adjust to a different set of responsibilities that brought a different set of rewards for her work. She appreciated the “people who have helped keep me grounded in why I’m doing what I’m doing.”
“It’s not the same reward as it is to be a classroom teacher and watch the light bulb go on. And it’s not necessarily the same reward as being a building principal and helping families navigate tough situations with their children,” she said. “This work is very much institutional. I’m trying to shore up the infrastructure essentially that helps other people do that work.”
On the other end of the superintendent tenure spectrum is Dennis Pauli, who will retire this summer after 15 years as the Edgerton School District superintendent. He believes the early identification of an internal candidate will help smooth the transition process.
“Five years ago, I started just kind of floating the idea to the board that my window would be June 30, 2025,” Pauli said. “We have a real strong individual internally, just planting the seeds and greasing the skids for the board of, ‘We may not need to open up a search when we have somebody so strong internally.’”
His successor, Tad Wehner, is a former principal who is now the district's director of finance and personnel. He already has one of the most important ingredients for success: relationships.
“So much of being a superintendent is just about relationship building, coalition building, those types of things,” White said.
Pauli recalled his own onboarding 15 years ago, when he took meetings from January through July as he prepared for the role. That time was spent understanding what leaders in the community and district felt was going well and needed to be maintained, as well as what wasn’t and needed to be changed.
“My onboarding was building those relationships, learning about the community and the school district itself,” he said. “Tad has all of that.”
To get the inside scoop on superintendent transitions, find The School Perceptions Podcast on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, or iHeartRadio.
Do you have a new superintendent incoming? Consider a survey to help them understand the community’s priorities as they begin their role. For more information, email info@schoolperceptions.com.
The School Perceptions Blog and Resource Center features the voices of our team members. This post was written by Scott Girard, Project Manager.