Rising superintendent turnover in the nation’s schools is a concern. But sometimes, it’s time for change at the top. So district leaders are constantly threading the needle between staying in their roles for as long as they are effective and happy and knowing when it’s best for everyone to have someone new in the district’s top seat.
Superintendent turnover—and its effect on school improvement efforts and students’ learning—has been a hot topic for years, and especially since the start of the pandemic, when churn at the top inched upward amid high-profile political clashes and mounting challenges to students’ academic recovery, staff morale, and school budgets.
More than 40% of districts experienced at least one change in superintendent between the 2019-20 and 2023-24 school years, and 8% experienced at least two changes, according to researchers at the Superintendent Lab.
For superintendents, the decision about when it’s time to move on can be difficult—they’ve often created deep professional and personal connections within the community and are doing meaningful work. But there are points when making the difficult decision to leave can lead to positives for both superintendents and their districts, leaders say.
David Schuler, who spent 18 years leading an Illinois district before taking on his current role as the executive director of AASA, The School Superintendents Association, recommends that superintendents routinely meet with their local school board to reflect on their goals and get a frank assessment of board members’ views of their performance.
That way, “no one ever gets surprised,” Schuler said.
Superintendents can also reflect on their role, goals, and relationships to keep tabs on when it might be time to move on.
Schuler and Cassandra Schug, the superintendent in Belvidere, Ill., shared three guiding questions superintendents can consider when assessing their fit within a district and its broader community.
Both Schuler and Schug said the often-shifting dynamics of the local school board greatly influence a superintendent’s job and priorities.
Even if a superintendent was originally a great fit, that fit might no longer exist a few years later when the majority of the board is new faces, potentially with different values and goals from their predecessors, Schuler said.
A superintendent could have been hired to navigate funding shortfalls and challenges associated with a declining enrollment, but the board’s emphasis might later shift to driving up reading scores. It might not be related at all to major conflict.
“If that alignment goes a little bit astray, I think, for the good of everybody, that superintendent should look for a different and better fit,” Schuler said.
Occasionally, it’s the leaders who feel they need a new challenge or that their professional or personal values have changed in ways that no longer align with the district where they’re working, Schug said.
Superintendents often don’t have clear career paths beyond moving to larger school districts or taking jobs at the state or national levels, Schug said. So, it’s important to continuously assess whether district leaders’ current roles are still fulfilling their personal and professional desires, she said.
Periodically, it’s community dynamics that shift, rather than the school board’s. And sometimes, a new face can help resolve conflict and better meet the community’s needs than the person who was in the leadership role when they had to make tough, controversial decisions, Schug said.
In many communities, for example, superintendents had to make—and enforce—contested decisions at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic over masking, reopening school buildings, quarantine protocols, and academic-recovery efforts.
On occasion, leaders were able to mend relationships and rebuild trust. But, at times, it was better for the superintendent at the center of those controversies to move on, Schug said.
“You saw a lot of superintendents move during and after the pandemic, and I think that was related to communities and superintendents needing to rebuild that sense of unity, community, culture, and partnership that faced real challenges during those times,” she said. “Sometimes, that just takes a fresh start.”
