Superintendent
Sharing Continues to Increase
Iowa schools are at the beginning of the annual superintendent changing season. This is a
time when a large number of superintendents usually retire, resign, and move around the
state. School boards have the task of replacing those who leave. The purpose of this
communication is to point out some of the important conditions regarding shared
superintendents.
The number of schools sharing superintendents has risen dramatically since 1985. In
1984-85 there were only four districts sharing superintendents, and a high of 119 was
reached in 1991-92. There are 108 districts sharing this year, with seven additional
sharing "mixed" positions--people who serve as superintendent in one district
and another capacity in the other district. This brings the total to 115 this year. In
addition there are a few part-time superintendents.
Three significant conclusions can be derived from the statistics:
1. Superintendent sharing has not proceeded on a steady course as has whole-grade sharing. With the exception of one district, districts that have gone into whole-grade sharing have continued to whole-grade share, and they stay with the same partners. Also one-half of the whole-grade sharing has turned into reorganization.
Superintendent sharing, on the other hand, has had many changes of partners and changes of directions since 1985. The attached list of deleted sharing agreements supports this conclusion.
2. Superintendent sharing is a strong part of the current whole-grade sharing and reorganization movement. Superintendent sharing, whole-grade sharing, and reorganization seem to be tied together.
3. Boards often give less long-term weight to the decision making process that goes into superintendent sharing. An examination of the list of superintendent sharing partners reveals that there are several districts that are into the arrangement for short-term purposes. These include districts that do not border each other, districts that are large enough to easily employ a full-time superintendent each, and districts that could be whole-grade sharing with different partners.
Based upon contacts with almost all shared superintendents, conversations with scores of board members, and studies in over 200 districts, this consultant draws the following conclusions:
1. Being a shared superintendent is a very difficult job--much more so than a normal single district position. The job becomes somewhat easier if the districts are whole-grade sharing.
2. Boards do not receive the same undivided attention and loyalty from a shared superintendent as they do from a single. Sometimes the board selling the superintendent's time has the better position.
3. The shared superintendency is usually a significant move, and it strongly leads toward more sharing and cooperation.
Several researchers have contacted this consultant for information
about the shared superintendent phenomenon, or have shared their findings. A notable study
was conducted by Robert Decker, at the University of Iowa, in 1990.
The overall recommendation of this consultant is that boards approach the decision making
process of superintendent sharing with the utmost of study and care, and that adequate
consideration be given to long-term ramifications.
Blame It on the Computer
The county population information included in the February 1, 1993, publication entitled,
"Forty-one Districts Reorganize," had an error. The 1990 O'Brien County
population should have been 15,444, and Osceola's should have been 7,267. This error
resulted in a listing of eight counties gaining population in 1990. Only seven gained.
My error was to switch the 1990 population for the two counties. COMPUTER LESSON--When I
received the 1990 data, I sorted it alphabetically on my computer and then merged it with
the rest of the data from 1900 to 1980. Unfortunately, my computer treated the apostrophe
in O'Brien differently than the traditional county numbering system. Sorry, I did not
catch it. (Written by Guy Ghan, Retired DE Consultant)
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