There are often clear markers that someone is a strong candidate to become a superintendent. They have leadership qualities and experience. They’re innovative. They have experience confronting challenges the district faces.
But what is far more opaque are the signs that it’s time for a superintendent to step aside, whether to move to a new district, retire, or take on a different professional endeavor altogether.
“There’s not a science to these things,” said David Schuler, who spent 18 years leading an Illinois district before taking on his current role as executive director of AASA, The School Superintendents Association. “It really is just the art and the nuance of leadership.”
For many superintendents, an ongoing assessment of whether their professional values and goals still align with those of a constantly changing school board could nudge them toward the door. Sometimes, it’s a purely personal decision. Other times, it’s simply a gut feeling.
Superintendent turnover—and its effect on school improvement efforts and students’ learning—has been a hot topic for years, but especially since the start of the pandemic when superintendent turnover 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. In 2023-24 alone, a fifth of the nation’s 500 largest school districts replaced their superintendent, according to the ILO Group. In a survey of more than 2,000 superintendents released earlier this year, nearly 63% of the district chiefs had been in their present job less than six years.
Sometimes, it’s time for the superintendent to move on
Researchers and advocates have long sounded the alarm about superintendent turnover, noting it can cause disruption to the execution of districts’ strategic plans and other major initiatives. Some research suggests superintendent turnover can have small but statistically significant negative effects on student achievement. Some have called for initiatives to boost superintendent longevity, whether by revisiting their compensation or providing additional, more relevant training.
Cassandra Schug, the superintendent in Belvidere, Ill., appreciates the attention to minimizing turnover in the district’s top spot. But sometimes, the dynamics of a community change, and someone else can better meet its needs, she said.
In many communities, for example, superintendents had to make—and enforce—controversial decisions at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic over masking, reopening school buildings, quarantine protocols, and academic recovery efforts. 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,” said Schug, who left her job as superintendent in Satertown, Wis., after 11 years in June 2022. “Sometimes, that just takes a fresh start.”
She continued: “There’s a real value to investment and commitment and longevity in the superintendency, and the ability to create those systems and cultures that withstand the test of time. But there’s also a real value to a new vision and a new set of ideas.”
And 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.
School board priorities change
Both Schug and Schuler pointed to school board turnover as a common driver for superintendents’ decisions to leave.
It’s not always a bad thing, they said, but new board members—and even a change in board president—can drastically shift a school board’s priorities and goals.
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.
“The most important thing from my perspective is that the board, the community, and the superintendent are all aligned on their mission,” Schuler said. “And 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.”
One way superintendents can assess whether they’re still the right fit for the district is to schedule regular check-ins with their school boards during closed-session meetings, Schuler said. Most states allow closed-door sessions to discuss employee performance, and superintendents can use these sessions to ask board members if and how well they are meeting the board’s expectations and whether their goals and priorities align.
“Then no one ever gets surprised,” Schuler said. “Sometimes, especially when the work gets really hard, it can be easy to let that go because you’re just so focused on the work. But taking care of yourself and checking in to make sure that you’re still aligned with the community’s priorities is just mission-critical.”
District leaders shouldn’t feel discouraged if they realize it’s time to find a new role, Schug said.
There are more than 13,000 school districts in the United States, and each one has unique needs and priorities, she said. That means there’s a place for every qualified and dedicated leader.
“There are so many districts in need of leadership,” she said. “Being aware of who you are and what you want and what you bring, and how that matches with a community’s needs, is important. But it’s also really doable.”
