Kansas seeing record turnover among school superintendents

More than 20 percent of Kansas districts will start this school year under new leadership, marking “the highest turnover of superintendents in the history of our state,” according to a state official.

Those studying the trend say it’s due in part to the stress leaders feel over finances and the political climate, where battles over education funding have dominated Statehouse debate for the past several years.

“It’s difficult to be a superintendent when you see budgets get smaller and you see the quality of things you deliver to students decreasing. That’s not a great world to work in,” said Darin Headrick, who resigned last month from his job overseeing Kiowa County USD 422 in Greensburg.

Headrick, who was Greensburg’s superintendent when a tornado destroyed most of the town in 2007, guided the district’s recovery and said he loved the work and the community.

But he and his wife, a middle school counselor, recently moved to Wichita, where he is seeking a job in education or the private sector.

“If you can go somewhere else … it’s just a little bit more rewarding to make positive change and not just do damage control,” he said.

Sixty-one Kansas school districts – including large districts such as Topeka, Blue Valley, Olathe, Lawrence, Manhattan and Emporia – have new leaders this year, according to Dale Dennis, deputy education commissioner.

That follows at least two straight years of record-breaking turnover, which Dennis and others say has taken a toll on districts and the state as a whole. The average tenure for a superintendent in Kansas is about five years.

“New ideas and so forth is great, but it takes awhile for somebody brand new to get those ideas implemented, approved by the board and sold to the community,” Dennis said.

“You don’t just move a school district overnight. It takes time and effort and a lot of work.”

Cory Gibson, superintendent in Valley Center, has studied superintendent longevity as part of a doctoral degree he is pursuing at the University of Arkansas.

In interviews with departing superintendents, Gibson found that “100 percent” cited frustration over finances as a major or contributing factor in their decision to resign, retire or seek positions outside Kansas.

“Every one of them said, ‘I would have stayed more years, but I would prefer not to be in a position where I have to cut people again,’ ” he said.

“They tell me, ‘I love what I do, I love kids, but I just choose not to be in this position where I know I’ll have to make additional cuts.’

“There’s an emotional toll most people don’t realize.”

A ‘huge blow’

When Julie Ford announced her retirement last fall after four years as interim superintendent in Topeka, she told the Topeka Capital-Journal that Kansas had hit a new low in terms of undervaluing educators and that the environment has made it “nearly impossible” to lead a school district.

Others joined her:

▪ Tom Trigg, former superintendent for the high-performing Blue Valley school district outside Kansas City, left last year for a job in Highland Park, Texas, where he makes $325,000 a year and is eligible for bonuses.

▪ Marlin Berry, the state’s superintendent of the year in 2013, left Olathe for a job leading Rogers Public Schools outside Bentonville, Ark.

▪ Rick Doll, Lawrence’s superintendent of public schools since 2009, resigned this year to take a job as executive director of the Kansas Educational Leadership Institute at Kansas State University.

▪ Theresa Davidson recently retired from the Emporia school district after 13 years – the past six as superintendent – saying the decision was “emotional and difficult,” but that it was the right time to start a new chapter in her life.

▪ Some veteran superintendents in rural districts are going elsewhere as well, including Mike Waters, who left the Cimarron district in western Kansas after 14 years for a similar job across the border in Crete, Neb.

“It’s a blow to Kansas – a huge blow,” said Headrick, the former Greensburg superintendent.

“When you have good people leaving the state – really good people getting out sooner than they’d like to or maybe than they thought they would – you lose a lot of experience, a lot of skill and a lot of expertise.”

Cutting from the top

Headrick and his wife left Greensburg in part to lessen the blow of impending budget cuts at his district.

Over the past nine years, as part of consolidating Greensburg schools with nearby Mullinville and Haviland, district officials reduced school staff by about a third, but more cuts were necessary, he said.

“We needed to reduce one administrator and one counselor, and it just so happened that I was an administrator and my wife was a counselor,” he said.

“I think it’s important that if you’re going to make cuts you don’t always make them from the bottom. Sometimes you need to make them from the top.”

A part-time interim superintendent will lead the Kiowa County district this year. After that, plans call for an elementary school principal to serve both as superintendent and K-3 principal, Headrick said.

“You do what you have to do to keep things rolling and keep things working well. And they’ll do a really good job,” he said.

“But it’s not easy. It’s getting more and more difficult to do damage control.”

Veteran leadership

Another effect of the rampant turnover: Fewer veteran superintendents means fewer leaders who advocate for public schools at the state level, such as lobbying lawmakers or testifying on education funding or policy issues.

One exception is Wichita superintendent John Allison, who recently played a key role in hashing out a compromise on school finance ahead of the Legislature’s special session.

Allison, beginning his eighth year with the state’s largest district, is bucking the trend of short-term school chiefs in Kansas and nationwide. According to a 2014 survey conducted by the Council of Great City Schools, the average tenure of superintendents leading urban districts is 3.2 years.

Chad Higgins, who moved last summer from Moundridge to the top post at Maize schools, said that level of leadership is difficult for superintendents who are just learning the position or starting jobs in new communities.

“I can’t think of the number of times I missed opportunities to provide testimony or to meet with my own legislators because I was just buried under the first-year kind of stuff,” Higgins said.

“We’ve lost some excellent superintendents who have gotten out of the business or gone to other states,” he said.

“Until more of those appear, there’s just a lag until the rest of us can stay in and develop some of those same influences. It’s going to be harder to lead the charge for public education.”

Fewer applicants, faster track

Gibson, from Valley Center, said his research shows that a superintendent’s relationship with school board members and the community affects longevity.

“Are the board and superintendent on the same page? That is key,” he said.

It takes seven to nine years for a superintendent to have a long-term effect on student achievement or to meet new goals, Gibson said. Because the average Kansas superintendent serves only five years, “We could be going further, in my opinion, if we had a little more longevity,” he said.

Another finding: Superintendent vacancies attract about a third fewer applicants today than they did a decade ago, and those applying have less experience.

“It used to be, you were a principal for 10 years, then maybe a director or assistant superintendent, and then a superintendent,” Gibson said.

“We’re seeing more of a fast track now, maybe becoming a building leader and then right up to superintendent, particularly in the smaller, rural districts.”

The number of Kansas superintendents has decreased, he said, as more districts consolidate administrative functions to cut costs. And more superintendents are taking on multiple roles.

Wichita, for example, never hired a chief operating officer to replace Denise Wren, who left the district in 2012. Officials said Allison and other district leaders just assumed her previous duties.

The most striking finding, though, Gibson said, was the number of Kansas superintendents who say district finances weigh on them professionally and personally. And that’s prompting many to reconsider their options.

“One of the questions I asked was, ‘Where do you see yourself in a year, or three years, or five years,’ ” he said. “And it certainly does not look like that trend (of superintendent turnover) will decrease.”

‘On an island’

Higgins, the Maize superintendent, said he enjoys his job and has never considered another career.

Even so, “We’re kind of on an island,” he said.

Unlike teachers, who can commiserate with a colleague in the next room, superintendents have to reach across district lines to find someone who can identify with their challenges and offer suggestions or support.

The Kansas Association of School Superintendents recently stepped up its efforts to mentor superintendents, pairing veteran or retired leaders with rookie ones and hosting a monthly “Phone a Friend” video conference to share strategies.

The State Department of Education also holds workshops for new superintendents on budgeting and other issues.

“It takes awhile to soak up everything. And at the same time you’re learning about it, there’s this expectation that you do something about it,” Higgins said.

“People who get into this job are problem solvers. We like challenges. We like to see things get better,” he said. “We love the work. But that doesn’t mean that it’s not exhausting.”

Gibson said slowing or stopping the turnover trend will take reaching out to educators who display the passion and leadership skills to become superintendents.

“We also need to do a better job of encouraging those that are underrepresented,” he said, such as women and minorities. “With diversity in leadership, we all become better.”

This story was originally published July 30, 2016 at 12:32 PM with the headline "Kansas seeing record turnover among school superintendents."