Not Shy, But Retiring: A Superintendent on Her Own Succession

Transition. Transition. Transition. The melody of the song “Tradition” from “Fiddler on the Roof” dances in my mind as I consider my own transition out of the superintendency of a school district in the northern suburbs of Chicago and into my next adventure — retirement. In the months leading up to this point, I found myself equal parts exhilarated and scared to death whenever I thought about the blank expanse that life after retirement represents to me.

Engaging in proactive succession planning has proven to be a powerful antidote to my conflicting emotions, as well as a vehicle to help me, my board of education and administrative team maintain our focus on the mission, vision and values of our district as we search for a new superintendent.

My colleagues and I have been developing a plan to move our district further along the growth continuum during the past few years. Grayslake Community High School District 127 consists of two comprehensive four-year high schools that serve approximately 3,000 students from seven different municipalities. Ours is a small community, embedded within a tight-knit county. Our leadership team and I have formed strong relationships over the years that enabled us to lock arms as we go about selecting my replacement with confidence.

Challenges of Change

This has been a process peppered with moments of trepidation. I didn’t expect my board members and my colleagues to be so nervous about my leaving after 12 years. Change, as we all know, is hard. Superintendent tenure matters. Stability in school leadership matters.

I’ve read the data on the positive correlation between the length of time a superintendent serves in a school district and the positive academic growth of its students. Both of our high schools have been experiencing steady student performance improvement — a trend we want to maintain. We are fortunate to have two superb principals, each well integrated into their respective schools and communities, as well as a team of five top-notch district-level administrators. Last fall, all seven returned to their same position, as did every one of our building-level leaders, a sign of healthy stability.

So as the superintendent search progressed, and senior members of our leadership team began to engage in squabbles and nitpicking, I was taken aback. This was not at all like us. What could have triggered this surprising behavior? Then one day, after listening intently to three of my best leaders share with me privately a host of petty complaints, I suddenly realized that this was NOT about the team. This was about who’s going to be sitting in my chair.

Over the years, we have established rock-solid trust and freedom to be ourselves — warts and all. Now an unspoken question hung in the air: Will my new boss let me act like a knucklehead and still support me?

Driving Out Fear

Once I realized that unspoken fear was driving the unusual behavior of my team and, at times, my school board, I was able to sift through the detritus of odd conversations and recognize the smoldering embers of anxiety. I understood my teams needed me to equip them with deeper confidence in themselves and in their future.

I gave my colleagues “permission” to express their abject terror at the idea of a brave new world. I intentionally reframed conversations that enabled my colleagues to open their minds to the possibilities of greatness in our district with someone else sitting in my chair.

This strategy broke through a dam of resistance among my board members and administrators in the district. As their perspective changed, team members were able to navigate difficulties and address conflict with dignity and class. 
Colleagues and parents began to share how much they appreciated me and my leadership, which warmed my heart. Then they would want to get “the scoop” from me, which gave me the opportunity to affirm the vision of a powerful future with the right next superintendent furthering the mission of the district.

Hearing it from me mattered. People relaxed and started to express interest in the search, along with confidence that if I was that calm about what would happen next, then good things might be on the horizon. As I allayed the fears of those around me, we all relaxed and returned to our best selves.

Bringing Out the Best

Because I had openly laid down the card of my retirement in front of my colleagues, I decided it was the right time to trump it. I knew this was my golden opportunity to wrap up those last few projects and to address a few new ones as we started the transition process together. So I proposed an aggressive two-year plan to my board and school leadership team, which has kept our collective focus on the mission of the district. We’ve generated stretch goals and challenged ourselves to do the best possible things for our kids.

Three goal areas in particular galvanized our team. We created a high school consortium with area districts and a local community college for the purpose of creating early-college experiences for our students, including the option of attaining an associate’s degree. Working collaboratively with colleagues in nearby districts, we created a new athletics and activities conference designed around student-centered principles, notably an emphasis on music and the arts, areas often overlooked in conference planning. The exploration of alternative energy sources led us to plan a solar power supplementation process.

Experiencing progress in these goal areas while working together helped unify our team. Because the administrators approached the work positively, others shared in the enthusiasm. This intentional spade work also created a favorable perception of our school district among potential superintendent candidates. Several of my superintendent colleagues expressed interest in applying for the job, citing the district’s excellence over time and the warm, close-knit community as the chief attractions.

A Process-Minded Route

The steps my colleagues and I have taken during the recruitment and selection processes for my replacement have followed standard protocol. What has been atypical is the way in which we rallied around each other and our school community during the search. With the board in the lead, we created a superintendent search process and timeline document two years before beginning the search. Every time one of us expressed concerns over what would happen when, we referred back to it, thus solidifying the direction we had established months earlier.

This process-minded approach has helped us to navigate an unexpected school board vacancy and to unify the new board. Board members educated themselves on the search process by attending workshops, reading articles about the superintendent selection process and discussing appropriate steps together. The board conducted search firm interviews, ultimately announcing their choice of firms in February. Focus group sessions and online surveys began in April, and we expect to appoint and celebrate a new superintendent on or before Dec. 1.

By the time I retire in June 2017, I will have been privileged to serve this community and sit in this chair for an incredibly strong 12-year tenure. I have been thrilled to support my board and school community in the superintendent selection process by laying the foundation of effective succession planning. I am confident that the radical ordinariness of a school community united in its commitment to doing the right thing for the children it loves and serves will attract the right next superintendent to Grayslake Community High School District 127.