An Overview of the Role and Responsibilities in the 21st Century
Description
An impossible job? That's what many have called the superintendency. With its
growing and completing demands, it is a profession that can baffle even the most
knowledgeable and well prepared. Public education resources have become more
limited. There are new national and state testing requirements. Social issues are
pulled into the schools and want more control over their operation. Add in politics
and bureaucracy, and the end result is quite an unmanageable scenario.
Unfortunately, more superintendents seem to be leaving the profession. Whether it
is because of the demands superintendents face, the quality of preparation programs
or a combination of both, the trend is a growing concern. Many superintendents
are unprepared to deal with what they may encounter in running a school district.
Yet the office is not all doom and gloom. Offering opportunities that are unavailable
in many other careers, the superintendency is a position in which you will be taken
seriously by others. And it is a profession in which one person, through skilled
leadership, can make a difference by getting everyone to pull together and create a
better environment for students. Surveys actually have shown that most
superintendents would become superintendents again if they had the chance.
