New Demands, New Pressures Alter Administrators' Roles

By Lynn Olson

Superintendents and principals are quick to note how much the dimensions of their jobs have changed.

"I think the demands of the job have exponentially increased," said Robert Lichtenfeld, the superintendent of the 4,000-student Katonah-Lewisboro school district in New York. "Generally, districts are understaffed in terms of administrators, so people are working summers and evenings," he said. "And, frankly, the public is much more demanding that it used to be."

"In the old days, you were OK and considered pretty successful if you were a good manager and [kept] on top of all the little details," observed Lynn Babcock, the principal of the 570-student Grant Elementary...