Of the 78 superintendents of urban school districts nationwide, only 11 have served since 2020.
This statistic surprised Michael Hinojosa, former leader of the Dallas Independent School District and now superintendent-in-residence of the Great City School Board, a union representing 78 school districts.
The pandemic has made the superintendent's job more difficult. In addition to other duties, they had to make decisions about mask wearing and vaccines and address issues such as community food needs. The intensification of the education culture war in 2021 has also increased pressure on local top administrators. Some superintendents have transitioned to other roles in the community or district, while others have chosen to retire, according to Ray Hart, the council's executive director.
Two years ago, the council asked Hinojosa to develop a plan to develop personnel for district leadership positions. Known as the Michael Casserly Urban Executive Leadership Institute, the year-long program prepares urban school district leaders to take on superintendent roles by providing training on the biggest challenges and responsibilities of the post-pandemic job, including politics, student behavior and mental health I order it. challenge. The institute accepts 10 candidates per year who attend seven in-person sessions over the weekend in addition to virtual meetings.
“It’s a very complex task,” Hinojosa said, “and we want to make sure you have an opportunity to succeed.”
To design the curriculum, Hinojosa and his colleagues studied the qualities of successful superintendents. People who can build relationships with their boards, employees and community members are much more likely to succeed in the workplace, he said. Based on that research, sessions focus on topics such as school district relations, finances and budgets, media, and politics. Instructors guide candidates through real-world case studies from school districts, diagnosing problems and suggesting potential solutions.
Matias Segura has been appointed interim superintendent of the Austin Independent School District in December 2022 after spending five years as the district's director of operations. Around that time, he received a call from Hinojosa encouraging him to apply for the program.
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Segura said the program not only provided him with practical training, but also gave him access to a network of other leaders facing similar challenges.
“What really helped me was how to work more effectively once I sat down,” he said. In January, Segura was elected Austin's permanent superintendent.
Hinojosa said the program is trying to select candidates from underrepresented demographic groups. Nationally, only 4.4% of superintendents are Black and 3.1% are Hispanic, according to a 2023 survey by the School Superintendents Association. In the 2022-23 school year, women made up 28% of superintendents.
In addition to Segura, the first cohort included Ebony Johnson, who became Tulsa Public Schools superintendent, and Brenda Larsen-Mitchell, now interim superintendent of the Clark County School District in Nevada.
Both took over school districts with challenges that reflected the times. Johnson, the Tulsa School District's former chief academic officer, became superintendent after former Superintendent Deborah Gist resigned to avoid a state takeover of the school system. Larsen-Mitchell, a former assistant superintendent, was promoted after her predecessor took over amid years of strained relations between the school board and educators.
Segura said school leader preparation programs are especially important in urban areas, many of which target black, Hispanic and emergent bilingual students.
“If we have individuals who are not prepared to take on a role, our students will be impacted. That’s why these types of cohorts are so important,” Segura said. “An outage could be disastrous.”
A story about this directorS was produced by Hechinger Reportis a nonprofit, independent media outlet focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up Hechinger Newsletter.