October 2018: School Administrator

What’s the key to managing a school district made up of 16 separate districts and an administrative unit? Organization and delegation for starters. An understanding wife and sense of humor also carry me through each day.

Being a shared superintendent obviously means you cannot devote your full time and energy to one school district, but it has led to other beneficial sharing and cost-saving opportunities.

What does it take to be successful — and survive — a shared superintendency?

My initiation to the superintendency is that of being shared between Arnold and Callaway, two rural communities separated by the beautiful South Loup River Valley.

How could I bring about a collaboration among staff members in our small, rural community to ensure Pateros students acquired the career and process skills to succeed in the increasingly complex world around us?

Our school district of 430 students, sitting in the southwest corner of Idaho, became a part of the NW RISE Network at its inception in spring 2014.

Plenty of upsides to leading the schools you once attended, but the personal connection can complicate decision making

I came to Owsley County in eastern Kentucky as a 2nd grader in the early ’70s. I grew up across the road from the high school and just up the hill from the elementary school.

In January 2017, a few months after being hired as executive director of the National Rural Education Association, I began making connections with our members and connecting with potential members.

There are so many official definitions for rural that a person can readily find confirmation that poverty rates are higher or lower in rural areas, depending on which definition one uses. Ashley Jochim and I came across this variation often in our research.

Rural Leaders Count on AASA's Advocacy

What an AASA survey learned about superintendent leave accrual upon departure nationwide.

A high school English teacher offers financial incentives to the top test scorer and the biggest test improver. Should administrators allow this?

Federal regulations and your insurance liability have much to say about operations on or above school district grounds.

Policies regarding roles and responsibilities should govern who places items for action and discussion before board members.

A lawyer’s three ideas for making schools less likely places for bad characters to seek easy victims.

ON ONE OCCASION, when I was between jobs, a friend of mine commented, “Well, you’re just between challenging opportunities.”

FOR THE UNITED STATES’ first 200 years, the paramount purpose of public education was to nurture democracy.

I GREW UP in a small town of about 1,200 in southeast Missouri. The community was founded in the East Swamp in 1900 as a logging town, and for decades logging the cypress timber from the swamp was the economic driver of the town.

The association plays a supportive role for rural superintendents, who comprise a third of the member ranks.

Hashtag chats are meaningful forms of growth for digitally connected superintendents.

The search for highly effective teachers is an ongoing quest for small, rural school districts across the nation. It is one of the greatest challenges facing rural district superintendents and their boards of education.

The superintendent in Cherry Hill, N.J., is a promoter of student voice.