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It's never been easy to work as a school superintendent, but it usually is not as life-threatening as it was for superintendent Kenneth Underwood in September 1974. Back then, Underwood [...]

WITH 40 YEARS of working with school boards in one capacity or another, 1 believe the biggest complaint I hear from superintendents is board micromanagement--board members either infusing themselves into [...]

This article discusses the role of superintendents as advocates for their schools and students. It emphasizes that being an educator inherently involves being an advocate, as school leaders make decisions and promote certain approaches to benefit students. The article focuses on federal advocacy, highlighting the importance of building relationships with elected officials, enduring the lengthy policymaking process, understanding the logistics of advocacy, having knowledge about education issues, and effectively communicating with policymakers. The article concludes by encouraging superintendents to engage in advocacy efforts to support and strengthen public education. [Extracted from the article]

The 88th session of the Texas Legislature, which adjourned in late May, had begun with much promise. A combination of factors had created a record budget surplus of $33 billion. [...]

Every piece of legislation impacting school districts starts as an idea, and that idea can come from multiple sources--a legislator, a school board member, a staff member, a paid lobbyist [...]

What's it take to effectively promote your schools' needs in front of a federal lawmaker? An AASA insider shares proven tactics To be an educator is to be an advocate. [...]

WHEN OUR SCHOOL DISTRICT emerged from the pandemic, I was determined to restore a sense of normalcy and to reconnect with our stakeholders. Returning to in-person learning. I cherished being [...]

What's it take to effectively promote your schools' needs in front of a federal lawmaker? An AASA insider shares proven tactics To be an educator is to be an advocate. [...]

CHANGE IS REGULARLY in the air for many superintendents. Opportunities open up in school system leadership and elsewhere that are great moves up, great moves out and, for some, a [...]

For the last four years, I have served as a mentor for women in education who hope to land a school superintendence in the near future. Mentees are anxious for [...]

This is absolutely not the story I wanted to write or share with anyone. I wanted to write about the accomplishments and improvements that were realized in nearly every aspect [...]

The Urban Superintendents Academy will mark its 10th anniversary at a celebratory event on March 5, 2025, in New Orleans, La., prior to AASA's 2025 national conference. The Urban Superintendents [...]

LIFE'S JOURNEY is full of changes. And for many, retirement marks a significant shift in direction. After dedicating 27 years to serving as a superintendent, I found myself standing at [...]

Education researcher Kathryn Riley has spent a career studying the role school leaders play in helping students anchor themselves and find their place in the world. In her books Leadership [...]

In a quest for balance in her professional and personal worlds, a veteran superintendent requested and received a six-month sabbatical that delivered the intended results One of my most vivid [...]

In education, this is a time of intense paradoxes. There seems to be little common ground in the voices that fill our schools and boardrooms. These paradoxes and the polarizing [...]

Artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionize K-12 education by providing new ways for students to learn and for teachers to teach. Since the launch last November of ChatGPT, an [...]

A fast-growing suburban school district board was forced to remove its superintendent--and then it hired me. I learned a great deal while picking up the pieces of that abrupt succession. [...]

The article discusses the importance of superintendents and school district leaders advocating for their schools' needs in front of federal lawmakers. It emphasizes that being an educator is inherently being an advocate, as school leaders make decisions and promote certain approaches to support students. The article provides tips for effective advocacy, including building relationships, demonstrating endurance, understanding logistics, acquiring knowledge, and improving communication. It also highlights the success of member engagement and advocacy in influencing federal policy proposals. The article concludes by encouraging readers to ask Congress for more support and strengthening of public education. [Extracted from the article]

The November 1907 issue of the American School Board Journal featured a cartoon in which the vacancy notice for a superintendent of schools had been posted on the front door [...]

Superintendent evaluation is more precarious than ever. High performance is harder to define, given the considerable divisions in our nation's political arena and among boards of education. In the past, [...]

I am a classic Type A, Enneagram 3, kind of person. Preparation is my superpower. I walked into my superintendent interviews fully equipped, knowing every school board member by name [...]

IN 2022, I WAS ASKED by the Arkansas commissioner of education to serve as superintendent of a turnaround school system that had been placed under state authority twice previously. Officially, [...]

Shawn Bishop, from superintendent, Harbor Beach, Mich., to director of research and leadership development, Michigan Association for Superintendents and Administrators, Lansing, [...]

In a Boston suburb, a high school ice hockey player reported being the target of homophobic and racial verbal assaults from opponents in 2021. In a separate incident, The Boston [...]

Nearing his retirement, a long-time, highly successful superintendent with whom one of us worked as a school board member explained how he was able to survive for so long in [...]

Current State Data from the 2,443 superintendents who responded to tire 2023 AASASuperintendent Salary and Benefits Study showed that the averagesuperintendent salary nationwide was. The nonprofithospital CEO mean salary ratio was almost 7:1 tothe mean salary of a registered nurse. Should state legislators even consider limits on superintendent salaries given the negative ramifications revealed by data studies?. [Extracted from the article]

On a Wednesday in January 2022, Albuquerque Public Schools' technology team detected something fishy in the student information system. Hackers had breached the district's Synergy Student Information System with a [...]

Thanks for publishing 'One LifeChanging Step' (November 2023) by Maria Libby detailing her six-month sabbatical from her superintendency. When discussing the educator shortage, we tend to focus on teachers and [...]

School Administrator has compiled a complete list of AASA members who have published a book as an author or co-author from 2020 to the present. The list appears alphabetically by [...]

Re 'The 'Mockingbird' Effect' (September 2023): Thank you to author Shawn Joseph for writing this article as people may not realize the number of Black superintendents has Increased only incrementally [...]

This is absolutely not the story I wanted to write or shine with anyone. I wanted to write about the accomplishments and improvements that were realized in nearly every aspect [...]

On Aug. 1, 2019, I was a middle school principal of seven years preparing to welcome back staff in a small community I knew quite well. By Aug. 15, I [...]

April marks 40 years since 'A Nation at Risk' launched the standards-based reform era, using cherry-picked data to argue that lackluster test scores threatened America's national security and global leadership. [...]

With the recent and more vocal intrusion of politics into local educational matters, your school district may experience an unprecedented change in board of education membership as individuals dissatisfied with [...]

Take out a piece of paper or open a blank document on your computer. Enter a dollar amount at the top of the page that is equal to 2 percent [...]

Most nights, my wife checks the weather app on her phone in preparation for her morning walk. It not only tells her the likelihood of rain but also the 'real [...]

On the morning of Aug. 27, 2020, Karl Bruchhaus, superintendent of Calcasieu Parish school system, weaved 50 miles through hurricane debris to his district's technology center in Lake Charles, La. [...]

American author and activist James Baldwin said, 'The paradox of education is precisely this--that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is [...]

Every superintendent has a story to tell about how their careers originated and evolved. While some determined early on they would pursue the position of superintendent, most came into the [...]

No one at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic predicted two-plus years of intense divisiveness in school communities and frustration and anxiety among those leading public school districts. The significant [...]

According to Jeff Pierson, executivedirector for school safety for JeffcoSchools, these district level teams haveintervened to support school teams inpreventing dozens of planned acts of violence,activated numerous student-familyreunifications and conductedan average of nearly 2,000suicide risk assessments per year since2015. Most recently, the JeffersonCounty teams have begun to attend to theunique safety needs of special educationstudents through the Especially Safeprogram developed by our organization.(Details are available at safearuhoutulzchooh.org?) These distinct but interconnecteddistrict-level teams lend support andinformational resources and liaisebetween the schools and local agencies,enabling the school-level teams to focusfully on identifying and addressingimmediate needs as they arise. Our Framework for ComprehensiveSchool Safety Planning & Development SOURCE: Safe and Sound Schools,Framework for Comprehensive School Safety Planning A multidisciplinary team meeting of schoolsafety team members and leaders, run by Safe and Sound Schools. [Extracted from the article]

Paid sabbaticals for superintendents in K-12 education are not common, but a few instances have been found in recent years. Examples include Rachel Udstuen of Minnesota's Spring Grove Public Schools, who took a three-month unpaid sabbatical to research human-centered leadership, and Sean McMannon of Winooski, Vermont, who built a four-month break into his contract and used sick leave, vacation leave, and paid leave. Kyla Johnson-Trammell of California's Oakland Unified School District also took a 3½-month sabbatical to reflect and connect with mentors. While sabbaticals are not typically included in superintendent contracts, some believe they could benefit the profession by expanding learning and providing stamina. [Extracted from the article]

In 2015, Columbia, Mo., received national attention when protests about racial justice erupted on the campus of the University of Missouri. Both the university president and chancellor resigned from their [...]

Amid the school closures and other learning disruptions stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, half of all states adjusted their teacher evaluation requirements. Many were forced to eschew student growth as [...]

Perspectives and Reflections for the Superintendent: What Can Be Learned from Experience? by Samuel A. DePaul, Rowman & Littlefield, Lanham, Md., 2022, 120 pp., $90 hardcover, $39 softcover Samuel A. [...]

Has school district leadership, particularly the superintendency, ever been more complicated or demanding than it is today? I think the answer is unequivocally 'No.' In fact, the pressures to improve [...]