Olympians train for it. Education leaders live it.

In elite sports, pressure is an expectation, not an exception. You prepare for it with intention, through conditioning, mental training and countless repetitions. In education leadership, the pressure is constant too: political shifts, community expectations and the unrelenting pace of change. Yet, unlike athletes, most leaders are never trained to manage that pressure as part of their craft. 

That gap has consequences. The found that fewer than half of women education leaders rate their physical or mental health as good, and more than a quarter report poor or very poor health. Fully 93% reported burnout is a major problem and, nearly nine in 10 say they are expected to prioritize work over their own wellbeing. It鈥檚 not just women leaders facing these challenges. A recent study by RAND found that fully report high levels of work stress, compared to just 33% of other working adults.

The results are predictable: exhaustion, attrition and a diminished bench of current and future leaders.

Society asks superintendents and system leaders to perform at an elite level when it comes to inspiring, deciding, communicating and advancing progress for students and schools. But those expectations are shouldered without the recovery cycles or coaching structures that make consistent performance possible. Enduring as a leader is not a question of talent. It鈥檚 a question of training and sustaining infrastructure.

For a competitive sailor on the water, every decision counts. Each maneuver, each adjustment of the sail and decision made on the course requires clarity and composure. There are no shortcuts, no quick wins and no timeouts from the conditions. Olympic sailing demands resilience, precision and presence. These are the same skills required to lead a school district through uncertainty.

As a two-time Olympian, Lara learned that the hardest work happens long before race day. You learn to trust your preparation, to focus on what鈥檚 in your control and to reframe setbacks as data rather than defeat. Leadership is the same. The stakes may be different, but the mental framework is identical: the ability to perform consistently under pressure.

Education leaders, too, face shifting winds and unpredictable currents. They need the tools to help them strengthen their own resilience, manage their energy and refine their decision-making 鈥� not in isolation but within a supportive system of peers and coaches.

To perform at the highest levels with consistency and resilience, leaders must tap into their 鈥�.鈥� That means building the discipline, structure, and recovery needed to sustain high performance.

This notion crystallized for Julia through a that reframes health as a system of six interconnected domains: strength, cardio, metabolic health, nutrition, mental resilience and emotional well-being.

Getting 鈥渇it鈥� as a leader means developing the daily discipline to perform under pressure, manage energy, stay clear-minded and recover quickly. The next evolution of education leadership, then, isn鈥檛 about adding more disconnected professional development modules. It鈥檚 about creating the space and structure for leaders to train like athletes: with clear routines, feedback and recovery.

For too long, education has treated leadership development as episodic. A conference here, a coaching session there. But sustained performance requires repetition, accountability, and reflection.

That鈥檚 why we鈥檝e brought these principles to life through the (SEEN). A new model of leadership development, SEEN brings the same proven principles that drive Olympic training to executive leadership: focused preparation, continuous feedback and a community that holds leaders accountable to growth. It鈥檚 not about longer hours or grinding harder; it鈥檚 about building the capacity to lead with greater clarity, calm and stamina. 

One of the most powerful lessons from Olympic competition is that pressure itself isn鈥檛 the enemy. Indeed, it鈥檚 the . When leaders shift from avoiding pressure to embracing it, it can become a catalyst for growth.

That mindset is especially critical now. Education leaders are navigating unprecedented complexity: integrating artificial intelligence, addressing the mental health of students and staff, and rebuilding public trust. These are high-stakes, high-pressure challenges. And like any competition, success depends on preparation for both the challenges we can see and those we know we鈥檒l never be able to anticipate. 

The goal isn鈥檛 to make pressure disappear. It鈥檚 to teach leaders how to operate within it, to see it as a contextual reality, and not an emergency.

This work is especially vital for women leaders, who often face additional scrutiny and higher expectations in public leadership roles. For them, pressure can feel isolating. But training in community transforms it into strength.

As in Olympic sailing, success isn鈥檛 determined by avoiding the wind. It鈥檚 about knowing how to read it, adapt to it and use it to move forward. The same is true for education leaders.

Leadership at this level is a discipline. And like any craft, it demands practice.

Because leadership, like sailing, will encounter rough conditions. Success lies in navigating them with focus, courage and a team you can count.

The , which publishes a national district leader survey every five years, found in a that finance and budget problems are consuming the most time and inhibiting job effectiveness. It also details small gains in superintendent gender and race diversity, but researchers say wide gaps still remain. 

The nonprofit collected responses in September 2024 from nearly 1,100 superintendents from 49 states. About 56% worked in rural districts, while 13% were in a small city and 31% in a suburban or urban area.

About 62% of superintendents said inadequate financing of schools was the largest issue that hindered their job effectiveness, but only 18% chose fiscal management as a top strength. More than half (54%) of respondents said financial issues consumed most of their time, an increase from 45% in 2020.

Underfunding from state governments, the expiration of federal pandemic aid, enrollment declines and funding cuts under the Trump administration have contributed to budget shortfalls for many U.S. districts. The federal education budget for fiscal year 2026 is still under negotiation and .

In a Dec. 4 virtual briefing about the results, Ann LoBue, a Columbia University policy analyst and one of the study鈥檚 contributors, said decreased school funding hasn鈥檛 kept up with the rising costs of student and family needs.

鈥淎s the survey showed, it’s money that matters,鈥� she said. 鈥淲hen asked about the most important problem facing the districts they lead, funding was the most common answer.鈥�

More than one-third of superintendents surveyed said finance and budget planning is a needed area of improvement. Other top answers included stress management, school reform, district politics and community relations. Nearly half of respondents said their district鈥檚 financial condition was the most important factor in decisionmaking. 

David Law, superintendent of Minnetonka Public Schools in Minnesota, said at the briefing that the state education budget is declining as the . While lobbying in the legislature this year, he reminded lawmakers that schools aren鈥檛 asking for more money, but instead for a smaller reduction of state aid. 

鈥淥ur portion of the state budget and the federal budget is shrinking at a time [when] utilities and health care and transportation are growing at three and four times the rate of investment,鈥� he said. 鈥淎s a superintendent, we’re having all these conversations about finances, because we’re in this unprecedented time where we’re getting less and things are costing more at an accelerated rate.鈥�

The survey also explored demographics among superintendents nationwide. About 10% of respondents were people of color, an increase from nearly 9% in 2020. The percentage of female superintendents increased from 27% in 2020 to 30% in 2025. 

Despite the upward trend, survey authors said in the briefing that there鈥檚 still a lot of work to do to improve gender and race equity among U.S. superintendents. 

The study found that superintendents who were female and identified as Black or Hispanic were more likely to lead districts with higher diversity and more student needs. About 18% of males reached superintendency with just two to four years of teaching experience, versus 9% of females. About 25% of female superintendents had more than 13 years as a classroom teacher, compared with 15% of men.

While 48% of white superintendents said they felt very supported by their communities, only 37% of Black district leaders said the same. 

The survey also projected the percentage of superintendents of color would increase to 12% by 2030. Shawn Joseph, a contributor to the study and superintendent of Prince George鈥檚 County Public Schools in Maryland, said during the briefing that he鈥檚 not optimistic the nation will reach that goal. 

鈥淲e’ve got a problem in America with how we prepare leaders of color. In many institutions around the country, you’ll go through a master’s program, a doctoral program and you’ll never experience frameworks that center Black thought or Latinx thought,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 went to some decent universities to get my doctorate [and] master’s and I was ill equipped to come out and be a Black superintendent.鈥� 

Joseph recommended that professional learning, conferences and workshops focused on superintendent diversity should become more accessible to local leaders to improve the numbers.

In other survey findings: Three-quarters of superintendents said they are spending less time with their family, and 56% reported having fewer or no children because of the job. 

About 89% said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their job, compared with 92% in 2020. Nearly 60% of those surveyed said they planned on being a superintendent in the next five years, which is the same finding as in the 2020 survey. In 2010, the response was 51%.

Teacher unions across the state are using votes of no confidence in their superintendents 鈥� both formal and informal 鈥� to demonstrate growing dissatisfaction with leadership they argue is becoming more uncommunicative, inexperienced or out of touch with staff.

Since March, votes have taken place in four school districts 鈥� Waterbury, Stamford, Bridgeport and the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System. The Salem Teachers Federation, which issued its own vote of no confidence in May 2023, also has an ongoing conflict with its administration.

The uptick in votes of no confidence is “not normal,” said Fran Rabinowitz, who previously served as superintendent in Bridgeport and Hamden and now is executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents. She said it’s becoming a across the country.

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“I think it’s become more common nationally to have votes of no confidence,” Rabinowitz said. “There’s a lot of emotional unrest right now… I see opposing views and an inability, many times, to come to the middle, to come to consensus, to really understand the other person’s perspective moving forward with something. And I think it affects all of our relationships. You just see it nationally. You see it in government, and I think now we’re seeing it in education.”

Educators have consistently referred to public education as reaching a “,” with an increasing frustration in classroom conditions issues like safety, workload, class sizes, limited support personnel and curriculum changes.

A released recently by the Connecticut Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union, shows that 63% of educators in the state are dissatisfied with school conditions and 62% are planning to leave the profession earlier than expected.

Still, CEA President Kate Dias said that votes of no confidence show “an incredible amount of investment.” She said educators who could have walked away are instead “insisting on better.”

“We are going to hold you accountable for doing what we know you should be doing,” Dias said. “The invested parties are standing up and making demands of leadership, and that means that we’re really focusing on improvement. We’re focusing on how do we do this work better and treat our communities and students better.”

Despite the unique district circumstances that led to the votes of no confidence, interviews with union presidents show similar underlying issues 鈥� ranging from severe disconnects in communication, concerns about transparency when it comes to district changes (like scheduling or curriculum), growing fears of retaliation and a general feeling that their concerns have gone unheard.

Even some unions across the state that did not issue votes of no confidence in their superintendents have conducted or organized other efforts to showcase their continued dissatisfaction.

“If you look at sort of the consistent theme of where these situations emerge, it’s often where there’s a breakdown of communication and respect between staff and administration 鈥� particularly the superintendent,” Dias said, adding that though a consistent call to action to improve the teaching profession has been rooted in salary increases, “there’s no amount of money that overcomes rampant disrespect.

“It takes time to change and move salaries. It does not take time to improve the working conditions,” Dias said. “You can decide tomorrow, ‘I really need to listen to my staff. How am I going to do that in a way that they can see it, feel it and know that I’m respecting them?'”

Rabinowitz also stressed the importance of relationship building and balancing teacher involvement.

“Sometimes superintendents see what is lacking and they see it very clearly … and they just want to take care of that really quickly,” Rabinowitz said. “What they don’t realize is, you can’t just plow ahead without getting buy-in from the pioneers 鈥� the teachers and the administrators who are going to carry out what you want to carry out. You’ve got to sit down with them and listen to their perspective and figure out whether the direction you’re taking is the right direction.”

One proposal some educators and union leaders think could make a difference is changing the minimum requirements for becoming a school administrator, in particular the number of years of experience in a classroom setting. It’s a measure they plan to bring up during the legislative session that begins next month.

Departures

In some districts, conversations between superintendents and staff either did not take place or were not fruitful enough to make a difference before the superintendents were either replaced or took a leave of absence.

In Waterbury, CTECS and Bridgeport, the unions’ votes have been followed by changes to the district leadership.

Back in March, the Waterbury Teachers Association conducted a survey with over 700 participants that mainly focused on safety concerns in the classroom. The majority of the survey’s respondents said Superintendent Verna Ruffin did not effectively address safety-related issues (80%), did not foster an environment for staff to handle discipline issues in an effective manner (86%) and did not prioritize teacher and student safety (85%).

“We just felt that Dr. Ruffin had really lost touch with the teacher corps in the city of Waterbury, and had really, really lost touch with the types of things that teachers were experiencing in the classroom,” said local union president Kevin Egan. “Those types of things ranged from a lack of support, which was the big one, especially in types of discipline issues and addressing negative behaviors in the classroom, where teachers were really starting to feel afraid and nervous to go to work.”

There were over 960 individual student-based arrests in Connecticut in 2021-22, the last reported data from the state’s education department that was broken down by district. Of that number, about 220 occurred in Waterbury Public Schools.

The unions’ concerns “arguably ended up” as a vote of no confidence, though it was not “officially designated,” as one, Egan said.

“What you’re seeing across the state is a byproduct of lack of respect and just the idea that they’re not valuing their teachers and teachers are feeling it,” Egan said. “When you’re trying to get responses from the superintendent, and teachers are throwing their hands up in the end and screaming for help, and nobody’s coming to the aid, … that is the definition of a breaking point.”

Waterbury Mayor Paul Pernerewski ultimately vetoed Ruffin’s contract extension despite an initial approval from the local board of education.

Ruffin did not respond to a request for comment on the local union’s dissatisfaction, but provided The Connecticut Mirror her final email to the local board of education. In her correspondence, she highlighted wins in her district including the opening of a , reopening of classrooms after the COVID-19 pandemic and investments into extracurricular programs.

“As I move to my next chapter, I wanted to express my profound gratitude to you Commissioners individually, and collectively as you continue to do what鈥檚 best for all children,” Ruffin wrote on July 11. “Your confidence in me is deeply appreciated and I will forever be grateful to you to the teachers, the principals and administrators as well as the central office team, the parents, students and community. I will especially miss the students and wish them continued success as they dare to dream big and never lose sight of their goals.”

Several months later, in October, the State Vocational Federation of Teachers, the union representing certified teachers at the Connecticut Technical Education and Career System, issued its own vote of no confidence in executive director Ellen Solek after concerns over transparency.

Solek oversaw the superintendent position, which has had several personnel changes in recent years as the CTEC system has branched off the jurisdiction of the state Department of Education and instead operates as a state agency.

Makenzi Hurtado, vice president of the SVFT union, said Solek was responsible for the system’s finances, legislative proposals and industry partnerships. Union members felt the needs were not being met in those three areas and this ultimately “trickled down into the classrooms.”

“We would hear that all the time we’re in a ‘soft [hiring] freeze,’ … but no one really understood why we were in a soft freeze, where the monies were going and when we would ask for clarification or insight or transparency, we would not get any answers,” Hurtado said. “In terms of the legislation, there’s a lot of things that we have to advocate for. … There’s a lot of different bills and things that affect us, and we weren’t finding out about it until after they were going into effect.”

Hurtado said the CTECS had a large number of staffing vacancies, which overwhelmed the existing workload of hired staff and made them more prone to burnout.

“Every single subject we had, they were missing things that they needed. Science labs didn’t have the materials that they needed. English classrooms didn’t have the books. It was everywhere,” Hurtado said.

“It got to a point where people were feeling like they could not give kids the education that they deserved, and they didn’t have the resources to give the education to kids that they deserved, and that was really the breaking point for us,” Hurtado added. “I think a lot of the concerns that we have in our district are very similar to concerns that teachers and other districts have. Teachers are extremely passionate about what they do, but … they’re very rarely listened to as experts in what they do.”

Solek, who was the district’s first executive director and took over the role in June 2023, announced on Halloween.

Solek declined a request for comment.

Gov. Ned Lamont announced Alice Pritchard, who most recently served as the director of workforce development and strategic initiatives for the Connecticut Department of Administrative Services and previously served as the chief of staff and chief strategy officer for the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system, as Solek’s replacement on Nov. 27.

In a statement to the CT Mirror, Pritchard said she looked forward to working with stakeholders to “help the system reach its full potential.”

鈥淢y priority is to listen to our community, promote open communication, and ensure transparency and collaboration with all stakeholders. I recognize that while there is important work to do, we have the people and passion to achieve great things on behalf of CTECS students,” Pritchard said.

The CTEC is also by the state Department of Education after a leaked email from then-interim superintendent Justin Lowe described a process that was apparently meant to deny admission to students with disabilities.

Lamont appointed Freeman Burr, a former superintendent in Shelton and former Hartford educator, as the new interim superintendent on Dec. 5.

Still at odds

Bridgeport was the most recent of the three no-confidence votes, with Superintendent Carmela Levy-David in early November shortly after a revealed 93% of respondents felt Levy-David was unprofessional in dealings with teachers and staff, feared retaliation if they voiced concerns and that the superintendent was not open to differing points of view and 80% had considered leaving Bridgeport Public Schools.

Levy-David was hired in and committed to staying 10 years in the district to form a “.” She had announced a complete system overhaul earlier this year, beginning with right-sizing its organizational leadership, schools and classrooms.

Over the summer there was pushback on the superintendent’s six schools, and contention grew as educators say the district was changing its class and bus schedules, teacher assignments and curriculum “on the fly.”

“You had teachers doing everything in their power to try and create a sense of stability and security, but at the end of the day, if they don’t have the materials, they’re being reassigned, they are not sure what is being communicated 鈥� all those things put together just created this sense of heightened agitation at all times,” Dias said. “It was like this intense layer of stress that everyone was kind of experiencing, including the kids.”

Shortly after the survey’s results were released, the district issued a statement saying they were “disappointed that the CEA did not communicate those results to us first so we could have worked collaboratively,” and that they took the “concerns raised about teachers鈥� confidence in our leadership seriously.”

鈥淲e understand that feelings of fear and apprehension can significantly impact our staff’s willingness to communicate openly, but their feedback is essential to continue to make things better for them moving forward.鈥疻e are committed to fostering a safe and supportive environment where educators feel empowered to express their thoughts and concerns without fear of retaliation,鈥� Levy-David said in the statement.

Bridgeport’s local board of education has now that could end Levy-David’s employment in the district.

Stacy Graham-Hunt, the spokesperson for Bridgeport schools, said the district “remains committed to fostering a positive and collaborative work environment for all staff members,” through efforts to “streamline communications, enhance stability and address any operational challenges to ensure that schools run smoothly and effectively.”

“While the District acknowledges the concerns raised by the union, we are assessing areas for improvement and identifying strategies to address challenges. Ensuring a supportive environment for educators, administrators, and students is our top priority,” Graham-Hunt said. “We are currently reviewing internal processes to enhance clarity and coordination, and we are prioritizing efforts to ensure all stakeholders feel informed and supported.”

Stamford shared concerns similar to some of those raised in Bridgeport’s survey and vote of no confidence, though the district has kept its leadership.

Stamford educators have faced an regarding class scheduling at its middle and high schools.

Stamford Superintendent Tamu Lucero proposed a schedule change that would add an extra course to teachers’ existing class schedules and would increase workload. Local teachers argued that they’re already strained and issued a vote of no confidence in March.

“Who knows what’s going on in the classroom better than the teachers that work with those kids every day?” said local union president John Corcoran. “The further you are removed from the classroom, the less impact you have. There’s a superintendent, and there’s associate superintendents, but you’re making decisions three levels removed from the classroom. … [To make changes,] it’s about building relationships. It’s about maintaining relationships. It’s about trust. … We’re trying hard to build that relationship with the superintendent, but we run into quite a lot of hurdles in doing so.”

Stamford Public Schools did not respond to a request for comment.

A legislative push

At the root of teachers feeling unheard is a sentiment that district administrators are inexperienced when it comes to what’s happening in a classroom setting.

Currently, requires school administrators to have at least 50 months of “appropriate teaching experience,” or about five years, a master’s degree and additional coursework in special education, school administration and other topics.

But several educators and union leaders across the state have advocated for several years to raise the minimum requirements, particularly in regard to the number of years in a classroom setting.

It’s a proposal they plan to fight for again in January.

“We believe 10 years would be a far better minimum, and I get that it puts that point of transition out a little bit, but let’s give our administrators a fighting chance. If they haven’t had enough experiences to convincingly lead, we’re setting them up for failure,” Dias said.

“We really believe that in order to lead a building, you have to have a credible amount of experience, and you have to have had the worst day, the most challenging student, a difficult parent conversation, a challenge with your colleague, to have led a classroom through difficult times, before you’re ever going to be able to lead a building credibly,” she said.

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

These tensions escalated last year when a teacher disagreed with the superintendent’s decision to follow the advice of the school district’s lawyer and honor a transgender student’s request not to share their transition with their parents. The teacher went public and the results were swift and intense.

Hundreds of people descended on the next school board meeting. A local talk radio host said the superintendent wanted to 鈥渋ndoctrinate their children and 鈥� make them become gay and transgender.鈥� Community members verbally accosted the schools chief in public saying, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e gonna go to hell. You never read the Bible.鈥� 

The fiscal consequences were also considerable, forcing the district to divert funds from planned professional development. Ultimately, five educators left their jobs in response to the spreading unrest.

This small community鈥檚 turmoil is one of many accounts included in a new , which tries for the first time to put a dollar amount on the costs of the culture war conflicts that have consumed school districts over the past several years. The researchers estimate that the nation鈥檚 public schools spent approximately $3.2 billion in 2023-24 dealing with divisive public debates over race, gender and sexual orientation, forcing them to spend money on legal fees, security, public relations and employee hours responding to misinformation, disinformation and public records requests. 

And although the researchers said their figures don鈥檛 account for the emotional and social toll on educators and students, their numbers do include a significant and related expense: staff turnover.  

鈥淭here are many different costs that are really consequential and are undermining the ability of educators to support student learning and well-being,” said John Rogers, a professor at UCLA鈥檚 School of Education and Information Studies and the report鈥檚 lead author.

Data from the report comes from a national survey of 467 superintendents across 46 states conducted during summer 2024, followed by interviews with 42 superintendents across 12 states. Of those interviewed, 12 had taken the survey and reported moderate or high levels of conflict; the remaining 30 hadn鈥檛 taken the survey and were identified through professional leadership networks.

School districts were categorized as having either high, moderate, or low levels of conflict based on a series of questions about the nature of conflict related to culturally divisive issues, the frequency of and topics associated with personal or professional threats to superintendents and district staff and the financial and human resource costs.

Moms for Liberty, a high-profile parental rights group, was named specifically in the report in relation to board members they supported and other far-right groups accusing a western school district of indoctrinating students around sexual health issues. That superintendent cited having to spend roughly $100,000 to hire 鈥渁rmed plainclothes off-duty officers鈥� and more than $500,000 in legal fees. Superintendents and school board members being attacked as pedophiles, groomers or sexual predators was a common refrain in the report.

Moms for Liberty did not respond to a request for comment. Closely aligned with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, the group鈥檚 influence over school board elections is seen as waning even if battles over curriculum content and library books are still being waged.

Of the districts surveyed, roughly one-third experienced low levels of conflict, just over one-third experienced moderate levels and just under one-third experienced high levels. About 2.5% of superintendents reported no conflict. Overall, Rogers said those surveyed 鈥渓ook a lot like superintendents from the entirety of the (national) pool鈥� in terms of their race, gender and whether they lead urban, rural or suburban districts.

Half of the schools chiefs reported that they experienced at least one instance of harassment in the 2023-24 school year. One in 10 said violent threats were directed toward them and 11% experienced property vandalism.

In order to calculate the overall fiscal costs, researchers asked superintendents about direct expenditures during the 2023-24 school year that were above and beyond what they previously would have spent for resources such as legal services or security; indirect costs, such as redeployed staff time; and employee turnover costs. 

To determine the cost of redeployed staff time, researchers took the number of hours that superintendents reported across these different activities and assigned them a dollar figure based on average district administrator wages from the . For each staff member that left the district, researchers assigned a dollar figure related to recruitment and new staff training based on research out of the .

Rogers noted that 鈥渢here鈥檚 a certain imprecision鈥� when it comes to calculating the cost of staff turnover because 鈥測ou鈥檙e asking superintendents to draw upon the knowledge that they have to make this determination鈥� of why educators and administrators left their positions. Follow-up interviews, he added, helped to bolster the reliability of these figures.

The researchers, who also include Rachel White of the University of Texas at Austin, Robert Shand of American University and Joseph Kahne of the University of California, Riverside, estimated that in their entirety, the conflict-related costs were more than enough to expand the national school breakfast program by 40% or hire 鈥渁n additional counselor or psychologist for every public high school in the United States.鈥�

Beyond the dollar figures, when speaking with superintendents, Rogers said he was particularly struck by the ways in which violent threats were playing out and how frequently it appeared there was a 鈥渃oncerted effort to disrupt, to foment conflict for the sake of fomenting conflict.鈥�

For example, he heard from a number of superintendents whose districts spent an immense amount of time fulfilling public records requests they felt had been filed in bad faith. Once the materials were compiled, they often went unused, Rogers said.

The lasting implications of these in-district battles 鈥� beyond the fiscal costs 鈥� still remain unknown and appear to be shifting with the changing landscape. Jonathan Zimmerman, professor of the History of Education at The University of Pennsylvania, recently on his previous work around the culture wars鈥� impact on history teachers, writing, 鈥淚t seems like I might have exaggerated them.鈥� 

But, he noted in an interview with 麻豆精品 this week, the effects on other educators and administrators are ongoing. Within the culture wars, he鈥檚 noticed less of a focus on race and critical race theory and more on gender and sexuality, hypothesizing that this may mean history teachers feel a lesser impact than English teachers, who might be more likely to teach directly about gender.

His sees the report as a reflection of the country’s 鈥渂rittle and abusive鈥� political culture. 

鈥淭his is the school politics chapter of a much broader story about the way that politics is conducted in America,鈥� he said.

It appears that even as some of these more divisive players move on or are voted out, their political agendas may persist. That鈥檚 been the case in Pennsylvania鈥檚 Bucks County, one of the most closely watched regions for these debates. 

According to recent New York Times , despite Democrats sweeping the last school board election, not all contested books have been returned to school library shelves nor have teachers been allowed to display identity markers, like rainbow flags. Nearly a year after the Moms for Liberty-backed candidates were ousted, their presence is still felt. 

RUSSELLVILLE, Ala. 鈥� Lindsey Johnson and Yesenia De La Rosa were taking different approaches to teaching the same English lesson on silent letters as they sat at opposite ends of this first grade classroom in West Elementary School. On this March afternoon, Johnson, the classroom teacher, was reading a story with the 6- and 7-year-old children who were fluent in English. The students of bilingual aide De La Rosa were still learning the language, so while she read the same story, she went slower, translating words, acting out emotions and showing them pictures on her iPhone.

Valentina, 6, wearing a black T-shirt with a gold Nike logo and leggings, had arrived less than two weeks earlier from Guatemala. She sat on the floor near De La Rosa鈥檚 chair, her cheek almost touching her teacher鈥檚 leg. De La Rosa worked with her individually because she didn鈥檛 know any letters or numbers, in Spanish or in English. When Valentina went to kindergarten in her home country, all she did was color. 鈥淪o when she came here, that鈥檚 what she thought she was going to do. Just drawing,鈥� De La Rosa said. 鈥淏ut here it鈥檚 different.鈥�

The Russellville City school district created De La Rosa鈥檚 position in early 2021 as part of a larger effort to help educate its growing population of students who speak English as a second language. Many of the English learners, as they鈥檙e called, have parents from Mexico or Guatemala who work at a nearby poultry plant and in local manufacturing and construction jobs. Today, in the district, 60% of children are Hispanic/Latino and roughly a third are English learners.

Without De La Rosa, Johnson said she wouldn鈥檛 be able to communicate with more than half of her students, or understand the challenges they face. Johnson knew that Yeferson, an English learner from Guatemala, was one of the smartest children in the class, already reading more than 100 words, well above the goal of 60. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a sponge, he soaks everything up,鈥� Johnson said. She learned from De La Rosa that he鈥檚 doing well in spite of his many responsibilities at home: His mom works night shifts, so Yeferson does the laundry, washes the dishes and looks after his younger siblings. Said Johnson: 鈥淗aving a bilingual aide makes a world of difference.鈥�

Russellville may not seem like a community that would be home to investment and innovation for immigrant students. It鈥檚 a politically conservative city in northwestern Alabama of about 11,000, where 72% of voters chose Donald Trump in the last presidential election. When the poultry processing plant opened in 1989, the Latino population was about 0.5%. By 2000, it had grown to 13%, and in 2020, it was almost 40%. The school district, like many around the country, struggled early on to accommodate the rising numbers of English learners, who were dropping out at high rates, being pushed into special education classes and showing little academic progress. Yet their success matters: Today in the U.S., are English learners and, at a time when overall public school enrollment is falling, they are among the country鈥檚 fastest-growing groups of students.

In early 2015, when its superintendent announced his retirement, the district recruited Heath Grimes, then superintendent of the nearby Lawrence County school system, for the job. A self-described Southern conservative and man of faith from rural Alabama, Grimes, 48, set about overhauling instruction for English learners, establishing culturally relevant extracurriculars and reaching out to the Latino community. Those efforts had an impact: The share of Latino students taking Advanced Placement classes and dual enrollment courses at a local community college went up. Parental involvement increased. And Grimes led an effort to lobby lawmakers for a change in the state funding formula for English learners, boosting the state鈥檚 allocation more than eightfold, to $18.5 million. The district and Grimes won state and national recognition for their efforts with English learners.

鈥淎ny district with a significant English learner population has looked to Heath because he鈥檚 been ahead of the game,鈥� said Ryan Hollingsworth, the executive director of the School Superintendents of Alabama, which represents the state’s 150 school districts. 鈥淚t is just amazing to see what he鈥檚 been able to do in a small district with not a lot of resources.鈥�

But as Grimes鈥� star rose statewide, according to local educators and residents, his relationship with city leadership started to unravel. Then, in mid-May 2023, a member of the school board told Grimes that it would not be renewing his contract, which was to end in June 2024. He agreed to retire when his contract ended the following year in exchange for a bump in his final year鈥檚 salary. Starting in November, I tried to talk with school board members, the mayor and City Council members about the school district and Grimes, but they did not respond initially to my interview requests. (When I introduced myself to the mayor, David Grissom, on the street in Russellville, he told me 鈥渘o comment鈥� and walked away.) But over the months, I was able to talk to more than 60 state officials, local administrators, teachers, former school board members, community leaders and residents, including people I met in businesses and on the street in Russellville. Those interviews suggest that the decision to force out Grimes as superintendent stemmed from a tangle of small-town politics, deep-rooted antipathy toward immigrants and a yearning for the city Russellville used to be.

鈥淗eath Grimes put students first. And this ultimately may have hurt him,鈥� said Jason Barnett, superintendent of the Guntersville City Board of Education in northern Alabama and one of dozens of district leaders in the state who worked closely with Grimes. Approximately 18 educators and community leaders in Russellville, many of them with knowledge of the events, told me that Grimes鈥� support for the growing English learner population was key to his loss of support among top city leadership. Many asked not to be quoted for fear of retaliation or straining relationships in this small community. One school administrator, who did not want to be identified for fear of losing their job, said of Grimes: 鈥淢any folks said the increase in the undocumented population was because he made Russellville schools a welcoming place that immigrants wanted to live in. People didn鈥檛 like that.鈥�

In early July I went back to Grissom, school board attorney Daniel McDowell, and Gregg Trapp, who was until recently school board president, with my findings from months of reporting and a detailed list of questions. McDowell and Grissom replied with written statements that said that Spanish-speaking students had thrived in the district long before Grimes鈥� arrival and denied that the superintendent鈥檚 commitment to English learners had led to his departure. 鈥淚mmigrants from Latin American countries have been moving to Russellville for the past 25 years and have always been welcomed into the city and the student body,鈥� wrote Grissom. 鈥淟ooking back, our high school has crowned a Latina Homecoming Queen, as voted by the student body and has recognized the first Latino Valedictorian. Those events took place long before Dr. Grimes came to Russellville.鈥�

IMMIGRANTS NOT WELCOME

Before Grimes arrived in Russellville, state lawmakers in 2011 had passed , widely considered the harshest anti-immigrant law in the nation. It gave police authority to stop individuals they believed did not have legal documents to live in the United States, and made it a crime for businesses to knowingly hire, and landlords to rent to, those who lacked documentation. Public colleges couldn鈥檛 admit students without immigration documents and, even though, under federal law, K-12 schools are required to serve students regardless of citizenship status, the Alabama legislation also called for school districts to collect information on their students鈥� citizenship status. While parts of the law were later struck down by a federal court, the message was clear: Immigrants weren鈥檛 welcome.

So when Greg Batchelor, then president of the Russellville City school board, was looking for a new school superintendent in 2015, he knew things would get controversial. The city鈥檚 Hispanic population was 22% and growing. Some longtime 鈥淎nglo鈥� residents, as members of the white population call themselves, derisively referred to the city鈥檚 downtown as 鈥淟ittle Mexico鈥� and complained about hearing Spanish spoken and seeing the colorfully painted houses they associated with the Latino community.

Batchelor and another former school board member, Bret Gist, recalled hearing from longtime residents who were enrolling their children in private schools or leaving Russellville because they didn鈥檛 want their kids to be 鈥渢he minority.鈥� Others worried that the English learners would drag down test scores and hurt their school district鈥檚 reputation. At that time, only five districts in the state had an English learner population above 10%; Russellville鈥檚 was the second highest, at 16%.

Batchelor, also chairman of the board of CB&S, one of Alabama鈥檚 largest community banks, said he knew the city鈥檚 future economy depended on the next school leader: 鈥淚f our community survives and does well, it鈥檚 only going to be as good as we educate our kids.鈥� He also said he believed that the town鈥檚 Latino students deserved the same chance as their peers, and he was deeply influenced by his , who鈥檇 served on the Russellville City school board for 20 years. 鈥淢y dad used to say everybody puts their britches on the same way, one leg at a time,鈥� Batchelor recalled.

At the time, Grimes, a former special education teacher and football coach, was in his sixth year as Lawrence County superintendent. In his first four-year term, he had because of falling enrollment and a budget shortfall he inherited. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very unusual in Alabama for a superintendent to close schools in a county and then be reelected 鈥� and he was reelected,鈥� said Batchelor. 鈥淚 felt like he鈥檚 not afraid to make tough decisions.鈥� Gist, the former school board member, remembers the excitement the board felt after Grimes鈥� interview. 鈥淚 was ready for him to come in and make a big impact,鈥� Gist said.

On May 11, 2015, Grimes was voted in unanimously as Russellville鈥檚 new school superintendent. 

NEW APPROACHES

Kristie Ezzell, who from Russellville schools in 2022 after 31 years under four superintendents, saw the transformation firsthand. As a second grade teacher in the 1990s, she taught one of the district鈥檚 first English learners. Ezzell remembers a little girl who kept trying to communicate, but Ezzell couldn鈥檛 understand her. 鈥淪he started crying and then I started crying and we both stood there and hugged and cried,鈥� Ezzell recalled. 鈥淭he language barrier between us was just heartbreaking.鈥� 

The rapid increase in the English learner population had taken Russellville educators by surprise. The entire district had just one teacher certified to teach English as a second language, no interpreters and very little by way of professional development. 鈥淲e had students come in that don鈥檛 speak a lick of English, their parents don鈥檛 speak a lick of English, and we鈥檙e expected to educate them,鈥� one teacher, who asked not to be named to avoid repercussions, told me. 鈥淎nd I didn鈥檛 even know whether they are asking to go to the bathroom or are they hungry.鈥� The situation was also unfair for the English-speaking students who missed out on learning time because their teachers were preoccupied, she said. 鈥淚t was just a mess all the way around.鈥� 

Grimes, who does not speak Spanish and had little experience with English learners in his previous roles, said the first thing he heard was: 鈥淗ow are you going to fix this?鈥� 鈥淚 think they thought I was going to somehow make the English learner population go away,鈥� he told me. 鈥淎nd I was like, 鈥楴o, we鈥檙e not going to do that.鈥欌�� Instead, he asked educators to 鈥淎ccept, Embrace, Celebrate.鈥� 鈥淵ou first have to accept that your district is changing. And when we embrace that change, we鈥檙e going to see some very positive changes that we鈥檒l be able to celebrate,鈥� he recalled telling them. 鈥淎nd every bit of that has come true.鈥�

By then Ezzell was principal of Russellville Elementary School. She recalled Grimes鈥� first meeting with teachers, where he presented student test scores broken down by school. 鈥淚 sunk down in my seat and tears came to my eyes because our data was not very good,鈥� she told me.

His message, according to Ezzell, was simple: 鈥淣o more excuses. Our teachers are not going to say anymore, 鈥榃ell, they鈥檙e English learners.鈥� That鈥檚 not OK. They are going to grow just like everybody else.鈥� As he laid out his expectations, teachers started looking around nervously, she recalled. Some cried and one had to leave the room. A few worried that Grimes was criticizing their competence; others dismissed him as an outsider. But she says one thing was clear. 鈥淲e knew he meant business,鈥� she said. 鈥淗e was very empathetic for everything we were dealing with, but he said, 鈥楾his cannot continue.鈥欌��

When Ezzell went home that evening, she couldn鈥檛 stop thinking about the meeting. She knew how hard her teachers worked. 鈥淭hey were never not teaching,鈥� she said. But the dismal statistics proved to her they weren鈥檛 focusing on the right things. From then on, Ezzell told me, she was on a mission to find better ways of educating her students: 鈥淚 dedicated my life to it.鈥�

Grimes said the prevailing attitude was that English learner students were a burden, similar to perceptions of the special education students he once taught. So he brought in a professor and education consultant, Tery Medina, who explained that immigrant children were district students under federal law. A Cuban refugee herself, she led discussions with teachers on similarities between Latino and Southern culture. 鈥淭hey love family. They鈥檙e hard workers and many have faith in Christ. It was all these things that everyone could relate to,鈥� Grimes recalled. For her part, Medina said she was impressed with Russellville鈥檚 embrace of these learners. Under Grimes, 鈥淩ussellville was a little gem,鈥� she said, 鈥渨here English learners were not seen as a burden.鈥� 

The district also invested in professional development for teachers, ensuring that it happened during work hours, said Ezzell. Experts, books, videos, detailed lesson plans 鈥� to teachers at the time, it felt like a blur of continuous learning. Slowly, educators began sharing strategies and co-teaching classes. 鈥淵ou know the saying, 鈥榃hen you know better, you do better?鈥欌�� Ezzell told me. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 what happened.鈥� Teachers experimented, made their lessons more hands-on and followed the latest research. Some teachers created what became an in three languages: English, Spanish and Q’anjob’al, a Guatemalan dialect. 鈥淲e were making time for them to go and learn best practices. And it benefited all students, not just English learners,鈥� Ezzell said.

Not everyone in the district bought into the change. Grimes remembers meeting with one teacher who led a class in which 30% of students were failing. She didn鈥檛 see it as a problem, Grimes said: 鈥淚t was like, 鈥業鈥檝e been doing this for 20 years and you鈥檙e not going to tell me different.鈥欌�� She retired soon after, Grimes said; some other teachers resigned.

But teachers who stayed said they could see that students were beginning to respond to the new approaches. English learners began participating more in class, no longer sitting at the back of the room. More started taking AP exams, as well as dual enrollment classes at nearby Northwest Shoals Community College. 鈥淲e pushed them. And when you push with love, you鈥檙e going to have success,鈥� said Ezzell. 

The district began to accrue accolades. Several of its schools . Since 2021, Russellville High has been named one of the top 25 schools in Alabama . In 2022, it was the only majority-minority district in Alabama to receive an 鈥淎鈥� grade in the state report card; in 2023, Russellville was one of only two in the state named a 鈥淪potlight District鈥� for reading and literacy, and its high school was named an , a designation given by a nonprofit contracted with the state education department to maximize college readiness.

Core to Grimes鈥� strategy, along with building cultural understanding and professional development, were bilingual educators. Early on, Grimes placed interpreters at each school to help with day-to-day translation, but he knew teachers needed more help in the classroom. A national shortage of bilingual educators, though, required creativity. Grimes decided to focus on recruiting bilingual aides, who earn half the pay of teachers. He reached out to the Rev. Vincent Bresowar at the Good Shepherd Catholic Church in Russellville to help spread the word about the positions. 

Bresowar鈥檚 congregation had ballooned in size as immigrant families moved to Russellville; his church had recently built a new $4.5 million building to accommodate the increase.

His parishioners, meanwhile, worked long, irregular hours, struggled financially and often carried trauma. 鈥淭he suffering is very intense and can be very difficult,鈥� he told me. In addition, he knew how the language barrier could exacerbate misunderstandings. Bresowar says his own understanding and appreciation for the Latino community changed once he learned Spanish and spent time with them. 鈥淚 think a lot of people are scared because they can鈥檛 communicate and it makes it harder to bridge the gaps,鈥� Bresowar said. 

He connected Grimes to parishioners, and in 2021, using pandemic funds, Grimes hired a dozen bilingual aides from that community. At the same time, he connected them to an apprenticeship program, run by the nonprofit , so they could simultaneously train to become teachers. 鈥淚t was a game changer,鈥� Grimes said about that additional school help. 

Elizabeth Alonzo was one of those bilingual aides. She joined the staff at West Elementary in 2021, where she worked mostly with second graders in small groups, as well as interpreting for school activities and communicating with parents. As she walked down a hallway on a recent school day, Latino girls from other classes broke out of their lines and ran to give her a quick hug. 鈥淎t first it was like, 鈥極h, you speak Spanish?鈥� Their face just lights up, you know?鈥� said Alonzo, who was born and raised in Alabama by immigrant parents. Last December, she completed the coursework to become a teacher and hopes to stay on at West. 

If she does, she鈥檒l be the sixth Latino teacher in the district, up from just one when Grimes arrived. The level of resources for English learners is very different from when she was in school. Her cousin was pulled out of first grade class to interpret for her when she was in kindergarten in a county school, she recalled. 鈥淎nd then when I was in first grade, I would be pulled out of class to help my younger brother.鈥� Alonzo attended Russellville schools from 2008 to 2013. 

Another Russellville teacher, Edmund Preciado Mart铆nez, also remembers feeling isolated as a student in Alabama in the late 1990s. He sometimes confused Spanish and English words, he said, so was often too embarrassed to talk in class. 鈥淚t landed me in special education because they thought something was wrong with me,鈥� he recalled. 

He was a teacher in a nearby district when he heard about the changes Grimes was making in Russellville and decided to apply for a job. Six years ago, he was hired to work with English learners at Russellville High School. 

Every year, he says, teachers choose a slogan to unite around, like #whateverittakes, or #allin. The camaraderie is very different from stories he鈥檚 heard from counterparts around the state, who talk about their colleagues complaining about English learners and even referring to them with derogatory language and slurs.

鈥淲henever we need something, we simply ask for it and they do their best to get it for us,鈥� Mart铆nez said of his district鈥檚 leadership. 鈥淎nd even if they can鈥檛, they find alternatives that we can use.鈥�

鈥楻OOM FOR ALL OF US鈥�

Grimes also focused on involving Latino parents in their kids鈥� education. Many were too intimidated or embarrassed to speak to educators, he realized; in their home countries, it was sometimes seen as disrespectful to question a teacher or even ask about their child鈥檚 progress. So he set about building relationships by patronizing Latino businesses, meeting with community leaders and translating into Spanish all announcements on the district website and its Facebook account.

Those efforts changed the school experience of parent Analine Mederos. She鈥檇 dropped out of school in Mexico in seventh grade, and was desperate for her children to get a good education. But when her eldest daughter enrolled in Russellville schools in 2006, Mederos says she wasn鈥檛 involved in her education at all. 鈥淚 was not interacting with the teachers because I didn鈥檛 speak very much English. I was afraid to talk most of the time,鈥� she told me. She felt school employees looked down on her because of the language barrier, and she didn鈥檛 see a point in speaking up. 鈥淚f you have questions, who鈥檚 going to help you?鈥� she said. 鈥淪o whatever they say, I was like, 鈥極K, fine.鈥欌�� 

But with her second child, now a 10th grader, it鈥檚 been a completely different experience. 鈥淕rimes has done a huge, I don鈥檛 even know how to say like a big impacto, especially with the Hispanic community,鈥� she told me. Her daughter loves school, she said, and her son in middle school can鈥檛 wait to try out for the soccer team. When she sees Grimes in the community, she said she feels comfortable enough to talk to him about her children: 鈥淗e鈥檚 going to listen. He鈥檚 not going to act like he鈥檚 listening. No, he does listen.鈥�

Mederos finds it easier to follow school meetings now. Just a few years ago at West Elementary, there was just one interpreter for 600 children, which meant the school could schedule meetings with parents only when a child was in trouble or failing. Now, with six bilingual aides, school staff can have one-on-one meetings with every family at least once a year, and they also offer two full days of programming annually for parents in English and Spanish. Parents know there will be an interpreter in the room and that sends a clear message. 鈥淥ur parents know we鈥檙e embracing them and we appreciate them,鈥� Principal Alicia Stanford told me. 

A Hispanic Heritage Month event that Grimes started in Russellville High School has now grown into a , where students learn about different cultures and traditions, perform dances, read celebrated authors and research historical figures. But a soccer program Grimes started has received perhaps the biggest response. Students had lobbied for the program before Grimes鈥� arrival with no success, but he understood that it was a beloved and important part of Latin American culture. 鈥淭hey wanted something that was theirs,鈥� he said.

He didn鈥檛 have funds for a new soccer field, so he had the football field re-turfed, and students began playing in 2017. In 2021, when the Russellville Golden Tigers soccer team played in the state semifinals, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic families turned out in droves. 鈥淓veryone was cheering, 鈥�S铆, se puede,鈥� 鈥榊es, we can,鈥欌�� recalled Grimes when we met in his office this March. The school鈥檚 logo is a torch like that on the Statue of Liberty, and there鈥檚 a school tradition of holding up clenched fists to show unity and pride. 鈥淭he whole Latino community stands up with their torches raised,鈥� he added, 鈥渁nd they鈥檙e chanting, 鈥楻uss-ell-ville, Russ-ell-ville.鈥� That was very, very powerful.鈥�

Grimes鈥檚 office wall was decorated with sports trophies from events like these, along with framed academic credentials including his doctorate degree. He was the first in his family to attend college. There were also photos of his family and past students, along with a well-worn Bible on his desk.

Batchelor, the former school board president, says that, while the process was sometimes challenging, through Grimes鈥� sustained efforts and example, families of all backgrounds gradually saw that improving the outcomes of English learners meant that the entire school system was better. 鈥淚 think the community has embraced the fact that there鈥檚 room for all of us,鈥� he said. 

Not all of Grimes鈥� ideas worked. Early on, he separated English learners from other students during academic classes, but scrapped it after teachers told him it wasn鈥檛 working. Now schools do a combination of teaching English learners in small groups and with the entire class. After a back-to-school event took hours longer than expected because he asked for every sentence to be interpreted, Grimes decided to hold separate but simultaneous school meetings, where parents could choose to listen in Spanish or English.

And it hasn鈥檛 been easy to sustain all of the gains. Between 2019 (when the bilingual aides were hired) and 2021, English learners in some grades recorded big increases on language proficiency tests. For example, proficiency levels for second graders went from 46 to 84%, and for third graders, 44 to 71%. But the growth since then hasn鈥檛 been consistent, and proficiency levels in 2023 for some grades fell below 2019 numbers. Administrators say that is because the number of English learners continues to increase while the number of educators has not, so children are receiving less individualized attention.

But the goodwill Grimes generated from embracing Hispanic families has paid off in unexpected ways. In 2018, the district needed roof work on school buildings but didn鈥檛 have the money to complete it, Grimes said. Someone in the Latino community called Grimes, he said, offering to do the work for free. 鈥淭hey volunteered their time, their efforts, their energy and their materials, and they completed those buildings,鈥� he told me.

Today, Latino businesses dominate the downtown area of a few blocks, which until recently was full of deteriorating, vacant buildings. There are three Mexican bakeries, two Latin grocery stores, three barber shops, nail salons and a 肠补谤苍颈肠别谤铆补, or butcher shop. Business owners make it a point to support the school system, said Yaneli Bahena, who graduated four years ago from the Russellville school district and now owns a business called The Ville Nutrition. 

A Mexican restaurant catered a 200-person back-to-school event, bakeries often donate bread and treats, and some salons provide free haircuts before school starts. The soccer field is ringed by banners from local Hispanic businesses that have sponsored the team. Bahena herself sponsors meals for school events and donates backpacks and school supplies. 鈥淪chool gave me a sense of hope,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 had really good teachers. Everyone cared about me.鈥� In high school, she noticed that, unlike in years past, the students were included on field trips and encouraged to take electives. Bahena said some of her classmates stayed in school instead of dropping out to work because educators 鈥減ushed help.鈥� She, too, credited Grimes: 鈥淓verything they put into these kids would not be possible without the superintendent.鈥�

ADVOCATING STATEWIDE

In 2019, eager to find partners and support for his work with English learners, Grimes began chatting with other district leaders facing similar challenges and discussing what it would look like to advocate for those students statewide. Nationally, about are English learners and most of them speak Spanish at home. But even though most are U.S. citizens, they rarely get the support they need, in part because their education has become politicized, according to , a former superintendent and assistant U.S. secretary of K-12 education in the Obama administration. 鈥淧eople see the world (in terms of) a limited amount of resources. And so they feel, 鈥榠f you鈥檙e giving them that amount, then you鈥檙e taking away from me,鈥欌�� she said.

In part as a result of that attitude, experts say, reading and math scores for English learners nationally are among the lowest of all student subgroups, their lag behind, and they are less likely to go to college. 鈥淲e need these kids and we need them educated,鈥� said Patricia G谩ndara, co-director of the Civil Rights Project at UCLA and an expert on English learners. 鈥淭hey represent a very large part of the future of this country.鈥� 

The next year, in 2020, Grimes founded a coalition of superintendents called Alabama Leaders Advocating for English Learners, under the umbrella of a state operation, Council for Leaders in Alabama Schools. 鈥淗is passion was evident and he was not going to stop,鈥� said Hollingsworth of the School Superintendents of Alabama. 鈥淚f you keep knocking on the door, knocking on the door, eventually somebody鈥檚 going to open the door. And that鈥檚 kind of what happened.鈥�

The superintendents coalition led by Grimes successfully pressed the Legislature for more funding for English learners, to $150 per student, from about $50 to $75 in 2015. Districts with an English learner population above 10% receive $300 per student. For Russellville, that meant a fourfold increase to $400,000, at a time when city funding declined. Grimes received a for his 鈥渞emarkable contributions and tireless advocacy for English Learner funding in Alabama schools.鈥� Thanks in part to his advocacy, the state now has instructional support for districts, 12 coaches and a state director of English learning. Grimes also advocated for English learners鈥� test scores to count on the state report card only after they鈥檝e been enrolled for five years (approximately the time it takes for students to learn a new language). That law, , went into effect last year.

Barnett of the Guntersville City Board of Education said Grimes鈥� efforts with English learners helped persuade other district leaders that they could do the work too. 鈥淩ussellville is a great place, but there鈥檚 nothing special there that it can鈥檛 happen anywhere else,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 nothing in the water. It certainly can be replicated.鈥�

For seven years, Grimes and the Russellville school board worked well together, he and former board members said. But discontent among other city leaders surfaced early on, several people told me. Grimes had started to clash with the city鈥檚 mayor, David Grissom, who was first elected in 2012, about funding. A Russellville resident close to the workings of city government who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation says Grimes had angered Grissom and some City Council members early on when he noted publicly that his schools budget was $200,000 less than that of his predecessor. (McDowell, the school board lawyer, wrote in his email to me that Grimes was made aware of this cut after he took office and had agreed to it.) City Council members 鈥渄id not take kindly to having their feet held to the fire or being made to look bad. So from then on, Grimes was marked,鈥� the resident told me. Grimes also angered Grissom when he declined to publicly support the mayor鈥檚 choice for a City Council seat in 2020, preferring to stay neutral, several people told me. 

In his response to me, Grissom did not comment on those specifics but wrote that he 鈥渉ad interviewed and have been interviewed by several hundred people of all races and ethnicities” about Grimes鈥� performance and that some of those he spoke with were dissatisfied with the superintendent. He posed questions about whether Grimes had been in his office every day, treated employees differently, and spent too much district money on conferences. Grimes said that he sometimes traveled around the state for his work, that the conferences were for professional development and approved by the board, and that as a leader he did sometimes have to make decisions that displeased people because he was weighing different perspectives and needs. He said he was shocked by the mayor鈥檚 statements because neither the mayor nor anyone else had previously brought such concerns to him. Gist and Batchelor, the former school board members, said they had never heard any such concerns from anyone in their roughly eight years of working with Grimes. 鈥淣ot one word,鈥� said Gist. Grimes鈥� personnel file did not contain any information indicating concerns with the superintendent鈥檚 performance. Neither the mayor nor the school board lawyer would provide any clarification about why, if such complaints existed, Grimes was not notified.

As Grimes continued to invest in efforts to help English learners, their numbers rose every year, doubling in size during his tenure, to 33%. After the 2020 City Council election, in an effort widely seen as intended to remove Grimes as superintendent, Grissom and City Council members began replacing members of the appointed five-member school board that had supported Grimes. (In his email, Mayor Grissom wrote that the council has the right to replace board members and had done so prior to Grimes鈥� tenure as well.) In May 2023, Greg Trapp, the school board member, informed the superintendent they would not renew his contract when it expired the following year.

Gist, the former school board member, said that while he was shocked at first by the City Council鈥檚 decision to replace him and others, it made sense given the Council鈥檚 antipathy toward Grimes. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 small-town politics. In order for them to control the system, they had to get rid of the school board members that were doing it right,鈥� he said, adding: 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the only way they could remove him.鈥� What upset him was knowing the decision wasn鈥檛 driven by what was best for students. 鈥淚f they wanted to replace me with somebody better, that is fine,鈥� he told me. 鈥淏ut when they did it for a personal reason, that bothered me.鈥� (I reached out to Trapp at least three times, as well as to other board members, and they did not respond to my requests for comment.) Batchelor, who was replaced soon after he voted in favor of keeping Grimes, also said the board鈥檚 majority decision was a mistake: 鈥淚 think he’s the best superintendent in the state of Alabama.鈥�

In March 2024, the district named a new superintendent, Tim Guinn, a former Russellville High School principal, who was also a candidate for the superintendent position when Grimes was chosen. Most recently he鈥檇 worked as superintendent of the Satsuma district. Guinn did not respond to repeated interview requests.

PROGRAMS UNRAVELING

Already, some of the programs and practices Grimes put in place appear to be unraveling. As of June, most of the bilingual aides, whose salaries are paid for by pandemic aid that expires in September 2024, had not been rehired. In addition, some bilingual teachers did not have their contracts renewed. The board has not indicated if it has plans to move ahead with improvements Grimes planned for middle and high school English learners. A dual-language immersion charter school, which Grimes had advocated for and the board had approved, was set to open in 2025. It has been scrapped. (McDowell did not comment in an email on the district鈥檚 plans for English learners. Regarding the bilingual aides, he wrote that some of them were not rehired because the federal grants had expired. Grimes said he had planned to pay for their salaries using a combination of district reserves and funds he would save from teachers retiring: 鈥淵ou make decisions based on what your priorities are.鈥�)

Grimes and the board had agreed for him to stay on until the end of the 2023-2024 school year as the district searched for a replacement. But a week after my March visit to Russellville, McDowell, the school board lawyer, accused him of intimidating people into talking to me, according to Grimes, and told the superintendent that he could not be on school property or speak to district employees unless it was in his capacity as a parent. At that time, Grimes stepped down from the day-to-day responsibilities of his job, but he will remain in the community while his 14-year-old daughter finishes high school. His wife also remains a teacher in the district. (In an email and in an interview, McDowell, said that he had never accused Grimes of intimidating anyone nor banned the superintendent from school grounds.) Also after my visit, more than a dozen educators I spoke with in Russellville told me that they were no longer comfortable being identified for fear of losing their jobs. The Hechinger Report/palabra agreed to delay publishing this piece until Grimes received his last paycheck on June 30.

In July 2024, Grimes started a full-time position with Reach University, the nonprofit that trains the bilingual aides as teachers, as its regional director of partnerships in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee. 

The past six months have taken a toll. Grimes has said little publicly about his departure and has told most people in the community that he鈥檚 retiring. When we were having lunch together at a local restaurant, El Patron, other diners kept stopping by to wish him well. Two of them joked about how he looked far too young to retire. Grimes laughed and played along, but after they left, his shoulders slumped and he blinked away tears.

鈥淚鈥檝e spent my career very invested, very committed to doing what was best for kids,鈥� he told me quietly. 鈥淚 didn鈥檛 feel like I deserved for it to end this way.鈥� 

He said he doesn鈥檛 regret the changes he made for English learners in the city. 鈥淛esus loved the people that everybody else didn鈥檛. And that was part of his message 鈥� you love your enemies, you love your neighbors, you love the foreigners, you love the sinner,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 see God in those children.鈥� 

Rebecca Griesbach of contributed reporting.

This story about Russellville schools was produced by , an initiative of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, and , a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education, along with .

Superintendents of Louisiana public school districts would be evaluated based on their students鈥� math and English test scores based on proposed legislation a committee advanced Wednesday.

Rep. John Wyble, R-Franklinton, authored that would require all superintendent contracts to include performance evaluations based on the English and math scores for K-3 students, along with other student growth factors.

Superintendents are evaluated by their own school boards. Wyble鈥檚 bill would affect new contracts and those renewed after Aug. 1.

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鈥淚t鈥檚 really important that we continue to focus that investment but also bring in some accountability with it so that we know that our local school districts are moving in that positive direction,鈥� Wyble said.

The investment Wyble referenced is a policy change made last year. Former Rep. Richard Nelson, R-Mandeville, who now leads the state revenue department, gained approval for a measure to hold back students in the third grade if they did not reach the age-appropriate reading level. It goes into effect for the 2024-25 school year.

Additional advances in English education practices have made Louisiana one of three states to reach pre-pandemic levels in reading assessments.

The Board of Elementary and Secondary Education (BESE) will be part of the superintendent assessment process. According to Wyble, board members will help create the standards and formula for incorporating math and English scores into the superintendent鈥檚 annual review.

His bill calls for math and English scores to account for at least one-third of the evaluation. Currently, superintendents are only mandated to reach performance targets if their school district receives a C, D or F grade.

Rep. Josh Carlson, R-Lafayette, supports the bill.

鈥淵es, school districts can put in their own requirements for the superintendents, but we haven鈥檛, not widespread,鈥� Carlson said. 鈥淎nd up until recently, we were one of the last states in the nation for education.鈥�

The state also needs to start putting the same emphasis on math and numeracy that it has on literacy in recent years, Carlson added.

The Louisiana Association of Superintendents opposes Wyble鈥檚 bill because its members want to make the math and English performance evaluations optional for school districts.

of 1 out of every 5 superintendents in the United States, according to new analyses drawing on the first-ever . 

In fact, the number of male superintendents with just 15 first names is equivalent to the total number of women in that role in the entire nation. 

Nearly 10 years ago, The New York Times reported among large companies: More S&P 1500 firms were run by men named John than by women in total. As the founder of The Superintendents Lab and an assistant professor of educational leadership and policy, I am alarmed by this in K-12 education, a field in which 77% of teachers and 56% of principals, but just 29% of superintendents, are women. 

Developing and implementing policies, practices and programs to address such gender inequities can be challenging without sufficient data to understand trends, patterns and root causes. Yet, no organization or entity has consistently collected data on superintendents in every school district in the nation over time.

AASA, the School Superintendents Association, tracks annual data via its , but its anonymous nature does not allow individuals to be followed over time. tracks superintendents, but only in the 500 largest districts.

While some state departments of education gather longitudinal data on superintendents, many charge exorbitant fees for access. Where the information is free, it is often out of date.

Though there is a fee for outside researchers, one state that has excelled in collecting and analyzing this data is Texas. The University of Texas at Austin鈥檚 houses one of the largest and most complete state longitudinal data systems, which includes information about superintendents. A from the university’s recently published a on the state’s superintendent workforce from 2010 to 2021, offering powerful insights into racial and gender disparities and suggesting ways to change policy and practice to advance diversity. 

Even so, the information is limited to the confines of the state; superintendents who move across borders cannot be tracked.

In the absence of national data, I launched in 2022 to serve as a central hub for research and the home of the National Longitudinal Superintendent Database. This is updated annually, which contributes to a key goal of the lab: to serve as a training ground for undergraduate and graduate students interested in large-database collection, cleaning and analysis. The lab’s research assistants spend more than 400 hours a year identifying superintendents in every K-12 public school district in the United States. With its most recent update for 2023-24, the database currently houses more than 65,000 data points 鈥� allowing for . 

For example, using the database released last month revealed that superintendent attrition rates were over 20% in 14 states this past year. showed that, over the last five years, male superintendents were replaced by men 50% of the time, while women replaced female superintendents 10% of the time. A man replaced a woman 18% of the time, and a woman replaced a man 22% of the time.

That women are taking over superintendent positions held by men at a slightly higher rate than men are replacing women is a promising sign for narrowing the gender gap. Yet, the pace feels glacial: Nationwide, the average gender gap closure rate is 1.4 percentage points per year. At this rate, equality might be attained sometime around 2039.

The database can help policymakers and stakeholders identify trends and patterns in superintendent attrition and gender gap closure in specific states or regions, or with particular demographics. But, more importantly, it can target areas for further exploration: What is happening in places where attrition has stabilized? Which states and districts are excelling at hiring and retaining women, and why? What are the root causes of superintendent attrition? 

Still, there are limitations. For example, given findings from the Texas Education Leadership Lab鈥檚 report, there is a strong need to more broadly understand inequities at the intersection of race and gender. Currently, the database does not have the capability to examine these at a national level, due to a lack of publicly available information on superintendents’ racial identification.

Moreover, attention should be given to representation among superintendents who have disabilities, are linguistically diverse and identify with the LGBTQIA+ community. While acknowledging the importance of minimizing mandatory reporting requirements, policymakers and practitioners should prioritize thoughtfully crafted efforts to collect superintendent demographics.

Public schools are often touted as laboratories of democracy, places where young people learn leadership skills to participate in a democratic society. Yet, what students currently see is that leadership positions in K-12 school districts are reserved primarily for people named John, Michael and David. With comprehensive national data, policymakers, superintendent support organizations, school boards and search firms can work alongside researchers to target support toward places where the gender gap is widening, and learn from those that are making strides toward equality and equity in superintendent hiring and retention. Without this collaborative commitment, efforts to envision data-driven efforts to improve superintendent diversity will remain limited.

Then, 2020 happened. 

Over the past three years, there has been a political shift from 鈥淗ow will this policy help students?鈥� to 鈥淗ow can I make sure my side wins?鈥� Battle lines drawn in state legislatures impact local school board meetings, with superintendents often forced to play mediator. Students鈥� educations can become collateral damage.

As someone who has been a superintendent for more than 20 years (and who comes from a political family), I know how it can feel to be caught in the middle 鈥� juggling federal, state and local legislation that doesn鈥檛 always align with your philosophy as an educator or meet students’ diverse needs. But there are ways to make a difference while remaining apolitical if you stand true to your mission and message.  

First, build relationships with and get buy-in from legislators. 

School choice has become a sensitive topic for legislators across the country. It has grown increasingly difficult for public school educators to fight the falsehoods about their schools. This misinformation can be used to steer families away from public education. It is the duty of K-12 district leaders to demonstrate to local and state officials why public schools are the right choice 鈥� that they provide multiple opportunities for students to succeed, prepare them for careers in the community and do both without any political agenda.

Through events such as weekly school board luncheons, board members in my district remain engaged and connected to our overarching focus 鈥� to educate every student at the highest level while standing strong in our convictions and being open about the challenges we face. We regularly invite state and national legislators to visit our schools and engage in programs, classroom walkthroughs and roundtable discussions with teachers.

After working closely with local and state leaders, I鈥檝e discovered we can usually find commonality on most issues and focus collectively on the betterment of all students. Those politicians return to their legislative bodies with real-life, on-the-ground information 鈥� that they gathered from conversations with us 鈥� which they refer to when bills are proposed and budgets are set. 

Second, assemble a team of advocates.

Business and industry leaders are among the most powerful voices in advancing educational opportunities. The Springdale School District has 125 career and technical education teachers serving about 9,000 students daily in four middle, four junior high and four high schools. They routinely work with and learn from community and corporate partners. 

The district collaborates with these partners to create a solid foundation for students, from coordinating paid apprenticeships to connecting parents to local jobs. By addressing ongoing workforce issues, helping to lift families out of poverty and creating stability in the community, we鈥檝e been able to help lessen many barriers to students鈥� education. 

These business leaders are also some of our best advocates. When they step into our schools and see all the good things that are happening 鈥� as well as the challenges 鈥� they can tell our story in the community in a powerful and deeply personal way.    

Third, embrace transparency and authenticity. 

Like most districts, Springdale has been on the receiving end of negative and controversial comments from people in the community. But I鈥檝e found that they often say these things without having all the facts, or are repeating talking points from others who are trying to further agendas that aren鈥檛 always in the students’ best interests.

When I have the opportunity to discuss our circumstances, it鈥檚 amazing how people鈥檚 frustrations subside and their focus shifts to what they can do to help alleviate the district鈥檚 challenges. Over and over, I鈥檓 asked why we didn鈥檛 tell them about our issues sooner. The fact is, many times we have 鈥� but people aren鈥檛 always ready to listen. 

One way we combat misinformation is to be authentic, timely and transparent. For example, during legislative sessions, I travel weekly to the state Capitol to engage directly with elected representatives. I then disseminate information through newsletters, meetings with principals and our district’s residents, and through school board meetings. Most important, we make sure no parent is left out of the conversation and left to seek out details from other sources. Our communications office delivers school information in English, Spanish and Marshallese, to speak to families in their first language. We鈥檝e built relationships with local media to stay visible, get information out quickly and respond immediately to issues that arise. 

We have also created a guiding coalition of administrators, instructional specialists, teachers and support staff, who analyze school data, help set school goals and assist with the development of the district’s strategic action plan. Additionally, they work to strengthen our Professional Learning Communities 鈥� teams of educators who share ideas to enhance their practice and create a learning environment where all students can reach their fullest potential. This helps to ensure our collective focus is on student achievement. 

Lastly, stand your ground 鈥� and pivot when needed. 

As frustrating as navigating changing laws can be, it鈥檚 important to remember that most people want the best for the students. While striving to make everyone happy is an exercise in futility, superintendents have to find ways to navigate the politics 鈥� while remaining completely apolitical 鈥� to ensure every student has great opportunities that pave the way for success.

Next year, another 20 gubernatorial and state board elections will take place that will impact state superintendent selection. Couple that with the fact that in the last two years over half of states had turnover in the state superintendent position, and it becomes clear that the next year in electoral politics could transform education leadership for the country.  

Which is why we at ILO Group to understand whom governors and state boards of education are choosing for these top jobs and understand emergent trends in appointees’ backgrounds.

The modern state superintendent of education plays a powerful role in shaping not just education systems and policies, but how districts operate and how students learn. Superintendents are also among the highest-profile public officials in their state. Their background and qualifications are major considerations for governors and state boards because of the powerful role that they play in shaping the future direction of a large body of public policy.  

Our research found a number of commonalities and several notable differences across the 39 states (plus Washington, D.C.) that currently have governors or state board of education with partisan affiliations who are responsible for state superintendent appointments. For this study, we analyzed the last two superintendents nominated within these states. 

Our research gleaned four key dynamics:

• Over half of the last two state superintendents in each state were school district or state education agency leaders. Of 77 total nominees, 32 were district leaders and 24 had backgrounds at the state agency. While Republicans also show a tendency to appoint individuals with political backgrounds, Democrats are more likely to elevate nominees with backgrounds in higher education. 

However, even with that variation, both Republicans and Democrats have a strong preference for in-state education experience. Almost four of the five of the past two recent superintendents from every state came from a previous position in the education bureaucracy. This indicates that familiarity with a state鈥檚 education system appears to be highly valued by governors and boards, regardless of partisan affiliation.  

•  Democratic-led states choose a district leader for the top education job more than half of the time. Out of 34 selections, states led by a Democratic governor or Democratic-majority board nominated a district leader 20 times. Democratic governors often frame their choices of district leaders for state superintendent by emphasizing their deep experience in schools, experience as educators and close ties to the education establishment in particular as strengths. 

For example, in 2020, Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear board鈥檚 choice, saying Jason E. Glass 鈥渉as deep roots in Kentucky education, and his years of public education experience in classrooms, as superintendent and state director of education will help ensure our children come first.鈥� In much the same way, Democratic New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy touted his nomination of former Asbury Park School District leader Lamont Repollet in 2018 his 鈥渞eal-world experience, both in and out of the classroom.鈥�

In both cases, the governors emphasized the appointees’ teaching backgrounds as important experience in the role of state superintendent.

• Republicans are most likely to choose state education agency administrators but also frequently select district leaders and individuals with political backgrounds. Of the 41 selections studied, 11 were district leaders, 15 were agency administrators and nine appointees had a background that was primarily political 鈥� state legislators, governor鈥檚 policy advisers, etc.
  
• Candidates with political backgrounds are increasingly being selected for top jobs, and Republicans more frequently appoint leaders with political experience who are aligned with their policy priorities. Of the selections studied, Republicans chose appointees with political backgrounds nine times, while Democrats chose one appointee with a political background.  

Here, too, the way that governors and their partners frame the appointments can provide insight into the reasoning behind their selection.  For example, when Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb of Indiana nominated his former adviser Katie Jenner, the state Chamber of Commerce noted that by nominating someone 鈥渁ligned with his policy priorities in such a key role … that enhanced level of cooperation and collaboration will make the state鈥檚 education direction clear and allow for more impactful efforts on behalf of Indiana students.鈥�

Similarly, when state legislator Manny Diaz was nominated to serve as Florida’s superintendent, Republican Gov. Ron DSantis of to eliminate 鈥淸critical race theory] and woke training in Florida schools and businesses鈥� as a reason for his selection.

Our research, part of our , underscores that the selection of a state chief school officer or superintendent is a major moment in the leadership of the governor or state board making the choice. Whom they pick and how they frame their selection may provide stakeholders and voters with important information about the potential direction of education politics in the state.

Beyond simply political signaling, though, understanding who the appointees are and how their backgrounds will inform the work is essential. These backgrounds and experiences give shape to the direction of education policy as leaders grapple with the pressing matters facing students, schools and states. With all that in the balance, educators, researchers and the public have good and compelling reasons to understand the trends in who is being appointed to state superintendencies.

However, what if the right fit isn鈥檛 in that ever-shrinking stack of resumes or on a headhunter鈥檚 candidate list? Maybe it鈥檚 an educator already in the ranks who has the potential to be an innovative leader and changemaker but isn鈥檛 on a traditional path toward superintendency. 

The leadership shortage crisis isn鈥檛 going to be solved anytime soon 鈥� and if anything, it has the potential to get worse over the next few years. It鈥檚 essential that today鈥檚 administrators and education leaders rethink how they recruit and prepare prospects. But more importantly, they must create a network of support that elevates talented educators into fearless trailblazers with a clear vision for students鈥� futures.

As new superintendents who followed different trajectories into our current roles and are working to uplift the incredible educators coming up behind us, we have benefited from three major movements that are reshaping talent development in our field.

Identify, Inspire and Encourage Educators to Find Their Inner Leader

Sometimes, school districts inadvertently set up roadblocks to leadership roles by requiring candidates to exceed professional credentials beyond those set by their state鈥檚 principal and superintendent licensure programs. Instead of investing in those who show promise, they tap someone with a doctorate in education but less applicable experience.

Because the bank of qualified candidates continues to clear out, district leaders need to disrupt the current model. Long-term succession plans can no longer stop at current administrators and principals 鈥� districts must identify and nurture educators with leadership potential who may not yet recognize how their talents can drive districtwide change.

To do this, districts must create a clear coaching model to raise educators from teacher leader to executive leader. By offering ongoing coaching and mentoring, involving promising educators in strategic planning sessions and providing them with additional responsibilities (and pay!) that align with their interests, districts can equip the next generation of leaders with invaluable skills and experience.

For example, in the Rush-Henrietta district in New York, we are creating professional learning communities that connect new principals and assistant principals with a mentor to help navigate the first year in office. Mentors attend a training session before the start of the school year and provide support to the new leader throughout the year via one-on-one meetings and a quarterly roundtable discussion with all new administrators and mentors. These networks can promote an to discover how to maintain board relationships, develop a shared mission for their district and hone leadership skills such as building a strategic plan.

Ensure the Path to Leadership is an Equitable One

When students see themselves in their school leaders, they feel . Yet, there continue to be a lack of representation and ongoing equity issues in superintendency. 

In K-12, , but of students do. Aspiring leaders of color need unfettered access to mentor-led learning communities to help them break through barriers, such as having their ability questioned by administrators because of their race, as they prepare for new roles. Once they get the job, mentors can help leaders of color stand up to the challenges of navigating fraught district politics. These connections are especially critical if there鈥檚 a lack of diverse leadership development opportunities in their districts.

District administrators and school board members must also ensure that the leadership pipeline is free from bias. Beginning at the teacher level, there should be equitable opportunities and support for leadership development. This could include partnering with organizations that match educators of color with leaders of color for mentorship. Gaining this outside perspective helps develop leaders by providing a confidential and safe place to exchange ideas while broadening their professional network. Most importantly, current leaders must be allies, in the face of community resistance to policy changes or discussions of race and identity.

Leadership development programs should articulate a strategic direction geared at improving student outcomes. By developing a strategy rooted in equitable learning opportunities, cultural belonging and justice, with clear student outcomes at the center, districts can ensure that promotions, growth opportunities and learning communities are based on merit, not racial biases.

Connect Aspiring Leaders to One Another

Leadership can be isolating, and a circle of trusted confidants can quickly grow small. As we worked our way up to superintendency, it was important to embrace a cohort of mentors and peers from diverse backgrounds and districts who shared our vision and provided us with skills and resources we could take back home.

We continue to stay connected to our ever-expanding community through both traditional learning environments and informal coaching sessions. This helps us find the clarity needed to tackle the complexities of a rewarding, yet sometimes overwhelming, career. It鈥檚 important for all aspiring leaders to have a safe space where they are welcome to brainstorm ideas, problem-solve complex challenges facing their districts and learn how to navigate the power structures within their particular communities.

Administrators should encourage aspiring leaders to participate in national professional professional development and workshops. This can help them take the next step in their careers by providing an empowering space to find mentorship and build on their leadership skills 鈥� and bring those skills back to their districts.

K-12 continues to see high turnover rates of educators at all levels, with few plans in place to keep its foundation from crumbling. If school districts refuse to alter the status quo 鈥� to cultivate their own leaders rather than invest resources into recruiting the same people other districts are competing for 鈥� the hiring gap isn鈥檛 going to close anytime soon. There is incredible talent in classrooms right now waiting to be tapped. District administrators just need to communicate to future leaders that they see something great in them.

Since then, superintendents in nine of those districts 鈥� stretching from Florida鈥檚 Atlantic coast to central California 鈥� have resigned or been fired, often after a period of conflict with board members.

鈥淪ix new board members clean house first night on the job,鈥� on Facebook Nov. 16, the day after its slate of candidates took office in Berkeley County, South Carolina. Before a confused crowd, they , who had spent his entire career, over 20 years, in the district.

Moms for Liberty founders Tiffany Justice and Tina Descovich told 麻豆精品 that their endorsed board members don鈥檛 always take office with plans to replace superintendents, but that sometimes it鈥檚 鈥渘ecessary.鈥�

Six of those nine districts hired permanent replacements; three still have interim chiefs.

Forcing out district leaders is one of the most obvious ways Moms for Liberty has made its mark over the past two years. As they over library books with sexually explicit content and LGBTQ-inclusive policies, members tend to portray these removals as victories for parental rights. Others say the group has unfairly targeted effective leaders and failed to address pressing issues like teacher shortages.

鈥淭he one thing that districts can point to that will demonstrate change is a new superintendent,鈥� said Andrea Messina, executive director of the Florida School Boards Association, which conducts superintendent searches. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an immediate message to the community.鈥�

ILO Group, an organization focused on women leaders in education, analyzed superintendent turnover in those 17 districts for 麻豆精品 as part of to track leadership changes since the pandemic. 

The Laramie County district in Wyoming 鈥� where Moms for Liberty-endorsed candidates tipped an already conservative board further to the right last fall 鈥� is among those that have seen recent superintendent turnover. Margaret Crespo stepped down in August after serving as chief for two years. She who wanted to restrict books with sexually explicit content from children unless their parents gave permission. 

Crespo said she recognized what she was up against.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e highly organized,鈥� said Crespo, now a superintendent-in-residence with ILO Group. She said the organization knows how to mobilize quickly. 鈥淭hey have taken that skillset and moved it into this very dynamic political arena.鈥�

Florida wins

Moms for Liberty鈥檚 goal is to 鈥渞ecruit moms to serve as watchdogs over all 13,000 school districts,鈥� according to its website. combats what they view as government overreach and seeks to give parents more control over what their children learn, particularly as it relates to race, sex and LGBTQ issues. According to their tally, more than half of their first-time candidates won in the 2022 elections. 

The group鈥檚 impact is particularly noticeable in Florida, where Justice and Descovich served as school board members.

Their candidates flipped seven Florida school boards last November, four of which have had superintendent turnover 鈥� , and counties.

Justice and Descovich say they鈥檙e giving parents a voice in the political process. 

鈥淲e are focused on empowering parents who are seeing problems in their school districts to stand up and fight for their children and make real change by running for school board,鈥� they said in a statement to 麻豆精品.

Last month, they released a new 鈥溾�� with ready-made design templates, that they say should jump start the process for those seeking election in 2024.

As it looks ahead, the group鈥檚 fortunes may be shifting. it endorsed this past April for seats in Illinois, Oklahoma and Wisconsin haven鈥檛 fared too well. Of 32 endorsements in 15 races, just eight candidates won.

The groups advises winning candidates to reject training from their state鈥檚 school board association because many 鈥渇oster the same woke propaganda Moms for Liberty is fighting against,鈥� according to their site.

Because it鈥檚 a nonprofit, it鈥檚 unclear how financially successful the group has been. A 2021 put their revenue at $370,000, but membership has grown since then. There are now 285 chapters nationwide.

Other organizations such as and are working to counteract Moms for Liberty鈥檚 momentum. But experts say they are not nearly as well-funded and lack a national infrastructure.

鈥淭hey’re out there, but they do need some connecting,鈥� said Heather Harding, executive director of Campaign for Our Shared Future, a nonprofit advocating for attention to inclusion and equity in schools.

Moms for Liberty鈥檚 鈥渘etwork structure,鈥� on the other hand, has given them considerable reach, said Rebecca Jacobsen, an education policy researcher at Michigan State University.

Some education advocates say once elected, however, the group鈥檚 members don鈥檛 always act with the same efficiency to address complex challenges in their districts.

“For all the power that they say they have, they haven’t really done much,” said Kathleen Low, president of the Berkeley County Education Association, which represents teachers in the district where Jackson was fired. 

The district is currently responding to a challenge over that include material one parent considers inappropriate for students. Among the titles are those targeted by Moms for Liberty members elsewhere in the state, including 鈥淭he Kite Runner,鈥� the story of an Afghan boy during the rise of the Taliban, which features a rape scene. In another, 鈥淕abi: A Girl in Pieces,鈥� a Latina teen chronicles her feelings about a friend鈥檚 pregnancy, another friend who comes out as gay and her father鈥檚 drug use.

Low called the issues a distraction at a time when schools in her district are short . include counselors, elementary teachers, and middle and high school teachers in core subjects and special education.

Book controversies are 鈥渓ike trying to discuss the feng shui of the furniture in a house that is on fire,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat’s how serious our situation is with staffing.”

Mac McQuillan, the Moms-endorsed chair of the board, didn鈥檛 return calls or emails seeking comment. 

Others note that solving such problems may not be part of the plan.

Members of Jacobsen鈥檚 research team have been watching hours of school board meetings in districts where Moms for Liberty won a majority last year. Compared to board meetings from 2019, they鈥檝e noticed a shift in the 鈥渄emeanor鈥� of members, including new rules that limit public comments, less engagement and eye contact with parents or others who address the board and a more 鈥渉ostile鈥� atmosphere during meetings.

Moms for Liberty members, she added, have been successful at getting citizens without children in the local public schools to attend meetings and share their concerns about books and curriculum.

鈥淵ou don鈥檛 have to have any agenda if your agenda is to disrupt,鈥� Jacobsen said.

Maryland Superintendent Mohammed Choudhury, who took the helm of state public schools in 2021 as a change agent and recently faced criticism from state lawmakers, former employees and others, has decided he will not seek a second term.

According to a Friday from Choudhury and the State Board of Education, the superintendent 鈥渨ill pursue other opportunities.鈥� The board will present plans for the transition of a new leader and a national search for his replacement when it meets Sept. 26 in Baltimore.

鈥淭he State Board is grateful to Superintendent Choudhury for his leadership in Maryland through the first phase of educational transformation in the State,鈥� according to the statement. 鈥淒uring the remainder of his tenure, the Superintendent will work with the State Board and other stakeholders to continue the critical work of leading education transformation in Maryland.鈥�

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The board noted several accomplishments under 颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 tenure since he took over in July 2021, including guiding the state Department of Education鈥檚 , the Maryland Tutoring Corps initiative and other programs.

, Choudhury said in an interview he was optimistic he would continue his work leading the department on various programs such as the state鈥檚 major education reform plan called The Blueprint for Maryland鈥檚 Future.

However, a new four-year contract .

According to board bylaws, the panel needed to approve a new contract for Choudhury this coming Tuesday.

The board held a to discuss 鈥渁 personnel matter.鈥� Two days later on Friday, Choudhury decided to not seek a second term.

颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 has a base salary of $310,000 and runs through June 30, 2024, though it is unclear if he will remain in his position until that time.

Choudhury, who came to Maryland after working as  of strategy, talent and innovation at the San Antonio Independent School District in Texas, has received national recognition for his efforts on economic integration of schools.

Although he鈥檚 received some praise in his two years in Maryland for analyzing data, decreasing staff vacancies and a push to help local school systems hire teachers from their community, Choudhury has also been  and  with some advocates.

Robert Eccles, a former education official who left the department last year, testified before the board this year requesting a third-party investigation into 颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 direction of the state agency, alleging intimidation and harassment of former staff.

鈥淭his is a new day and the right move for everyone involved,鈥� Eccles said in a text message Friday. 鈥淲e all want our education system to meet this moment with the Blueprint, and I have full confidence that the board will select an exceptional leader for this important work.鈥�

But Choudhury did receive support from some board members such as board President Clarence Crawford, who credited the superintendent for achieving the department鈥檚 lowest vacancy rate in a decade. The board has undergone dramatic turnover in the past year. Six members of the 14-member panel have been appointed by Gov. Wes Moore (D), while eight are holdovers from the administration of Gov. Larry Hogan (R).

Moore, who has recently with Choudhury, released a statement Friday thanking him for leading state schools 鈥渁dmirably during an unprecedented global pandemic and a transformative time for our state’s education system.鈥�

鈥淗is implementation of the initial phase of the Blueprint for Maryland’s Future has set our students and educators up for success as we continue the work of making Maryland’s public schools the best in the country,鈥� the statement continued.

As far as the next superintendent, the governor said he expects the state board 鈥渢o ensure we find an exceptional leader who will commit to transparency, accountability, and partnership with all stakeholders to improve education outcomes in every corner of Maryland. Our educators, students, communities, and families deserve nothing less.鈥�

Cheryl Bost, president of the Maryland State Education Association, which represents 75,000 school teachers in the state, said the union appreciated 颁丑辞耻诲丑耻谤测鈥檚 鈥渨illingness to always have an open door for educators, his strong focus on the Blueprint for Maryland鈥檚 Future, and his data-driven decision-making to help our most challenged students and schools.鈥�

The union hopes the next schools leader will remain committed to Blueprint reforms and maintaining a 鈥渓aser focus on ending the educator shortages.鈥�

Danielle E. Gaines contributed to this report. 

The K-12 superintendency is more complex and demanding than ever before, according to a report published last week by , a bipartisan group of education leaders.

The , “The State of the Superintendency: Insights on how to navigate K-12 leadership in a challenging and politicized education space,” provides takeaways from six former superintendents 鈥� including Dr. Sharon Contreras, the superintendent of from 2016-2022. She made history as the first woman, first Latina, and second Black superintendent of Guilford County Schools.

Rising challenges are discouraging some leaders from going into the field, the report says, or compelling leaders to leave earlier than planned. Such challenges include increasingly polarized and politicized environments, the growing dependence on the social safety net schools provide, and changing technology, among others.

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“The current environment is very tumultuous for educators, particularly superintendents,” Contreras said. “It is tumultuous and stressful. I think the stress sometimes impedes innovation, and steals the joy that many once had in the profession.鈥�

In North Carolina, as , 30 out of the state鈥檚 115 school districts have new or are hiring new superintendents ahead of the 2023-24 school year. That means 26% of N.C. districts are facing turnover this school year 鈥� losing 193 years of experience in the superintendency, according to Jack Hoke, executive director聽of the聽.

The hiring process reflects persistent and racial disparities in K-12 leadership. Of the N.C. districts where a superintendent has been named, eight of 17 are women. Just four of 17 are people of color. And this year, none of the 115 school districts have a Latinx leader.

According to , 95% of superintendents agreed or strongly agreed that the job of the superintendent has gotten harder. Still, 85% agreed or strongly agreed that “considering everything, I am satisfied with my job as a superintendent.”

For many superintendents, perpetual and increasing stress contributes to turnover, according to the Chiefs of Change report. Superintendents are stressed about relationships with their school boards 鈥� heightened by the political environment 鈥� and frustrated by the increasing amount of time spent discussing so-called “culture wars,” rather than discussing how to better serve their students.

As EdNC previously reported, they are also worried about the expansion of school choice, the role of public education in democracy, the influence of social media on the public鈥檚 perception of public schools, inadequate school funding, and the educator pipeline.

“As the role of a superintendent has evolved, so too have the skills needed to effectively lead a school system,” the report says. “A superintendent must have a deep understanding of the education landscape; they also need business acumen, political savviness, and communications skills. Furthermore, they are stewards of taxpayer dollars, operating budgets that can be billions of dollars a year.”

Along with Contreras, the report features insight from five other former leaders, listed below. Chiefs for Change also spoke with A.J. Crabill, an author and school governance expert who currently serves as the Conservator of DeSoto Independent School District in Texas.

• Dr. Katy Anthes, former commissioner of the Colorado Department of Education.
• Dr. Chad Gestson, former superintendent of the Phoenix Union High School District (Arizona).
• Dr. Monica Goldson, former CEO of Prince George鈥檚 County Public Schools (Maryland).
• Dr. Michael Hinojosa, former superintendent of the Dallas Independent School District (Texas).
• Dr. Barbara Jenkins, former superintendent of Orange County Public Schools (Florida).

The future of the superintendency

In 54 of North Carolina’s 100 counties, the school district is the聽. The superintendent is the CEO, the report says.

That reality means superintendents are involved in a lot more than the public usually expects, Goldson said.

“As superintendent, I led the county鈥檚 largest employer. I would love to say the job was only focused on academics and achievement, but that鈥檚 not the case,” she said. “My time was also spent on negotiations with labor unions, creating the first public-private partnership to address our aging infrastructure, and working on community challenges like food insecurity and violence.”

In order to better meet student needs today, the former superintendents said that “leaders who share the mission with stakeholders will increase the odds of success.” Though challenging, leaders said that fostering community engagement with parents, elected officials, the school board, and other stakeholders is necessary to serve all students well.

鈥淎nything we can do to remove any and every barrier for kids to be connected and engaged,鈥� Gestson said.

The superintendent can also be thought of as a “communicator in chief,” the report says. As such, superintendents should communicate early and often 鈥� acting as the biggest cheerleader for their district.

Superintendents must have “thick skin,” the report says, in order to not take it personally when people disagree with them. At the same time, according to Contreras, school districts should work to present a unified approach.

“Too often superintendents are out in front alone. The public then thinks that superintendents are responsible for everything,” Contreras said. “I think we have to share this space with our school boards, with other elected officials, faith, civic and business leaders 鈥� because so much of what happens in a school system is directly related to what is happening in the larger community.鈥�

The former leaders gave several other pieces of advice on navigating the superintendency well:

• To thrive, earn support from the board, staff, and community.
• Take care of yourself or you can鈥檛 effectively care for others.
• Build a capable team and strengthen your skills as an executive.
• Lead with focus, desire, and courage.
• Listen to others.
• Establish a network of professional support.

“We can鈥檛 underestimate the value of coming together in support of one another,” Goldson said.

Self-proclaimed “student outcomes evangelist” A.J. Crabill also offered advice on how to build stronger, more positive relationships with school boards.

In North Carolina, this is particularly important as more school boards become partisan. that of the 83 school districts that had elections last November, 41 were partisan races 鈥� up from 10 districts in 2013. There are several bills seeking to further increase that number

First, Crabill said, superintendents should remember that the collective board is their supervisor, not each individual member. Some disagreement between board members and the superintendent is healthy, Crabill said.

Superintendents should also encourage their board to adopt an approach to governing that is more focused on student outcomes, he said. Crabill believes at least 50% of superintendent evaluations should focus on student outcome goals.

鈥淚t is a critical step in insulating superintendents from having to chase local politics and in helping them stay focused on the main reason for which school systems exist: to improve student outcomes,鈥� he said. 鈥淪uperintendents must be obsessed with improving the quality of instruction that students are experiencing every day.”

But doing so makes for an “incredibly challenging job,” Crabill said.

“They are constantly being asked to pour out their cup into others, and there is really no one in the organization who is typically making it their business to pour into the superintendent鈥檚 cup,” he said. “…So whatever school boards can put in place to help the work of the superintendent be less challenging and less fraught, less subject to burn out, accrues to the benefit of the students they serve.”

This first appeared on and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Today, women occupy executive positions in business, government and academia. A woman has run for president and another serves as vice president. Yet, of the nation鈥檚 500 largest school districts are led by women, despite the fact that the teaching workforce is overwhelmingly female. Women continue to be passed over for leadership roles in education based on 鈥渜uestions about family responsibilities, stability and emotionality,鈥� just as the Sarasota County School Board did to Marie Izquierdo nearly three years ago. This doesn鈥檛 just hurt women aspiring to leadership positions 鈥� it鈥檚 depleting the educator pipeline, increasing turnover and, in turn, negatively impacting students and their families.

In addition to the opportunity gap, there is a significant wage gap. According to the, the average female superintendent earns roughly $20,000 to $30,000 less than her male counterparts. When, both elected and appointed, women make 12% less than men. Though 73% of elected superintendents are women, they make than their male counterparts.

Statistics like these no longer surprise me, and they won鈥檛 come as a surprise to the thousands of women aspiring to leadership roles in education. That is why I founded, a network designed to support and promote female education leadership. It鈥檚 also why Women Leading Ed , which synthesizes years of public- and private-sector workplace research and makes the case for five strategies to address barriers that have long kept women from rising to executive positions. 

Districts and states serious about hiring more women for leadership roles must: 

1. Create and promote support systems to prepare women for leadership: This means promoting sponsorship over mentorship. Sponsors take a hands-on role in managing career moves and promoting executives as potential CEOs; men tend to have twice as many sponsors as women. They also provide on-the-job coaching to female superintendents, using 鈥渃oaching trees鈥� to define clear paths to the executive suite and creating opportunities for building networks.
   
2. Rebalance the hiring process by requiring and promoting best practices: Districts and states must commit to creating finalist pools that include multiple women and work with those conducting searches to ensure a diverse applicant group by, among other things, standardizing the hiring process as much as possible and committing to bias training to ensure questions and processes are the same for everyone. Those doing the hiring and promoting must be aware of their biases and prioritize diversity.
   
3. Provide family and well-being supports: This means providing high-quality benefits, such as flexibility in offering both hybrid and remote work options, parental leave and time off for child care and elder care.
   
4. Set public goals for female leadership and increase transparency: States and districts should set voluntary targets for gender diversity on school boards and in senior management. States should publicly recognize districts that show exemplary progress toward gender diversity, support development of local plans for improvement and publish externally models that other districts can follow.
   
5. Ensure financial fairness: This means conducting pay equity audits, including salary ranges in job postings and developing a self-assessment pay calculator 鈥� an easy-to-use statistical tool that helps employees check whether a district provides equal pay for equal work between women and men. Canada, Israel, Portugal, France and Switzerland have all developed models for publicly available calculators that help women assess their gender wage gaps.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a  wave of superintendents joined the Great Resignation, opening hundreds of top district jobs. It was a chance to reset the balance and make the superintendency look more like the nation鈥檚 classrooms. But that鈥檚 not what happened. In fact, nearly half of the 500 largest school districts in the country conducted between March 2020 and March 2022, and men were selected for the job more often than women. In fact, men were chosen to replace both male and female outgoing superintendents 70% of the time.A post-pandemic opportunity was missed, and it is a reason to push harder. The country has made significant advances in gender equality since the days of The Superintendent鈥檚 Wife, but there is still a long way to go. Everything on the Women Leading Ed list is eminently do-able. The report offers a detailed roadmap to a better, fairer and more equitable future for women educators and American education, and school boards everywhere should take heed. If they do, some aspiring Ph.D. student, years from now, might write a paper on The Role of the Superintendent鈥檚 Husband. Then we鈥檒l know we鈥檝e made real progress.

At a small gathering in December of educators and leaders of businesses and nonprofits in the field, hosted by the , we brainstormed new ways to address the urgent superintendent retention crisis, how to cultivate future superintendents and how to attract more leaders to the profession.

But along the way, an important truth emerged: Every superintendent in the group loved the job.

Though we are superintendents of very different districts 鈥� Gina a small district in New Jersey and Rick a mid-sized district in Oklahoma 鈥� we feel the same way. Yes, being a superintendent is challenging. Creating a pipeline for new school and district leaders will require innovative ideas. But it also will require those of us who have a passion for the job to share that side of the story, too. So, that鈥檚 where we鈥檒l start.

The rewards extend far beyond a single classroom. Running a school district is the best way to effect change. Both of us had found tremendous rewards as classroom teachers. But the superintendency reaches well beyond a single classroom and even beyond the traditional school community of students, teachers, staff and parents. We get to build relationships with the larger community, too, including local social organizations and businesses, or the military base where many students and families live. Year over year, we can see the benefits of our schools鈥� work all around us. That larger community is counting on us to maintain high standards.

The superintendent鈥檚 voice really does matter. Families, teachers, community leaders 鈥� they all want to hear from us and know where the superintendent stands. We get to use the power of our voice when a teacher comes looking for support. We use it when the community comes to us concerned about curriculum changes. Or when the national political debate barrels into the school hallways. The superintendent can create a climate where the priority is doing the right thing by kids. That鈥檚 significant.

Superintendents know where the problems are. According to the most recent “, the School Superintendents Association, more than three-quarters of superintendents are men. Only 8% identify as people of color. Those serious imbalances need to change. As superintendents, we know just how important it is to reflect the diversity of the communities we serve.

Superintendents have opportunities to identify future leaders. Each of us found our leadership positions thanks to the encouragement of mentors, who illuminated a path forward. Today, we鈥檙e in a great position to similarly recognize leadership potential in teachers and principals, and we can help fuel that flame through consistent encouragement and strategic leadership pipeline programs. By encouraging individuals, particularly those who are traditionally underrepresented in leadership positions, superintendents have the power to transform how schools and districts look, now and into the future.

Superintendents understand the need for eliminating artificial barriers. In many states, aspiring superintendents must first obtain a certificate in school administration, a process that can take a year or more. They are expected to get this certificate on their own time, which means studying nights and weekends, in addition to holding down a regular teaching job and participating in family and community activities. There are excellent superintendent candidates out there who see the certificate process as a barrier. And frankly, we鈥檙e not certain it provides significant value in the first place. After all, you don鈥檛 need a special administrative certificate to run a successful company or a busy city agency. We鈥檇 like to see these types of requirements removed for superintendents, opening the door to more candidates from diverse backgrounds, regions or states. It could even make these important jobs viable for folks with valuable administrative experience gained outside the traditional K-12 path.

As school superintendents, we have the privilege of leading organizations that not only educate students, but also provide opportunities to cultivate new and diverse leaders. We鈥檙e using our voices to do just that.

Forty-seven of those districts have seen two or more leadership changes. The turnover has been particularly hard on women: Of the 94 female superintendents who left their positions, two-thirds were replaced by men, according to the report, released Monday from ILO Group, a consulting firm that focuses on female school leaders.

鈥淭he challenges women face to get the top job are not new; they’re the systems that have been in place for generations,鈥� said Julia Rafal-Baer, the firm鈥檚 managing partner. 鈥淲ith all the churn in districts happening right now, one positive outcome could have been the addition of new perspectives, but instead we are seeing the opposite.”

This is the third time ILO has published findings on superintendent turnover, which it based on news reports and press releases. Superintendent transitions are up 46% in the 500 largest districts 鈥� 228 this fall, compared to 155 in 2018. Many of the changes followed intense political strife and debate over issues such as book banning, transgender student rights and confronting issues of historical discrimination in the classroom. When there鈥檚 sudden leadership turnover, 鈥渁 reset button gets hit,鈥� said Susan Enfield, superintendent of the Washoe County School District in Reno, Nevada. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 sad, it鈥檚 wrong and it’s not good for kids,鈥� she said. 

While Enfield, former superintendent of the Highline schools in Washington, is among those who left for a new position this year, it was after 10 years in the same district, which allowed for a meaningful transition.

She wishes that board members set on ousting their leaders would 鈥渦nderstand that the superintendent store shelves aren鈥檛 chock full鈥� of candidates who are both eager and prepared for the job. 

鈥淵ou will find people to move into these jobs,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut will you find the right people?鈥� 

Some of the more dramatic departures over the past year have taken place in Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has endorsed and replaced local board members. Moms for Liberty, a conservative advocacy organization, has also endorsed candidates in the state.

Superintendent is on his way out in Sarasota, Florida, after conservatives gained a majority in the November election. That鈥檚 despite the district鈥檚 from the state and . 

Paulina Testerman, who founded Support Our Schools to counter Moms for Liberty鈥檚 influence in board elections, spoke in . 

鈥淭here have been many decisions that you have made over these harrowing two years that I have personally disagreed with, but that is the definition of a good superintendent 鈥� someone who isn’t a lapdog,鈥� she said at a Nov. 22 school board meeting. 鈥淵ou’re being forced out of your position 鈥� not because you were inept, but because you are not a bobble head who just nods his head.鈥�

At the , Asplen pleaded with members to 鈥渄o better by your next superintendent鈥� and to keep them from being 鈥渄ragged into the quagmire of the political arena.鈥� 

Bridget Ziegler, an incumbent on the board who won re-election in November 鈥� and also co-founded Moms for Liberty 鈥攐nly said during that he 鈥渘eeds improvement.鈥� She did not elaborate.

While some turnover stemmed from culture war issues, parents in many communities mobilized after district leaders repeatedly pushed back reopening dates in 2021. Watching their children fall further behind in school, some left for private schools and charters, or chose to instruct their children at home.

When she looks at Sarasota, Rafal-Baer sees another issue affecting district leaders: Double standards for women. Before Asplen was hired, the board . They later when she said her husband and daughter wouldn鈥檛 relocate to the area with her if she was hired. 

But when Rafal-Baer worked with Chiefs for Change, its Future Chiefs program supported four men between 2018 and 2020 who left family members at home when they relocated for jobs. 

鈥淣ot one of them faced questions about their commitment, or whether they could handle the dual responsibilities of chief executive and faraway parent,鈥� she wrote in an op-ed for 麻豆精品.

Thirty percent of superintendents are women 鈥� only one percentage point higher than in 2018, ILO鈥檚 report shows. But there are regional differences. Almost half of district leaders in the Northeast are women, compared with less than a quarter in the Southeast. 

The report calls for more transparency in candidate searches. Boards and search firms, the authors write, should be required to report the qualifications and demographic characteristics of candidates, the report said.

鈥淭he combination of leadership churn and lack of representation in education leadership puts kids’ futures at risk,鈥� Rafal-Baer said. 鈥淎t a time when women are seen as decisive and trustworthy in [a]crisis, shouldn鈥檛 we be pushing hard to elevate more women?鈥�

But 15 months later, the superintendent in Gainesville was after the district defied Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis鈥檚 ban on school mask mandates. DeSantis appointed a board member who tipped the majority 3-2 against her. She was the district鈥檚 sixth leader in close to a decade.

鈥淢y district will have a hard time explaining the turnover rate of superintendents and convincing the right person to pull up roots and move to our community,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he governor’s culture war has impacted the work environment so negatively that a school superintendent would be working to push back a very strong current of low morale.鈥�

Far from being an isolated incident, her termination is part of a COVID wave of superintendent firings from the to . The charged atmosphere is a sign of the times, as toxic national and state politics filter down to local school districts.

A recent poll showed a clear decline in parents鈥� opinions toward their local schools. Those on both sides of the culture war have turned out in force at school board meetings 鈥� sometimes calling for superintendents to. But the issues have not been limited to closed schools or classroom controversies. Even run-of-the-mill decisions, like renovating buildings or replacing staff, have toppled careers. With alarming national test scores released Monday and pandemic relief funds running out in two years, the temperature is only likely to increase.

鈥淲e鈥檙e about to hit a different level of vitriol,鈥� said Julia Rafal-Baer, co-founder of ILO Group, a consulting firm that helps future district chiefs find jobs. 鈥淲e鈥檙e asking our leaders to be a sponge for divisiveness.鈥�

鈥楾aking a risk鈥�

The job of leading school systems has always been tricky. As they navigate complex bureaucracies and clashing constituencies from parents to teachers unions, superintendents are paid well (average salaries are in the ) but frequently burn out.

What鈥檚 changing, according to Jeffrey Henig, a professor of political science and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, is that now 鈥渨e鈥檙e seeing a whole range of issues migrate into districts that in the past were somewhat buffered.鈥�

Recent and point to a general increase in superintendent turnover, but none has directly examined the spike in terminations. In conversations with district leaders and their advocates, however, many say the phenomenon is inescapable.

Kevin Brown, executive director of the 3,800-member Texas Association of School Administrators, said in his 31 years in the profession, he鈥檚 never seen more superintendents fired than he has in the past two years. And Steve McCammon, executive director of the National Superintendents Roundtable, a 100-member network, said it鈥檚 becoming common for members to be fired 鈥渨ithout cause鈥� 鈥� legal language that allows school boards to part ways with their chief executives without offering a reason, a hearing or other elements of due process. Previously, he recalled only one instance in the past 20 years. 

鈥淭he stories are out there all over the place,鈥� he said. 鈥淓verything has become a political decision.鈥�

To get a sense of the scope of the issue, 麻豆精品 reviewed news clips detailing nearly 40 no-cause firings or forced resignations in 26 states since the beginning of the pandemic. 麻豆精品 also sent an informal survey to leadership networks, including the National Superintendents Roundtable, the Council of Great City Schools, Chiefs for Change, ILO Group and Education Counsel, another consulting organization. Out of 70 superintendents who responded, 15 said they鈥檝e seen several district leaders fired or forced to resign since the pandemic began. Twenty said there have been many more. Nineteen worry they might be next.

鈥淭he role of the superintendent has become a punching bag 鈥� during the pandemic and the attacks are personal,鈥� one wrote. 

Another said: 鈥淚 have board members running to remove me, and I run a very strong and high-performing school district. It is a dark and sad time for superintendents.鈥�

As in Alachua, debates over polarizing issues preceded firings in dozens of school systems across the country. 

Snapshot

A COVID Wave of Fired Superintendents

When school boards fire their leaders, it is seldom done with transparency. Payouts to superintendents and non-disclosure agreements typically mean the public doesn鈥檛 get the full story. The map reflects a sample of school superintendents fired 鈥� primarily without cause 鈥� since the start of the pandemic.

When conservatives took over the board in Spotsylvania, Virginia, last January, they , who was set to step down just five months later. The district was embroiled in debates over books with LGBTQ themes, with some board members calling for not only banning, but burning, library books they deemed 鈥渟exually explicit.鈥� After banning several books, the district after a public outcry. 

In 2021, Kevin Purnell of Oregon鈥檚 was among a for simply complying with the law 鈥� in this case, a state mandate that students wear masks. The terminations prompted lawmakers to pass this year that protects superintendents from being removed for following laws. 

The perception that schools prolonged closures to protect teachers rather than serve students fueled a huge backlash from parents. Dozens of parents鈥� rights groups have sprung up since 2020, and Republicans have seized on the issue as a critical plank for upcoming midterm elections.

鈥淪chool leadership failed students and catered to union agendas during the pandemic,鈥� said Sharon McKeeman, founder of Let Them Breathe, which sued unsuccessfully over California鈥檚 mask mandate. McKeeman, who鈥檚 also in the Carlsbad Unified district, told 麻豆精品 that 鈥渋t鈥檚 time for leadership that will put students鈥� needs first and help them recoup the learning loss and social-emotional damage they incurred during school closures and COVID restrictions.鈥�

Part of the problem in tracking the issue is that such firings are typically shrouded in secrecy. For 麻豆精品, Rafal-Baer of ILO Group analyzed the departures of 210 chiefs who vacated their positions in the nation鈥檚 11 were fired. But based on news coverage, she suspects many more were forced to resign. Superintendents fired without cause often and agreements for everyone involved not to discuss the terms.

鈥淲e never hear the real story,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey legally can鈥檛 talk.鈥� 

Issues over district management 

But Cheryl Watson-Harris, fired in April from her post as superintendent of the DeKalb County schools in metro Atlanta, refused to go quietly.

Her termination capped off a two-week media storm following the posting of a that exposed mold, crumbling ceilings and other safety hazards at the district鈥檚 oldest school. High school students shot the video after the board voted not to renovate the facility 鈥� an action she . 

Even before she walked into the job, Watson-Harris knew the district had a reputation for turmoil. Before they hired her, board members named former New York City schools Chancellor Rudy Crew as the sole finalist for the job, only to vote against hiring him two weeks later. for discrimination based on age and race, and the board later paid out a $750,000 settlement. Rafal-Baer of ILO Group said she even advised another candidate not to pursue the position.

Nonetheless, Watson-Harris, who previously served as second-in-charge under former New York City Chancellor Richard Carranza, hoped her status as an outsider would help her rise above the district鈥檚 troubled politics. It didn鈥檛 take long for controversy to find her.

She proposed that would require top deputies to reapply for their jobs in an effort to address what she felt was a lack of accountability over school improvement. She the district鈥檚 chief operating officer last year, according to local news reports, after an investigation found he bullied other employees and drank too much alcohol at a work conference. He , arguing that he was falsely accused of 鈥渁 handful of minor violations鈥� and that she retaliated against him for raising questions about accounting irregularities. 

In an interview, Watson-Harris acknowledged 鈥渟potty recordkeeping鈥� in the district, one reason she brought in outside evaluators to review finances and was upgrading outdated systems for managing staff and operations.

The former employee died in a car accident in September near Detroit, according to police reports. His attorney declined to comment on the status of his lawsuit.

Board Chair Vickie Turner declined to answer questions about Watson-Harris鈥檚 termination. The other three board members who voted to fire her, along with the school district鈥檚 attorney, did not respond to requests for comment. 

鈥淲hen you’re dealing with personnel matters such as this, you have to be very, very careful,鈥� Turner said. 鈥淚 don’t think it would be wise to speak to that, because we may have some things that are still not closed.鈥� 

Watson-Harris鈥檚 firing shocked many in the community, even drawing a from Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, who said the board chose 鈥減olitics over students, families and educators.鈥�

With just a month left in the school year, the board spent $25,000 to without her signature. 

鈥淚 could have closed out [the school year] and given people some stability,鈥� Watson-Harris said.

Because she was fired without cause, Watson-Harris believes she was denied a chance to respond to the accusations against her. For that reason, she said, she鈥檚 refused to accept a $325,000 severance package and is considering legal action. 

After watching the district go through four leaders in three years, state Superintendent Richard Woods finds the volatility troubling.

鈥淵ou cannot get any continuity of services and support,鈥� he told 麻豆精品, adding that consistent leadership is needed to 鈥渉ave some forward growth.鈥�

鈥業n the spotlight鈥� 

Such churn is becoming commonplace. In her review of the nation鈥檚 500 largest school districts, Rafal-Baer found more than 20 have had two leadership changes since COVID鈥檚 arrival. 

Watson-Harris was both hired and fired during the pandemic. So was Florida鈥檚 Simon, who said she faced similar resistance from a board reluctant to challenge the status quo.

Alachua board member Tina Certain, who voted against Simon鈥檚 termination, said the former superintendent鈥檚 and creation of a teacher advisory committee that included non-union members likely contributed to discontent. 

鈥淓very department I looked at had financial efficiency issues and basic management concerns 鈥� lots of 鈥榯his is how we do things around here鈥� excuses,鈥� Simon said.

That issue came to the fore when she raised questions about the that runs outdoor education programs. She found that scholarships meant for poor students were being awarded to those without financial need, including the child of a former superintendent on a six-figure salary. She 鈥� and shared with 麻豆精品 鈥� a text message between the camp鈥檚 director and a former staff member about scholarships given as a 鈥渢hank you for being business partners.鈥� 

An internal investigation of wrongdoing, but the district continues to push for of the camp. The director filed a against Simon, the district and the former camp staffer. He denied the allegations and said he didn鈥檛 violate policies because there weren鈥檛 any in place. His attorney didn鈥檛 respond to requests for comment.

But for DeSantis, it would appear that Simon’s vocal opposition to his COVID policies was the tipping point. 鈥淪he went on the national news and put us in the spotlight in a very negative way,鈥� Mildred Russell, the DeSantis appointee who cast the deciding vote to fire Simon, told 麻豆精品.

Simon now leads that backs board members and superintendents who push for equity and inclusion. She doubts she could find another superintendent job in the state. 

鈥淚 think every board in K-12 or higher education would be taking a risk of being in DeSantis’s crosshairs in the event they consider my employment,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e are asking for people to risk financial and professional stability.鈥� 

The governor鈥檚 office did not respond to requests for comment.

DeSantis 鈥� who is setting the GOP鈥檚 agenda on education policy and is widely seen as a potential 2024 presidential contender 鈥� expanded his reach into nonpartisan school board elections this year, 30 candidates in 18 districts. The majority won their races or have moved to a November runoff. Several of the governor鈥檚 candidates were also backed by the conservative organization Moms for Liberty, a parents鈥� rights group, and the , which has spent over $2 million on school board races in several states.

The charged atmosphere nationally is producing leadership candidates who aren鈥檛 seasoned or politically astute enough to withstand the pressure, said Daniel Domenech, executive director of AASA, the School Superintendents Association.

鈥淭here鈥檚 no time to learn,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e going into battle now.鈥� 

That鈥檚 why Alachua is holding off on looking for a new superintendent, said Certain, the board member.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not going to get anybody who is worth anything at this point because of the turnover,鈥� she said.

Nearly all districts concerned about a looming fiscal cliff are taking measures to prepare for it, likely to hit when federal pandemic relief aid ends in 2023, according to Rand鈥檚 . 

The findings, from a survey of 291 district leaders polled this spring, suggest school officials may not be using relief aid exclusively for salary bumps or full-time teachers because it is not sustainable. 

While districts are hiring staff well beyond pre-pandemic numbers, the positions expanding the most are substitutes, paraprofessionals and tutors 鈥� with a quarter surveyed saying they are 鈥渁voiding certain staff hires to prevent later layoffs,鈥� the report stated, alluding to full-time teachers.

Many are also using the funds to roll out short-term tutoring and summer programs for students鈥� academic recovery, or make one-time investments in school infrastructure. 

About a sixth of districts are adding to 鈥渞ainy day funds鈥� and hiring non-teaching personnel on yearly contracts for 鈥渇lexibility.鈥�

Researchers also believe the hiring boom is the key factor fueling higher vacancy numbers in the field 鈥� not a 鈥渂ig quit鈥� of qualified educators. 

Districts that employed, for example, 100 teachers in 2019, are now seeking 120 new hires to meet students鈥� increased academic and mental health needs. 

鈥淵ou could imagine that it might be easier on districts to scale up and scale down their number of substitutes than their number of classroom teachers,鈥� said Melissa Kay Diliberti, an assistant policy researcher at Rand. 

Districts also received a range of funds dependent on their student population 鈥� creating a widely varying picture of pandemic-era hiring from district to district, even within state lines.

Large, urban school districts serving mostly students of color are trying to hire more staff, said Diliberti. 鈥淭hese are the schools that probably got the most extra money and that are therefore able to do the most expansion.鈥�

Seven critical findings from Rand鈥檚 report: 

1. Nearly 80% of districts have already hired staff beyond pre-pandemic levels

Most of America鈥檚 districts are still trying to expand 鈥� 94% of large districts, for example, are expanding non-teaching staff, like bus drivers, counselors, paraprofessionals and tutors. And on average 77% of districts have now hired on more teachers and/or substitutes than in 2019. 

Districts鈥� huge increases in staffing are straining education labor markets, not an exodus from the field, the Rand report states. 

鈥淭he stories that have tried to tell this, you know, 鈥榮lew of teachers have been leaving the profession and that’s what’s causing the teacher shortage鈥� is not quite true,鈥� Diliberti said, adding that there鈥檚 still cause for concern about educators鈥� low morale. 鈥淓ven if they’re not actually leaving the profession, teachers who are unhappy at work aren’t good for students, right?鈥� 

2. About half of district leaders predict a looming “fiscal cliff”; 87% of those concerned have taken steps to prepare 

More superintendents and district leaders are concerned about an impending fiscal cliff this year than in Spring 2021. And about half of leaders are concerned, across all school types: urban to rural, whether serving majority students or color or majority white students. 

鈥淚t’s not necessarily inevitable 鈥� districts are aware of the possibility of a fiscal cliff and they can take action like in the coming years to try to prevent it,鈥� Diliberti said. 

Strategic one-time or short term investments, such as investing in school infrastructure, launching summer learning programs or hiring in yearly contracts, 鈥渨ill allow them to more easily reduce the load of staff if and when in the future they don’t have the money to keep them at their current levels,鈥� she added.

3. Substitutes, paraprofessionals, and tutors are the jobs that have expanded the most since the pandemic began

The positions have a direct connection to the pandemic鈥檚 strain on schools. Substitutes were districts鈥� lifeline when faced with numerous full-time teachers in quarantine, while paraprofessionals and tutors 鈥渁ddress the unfinished instruction from several years of pandemic-related disruptions to schooling.鈥� 

Bus drivers are also in high demand; about a third of districts have not yet increased their number but are trying. Rand鈥檚 report notes a possible reason for the shortage of drivers could be the extensive qualifications and concerns about working in group settings during the pandemic. 

4. Low-poverty districts are more likely than high-poverty districts to have expanded staff above pre-pandemic levels 

Notably, 68% of high-poverty districts have already increased their teaching force beyond pre-pandemic numbers. In comparison, 84% of low-poverty districts have expanded ranks. 

Researchers think the gap could be due in part to a historical trend: higher-poverty schools are harder to staff. Experienced educators are with better working conditions and better pay.

鈥淭eacher labor markets [are] not one thing. Some districts 鈥� even before the pandemic started, struggled to hire teachers 鈥� in particular, high poverty schools, and sometimes schools in rural areas,鈥� Diliberti explained. 鈥淚t’s always harder for districts to staff those positions and to staff teachers at the secondary level, especially in math and science.鈥�

5. 17% of districts anticipate 鈥榣arge鈥� teacher shortages next year

While a majority of leaders expect small labor gaps to impact schools next year, large shortages are concerning urban and high poverty leaders the most. 

Suburban and low-poverty district leaders do not anticipate any large shortages. 

On the whole, large principal shortages do not seem to be on leaders鈥� radar. 

6. Findings suggest a current national substitute shortage 

Over half of districts have expanded substitute teaching staff beyond 2019 levels, and 76% are still trying to expand in anticipation of the fiscal cliff and to meet pandemic-related staffing shortages. 

鈥淚n some ways I don’t feel like this substitute teacher shortage is as new or as sexy of a story as a teacher shortage because it’s kind of always been a problem鈥 think that’s one of the reasons it’s gotten minimized,鈥� Diliberti said. 

Sixty percent of districts increased pay or benefits for substitutes. The average daily rate is 6% higher than in 2019 鈥� now about $122 per day versus $115 per day pre-pandemic. Urban districts have and continue to pay the most: $146 per day in the latest school year, about $30 higher than rural districts. 

7. 90% of districts changed operations because of shortages at some point during the 2021-22 school year 

While some changes were short-term, like asking admin to sub for teachers in quarantine, researchers say the figure is an indicator that even this latest pandemic school year was not at all business as usual. Nearly all American districts had to adapt to major challenges. 

鈥淥perational issues are really just taxing us at every level鈥� As an example, [there were] three different schools on three different days that I had to close because I had too many call-offs and not enough staff to replace them, or substitutes to replace them,鈥� one superintendent told Rand.

Over the past seven months, I have had the privilege of connecting one-on-one with 70 superintendents in 14 states to better understand their situations, particularly the political landscape and public dynamics they are facing.

At their best, superintendents and school system leaders have an opportunity to build and strengthen the institutions they lead every day. But the past two-plus years have been demanding in an unprecedented way: COVID deaths, ever-changing pandemic safety measures, a wave of state legislation banning concepts that have incited division among parents and educators, mass shootings that devastate communities and vocal extremism at both ends of the political spectrum have made it hard for superintendents to do anything but react. Most have been in constant crisis management mode, unable to connect with their superintendent peers and left feeling lonely and isolated. Here are a few trends tying together the experiences of K-12 system leaders: 

• Superintendents are spending a disproportionate time on a relatively narrow band of voices in their districts. These folks range from nationally trained parent groups to their own school board members. Looking broadly at the groups superintendents normally deal with 鈥� parents, community members, school boards 鈥� there is . But discord at the margins, most recently fueled by book bans or critical race theory, tends to dominate communications efforts of superintendents and their teams, especially when it is fueled by news outlets or social media. The good news: superintendents who embrace a push for parents鈥� rights, and cultivate a culture of transparency and open lines of communication within their districts, have been able to effectively mitigate conflict among their internal and external stakeholders. The fact is, the right for parents to see what their kids are learning every day has always been a part of our public system. When superintendents from Florida to Tennessee have set up channels for parents to file formal objections to specific content; invite parents and community members to preview and participate in mock classroom lessons; and share insights into the educational themes and topics in many traditional book titles, few citizens feel the need to scrutinize specifics any further. 
• Superintendents are eager to shift from reactive to proactive communications and deeply appreciate concrete, positive messages they can share with stakeholders. For example, using messages that have been tested among diverse parent groups, and rooted in community-centered language and shared values, can give school system leaders a boost in building a vision that garners agreement from a wide range of supporters. Strategies for engaging under-represented stakeholders, like students, can help superintendents shift from intention to inclusive actions. Without concrete guidance rooted in the shared values of parents, students and board members, it can be hard to break through the anxiety of saying something that hits a political third rail or the inertia of listening to the usual suspects. In order to apply messages that galvanize broad agreement in their home communities, superintendents greatly benefit from time with each other to process and practice in a safe space. At Leading Now, we bring together cohorts of superintendents to reflect on and discuss problems they are managing in their district, offer best practices and provide messaging that they might not have time to research and access on their own.
• Superintendents who are clear-eyed about the longstanding systemic inequities of our education system understand that getting back to normal is not the goal. They are eager to use the impacts of the pandemic and increased public attention on schools as an opportunity to reimagine public education. Questions on their minds as they prepare for a new school year and strive to foster authentic public engagement: How might we re-engage high school students who are earning income for their families working in jobs they started during the pandemic? How might the teaching profession and staffing models evolve to honor the unique needs of every student? How might parent supporters get off the sidelines and be more engaged and consistently vocal in sharing their hopes and dreams for their children?

As superintendents strive to reimagine experiences and outcomes for all students and to build the public trust they need to do so, they deserve responsive and meaningful support from peers and leadership experts. Their jobs are too demanding to sustain without access to key tools, resources and coaching, and the cost of leadership resignations is too great for our education system to absorb. Banding together with peers to discuss the difficulties they are facing in their districts and learn to implement strategies that cultivate community and transparency may be the best way for these depleted leaders to restore faith in their own values, reignite their passion and stay the course in their commitment to all students.

To mark the 24 months since schools shut down because of COVID-19, 麻豆精品 spoke with parents, educators, researchers and students across the U.S. We are running some of these interviews in their entirety to give complete accounts of where we鈥檝e been and where some think we鈥檙e going. 

Susan Enfield is finishing her 10th and final year as superintendent of the Highline Public Schools, near Seattle. A for chief in the San Diego Unified School District, Enfield has been a confidant for fellow chiefs and outspoken about the burdens placed on district and school leaders during the pandemic. In a January interview, Enfield described how she鈥檚 relied on her 鈥渟ister supes鈥� for support and said watching students return to learning in the classroom has been 鈥渁 tonic for the soul.鈥� She also spoke about how state and federal leaders have 鈥渁bdicated鈥� their responsibility during the pandemic, how educators from other countries are shocked that U.S. principals conduct contact tracing and spending weekends on her couch.

The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

麻豆精品: Feb. 14 marked 700 days since most schools began closing. That number even took us by surprise. What鈥檚 your initial reaction to it?

Susan Enfield: I didn’t know that 700 days could both seem so long and so short simultaneously. The last couple of years have felt like a lifetime in and of themselves and yet at the same time it feels like it’s gone by in a flash. I think about all that we have accomplished and all that we’ve adapted to, but what I really am sort of fixing my sights on is the next 700 days.  

What was the moment you realized everything changed? What were you doing before and after?

A very good friend of mine who works in the , which was the first in the United States to close, called me, end of February, and said, 鈥淚 think we’re going to close.鈥� And I said, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e nuts. What are you talking about?鈥� And he said, 鈥淎nd I think the rest of you won’t be far behind.鈥� I said, 鈥淣o way, there’s no way they’re going to close schools.鈥� I mean I really was incredulous.

In the ensuing days and weeks, it became abundantly clear that indeed, we were going to close, and so I quickly shifted. I think as leaders, you shift from your initial emotional response to putting your strategic hat on and preparing and figuring [it] out. Our last day with students was March 13, and so the week before that, I was watching what was happening, and I knew closure was coming. Our state hadn’t announced it yet, but I knew it was coming. 

I went to my chief operating officer and said, 鈥淕et prepared meals in place.鈥� I went to my chief technology officer and said, 鈥淟et’s figure out what we’re going to do around Internet access. Get as many hotspots as you can.鈥� I went to my teaching and learning team and said, 鈥淪tart getting packets together.鈥�

We all mobilized so that when we eventually did have to close, we were as prepared as you could be. At least we had a bit of a head start. I think that’s the luck of geography. I’m in a region that was so close to the initial districts that closed. Of course, we thought we were planning for a matter of weeks. I don’t think any of us envisioned months-long, a year-and-a-half long of students being out of school.

The last couple of years have meant every day is a fresh challenge, and I don’t think anything surprises us anymore.

What other decisions do you remember having to make in the first weeks after schools closed?

Superintendents have a wonderful sense of camaraderie. We’re kindred spirits. There’s a tremendous sense of collegial support and that predates the pandemic. But boy, did the pandemic really heighten that. I was in constant communication prior to that closure with districts in my region and South King County of Seattle. There is a group of superintendents, and our districts all serve very similar demographics. We Have a lot of transition of students and staff between our districts. So we really try to make decisions in unison because it makes the most sense for our families. It minimizes the chaos. Once we heard that Seattle had made the decision to close, that’s when we knew we had to make the decision. We reached out to the governor and the Department of Health and said, 鈥淪eattle made its decision. We really need the state to make a decision and that would be what’s best, but we’re going to act on our own if you don’t.鈥�

We really had to take matters into our own hands. That’s been a huge theme of this pandemic. School districts have taken on tremendous responsibility. Others have abdicated their leadership, and I use that term very, very deliberately. 

The governor said he would make his decision by the next day. It was a Thursday, and I remember this distinctly. When the decision came out, it was early afternoon and Friday was a non-student day. That meant we were sending students home that Thursday and they weren’t going to come back to school for  鈥� at the time, we thought several weeks, but what ended up being longer. I called my principal supervisors in and said, 鈥淵ou need to get to all of your principals, and you need to tell them to get to teachers and to end instruction early so that they can explain to students to the best of their ability what’s happening.鈥�

We have so many students in our district 鈥� this is not unique to Highline and this is not true for every child, I want to be clear 鈥� who think of  school as a safe place. It’s a haven. It’s where they feel connected and supported with their friends and their teachers. [It was troubled by the] thought of sending them home and them not being able to process with their teachers why they weren’t coming back on Monday. I think that was one of the things I’m really glad we did to minimize some of the trauma. 

The greatest gift we give to children is a sense of predictability, a sense of calm, a sense of what is known. For children to be thrust into chaos and the unknown is one of the most traumatizing things that can happen to them. Our goal was to give them a sense of calm, that it was going to be OK.

What has been the darkest part of the pandemic for you?

We lost two middle school students to suicide early in the pandemic. I’m grateful that did not continue, though that was my greatest concern. We lost staff members [to COVID] as well. The loss of human life has been the darkest part 鈥� knowing how hard this was and how out of my control it was to do more to help.

When we were handing out meals one day, a woman drove up. I would always ask, 鈥淗ow are your children doing?鈥� She started crying and said, 鈥淣ot good.鈥� I had her pull over to the side, and I said, 鈥淭ell me what’s going on.鈥� She is a grandmother and she said her grandson had special needs and he had regressed so quickly within a couple of months that he would walk in circles around the kitchen and not talk to anybody. She was literally begging me to do something and there was nothing really that I could do. At that particular moment, we weren鈥檛 in any way equipped to bring even our students with special needs in. Nobody was coming back yet. It was those moments you realize how hard this was on people in so many ways, and that as a leader, a fellow community member, a fellow human being, there wasn’t more you could do to alleviate their pain and suffering. I think those were the darkest moments.

What have you done to take care of yourself, to get through the rough times?

Early on, a group of female superintendents from around the country 鈥� we refer to ourselves as 鈥渟ister supes鈥� 鈥�  had a standing Sunday afternoon Zoom where we would check in. Sometimes we would do a book study, but a lot of times it was, 鈥淗ow are you doing? What’s going on?鈥� Going for walks with my husband and frankly allowing myself to feel pain and to grieve. I think as leaders we do need to inspire hope and let people know it’s going to be OK and be strong. But we also have to sort of balance that strength and courage with vulnerability. There were weekends where I didn’t get off the couch. I’ve been pretty honest about that in conversations with others. I said to someone once, 鈥淚f one more person says, 鈥榊ou got this,鈥� I’m gonna smack 鈥榚m.鈥� A year and a half ago, I didn’t 鈥済ot this,鈥� and [people] were lying. I’m sorry, they were just lying.

I don’t think we do ourselves, our colleagues or anyone any service by faking it. I think superintendents need to feel and care for themselves and share those feelings. I’ve been pretty honest and vulnerable about my struggle. It’s also in some ways reassuring to staff, like 鈥淥h my gosh, it’s OK that I’m feeling like my life is imploding because the superintendent feels that way.鈥� You say, 鈥淵ou know, I was in a fetal position on my couch this weekend, but I did what I needed to do to take care of myself so I could show up on Monday. We’re going to get through this, and the way we’re going to get through this is one day at a time, moving forward together.鈥� It’s strength, courage and vulnerability 鈥� that mix. It’s not equal parts everyday. Sometimes it’s heavier on one side.

What gives you hope now, 700 days later?

That’s hard, because the last few weeks with the Omicron surge have in some ways been even harder than those initial days. I think back to spring of 2020 and the planning that we had to do. My team and I never worked so hard in our lives. It was 24/7, figuring out how we were going to do a hybrid model. I have an extraordinary team, but it pushed us to our limits. I thought that was as hard as it’s ever gonna be, but there’s been something about the last few weeks coming out of the winter break and coming perilously close to going remote again. It鈥檚 a little harder to find hope right now. I think we thought we’d be in a very different place. That said, I do feel like we’ve turned a corner in this most recent surge.

People struggle hearing this, but we are moving into the endemic phase of this, and that may not be what everyone wants to hear. We are moving into living with, rather than living in fear of the virus. I am hopeful that in the coming weeks and months, we are going to collectively come to that understanding and adapt to a way of life that will be far more familiar 鈥� I don’t use the term normal anymore 鈥� but a way of living, a way of working that will feel more familiar to what we knew prior to the pandemic. I think entering that phase gives me hope.

As hard as it’s been working in schools during this time, I also have the great gift of going into schools and seeing children, educators, nutrition services, transportation workers and custodians who are doing such extraordinary work. Nothing gives you more hope than seeing kindergartners engaged in their learning, so happy to be in their school with their classmates and their teachers. It’s a tonic for the soul. When you’ve committed your life to working in public education, you get up every day believing the impossible is possible. We’ve accomplished things over the last 700 days that if someone had told us three years ago, 鈥淚n about six months, you’re going to be doing these,鈥� we would have said there’s no way we could do that. We did it and we’re stronger for it. I think we could all use a nice vacation, but we’re stronger for it.

What’s one thing about superintendents that you think nobody has understood from the beginning of this crisis?

That we鈥檙e people first. I had school staff that were very upset with me during the period when we were bringing students back to school in hybrid. I had a meeting with them. They wanted to have a healing conversation, and the prompt, as we went around the room was, 鈥淲hat do you need people here to know?鈥� I was part of the circle, so I got to answer, and I said, 鈥淚 need you to know that I’m a person first and a superintendent second. So when you are attacking the superintendent, when you are attacking the district, you are attacking me. I bleed like the rest of them. I feel like you do.鈥� I think this notion that superintendents need to be superhuman and that somehow we make these incredibly difficult decisions that we know have tremendous impact on the lives of children and families in a way that is capricious or uncaring is so far from the truth. 

There isn’t a decision that any superintendent I know has made over the past year that they haven’t agonized over. I mean agonized over. Superintendents are used to making hard decisions and taking the hits, but in so many instances, there was no good decision, so I was choosing the least bad option available. That was tough and I’ve seen it take a toll on my colleagues. Some have truly suffered. I’m very fortunate. I have not had that level of attack. Superintendents are thinking, feeling, human beings who are doing this work because we care deeply about our children and our community. We’re trying to do right by them, and we get it wrong sometimes, absolutely. We’re human, but we acknowledge when we get it wrong, and we come back and try to make it right. I think that’s all we can ask of our leaders 鈥� honesty and a sense of continuing to try to do better.

Describe a moment when you felt you were getting conflicting guidance or conflicting instructions. What did you ultimately do and why?

It’s been commonplace. That’s been our reality, at least here in Washington State, but I know we’re not alone: trying to make sense of [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention] guidance, Department of Health guidance, local public health guidance, state superintendent guidance. It sometimes does conflict, especially with respect to distancing and contact tracing. Sometimes those don’t align. The CDC may come out with something and we’ve been following our Department of Health guidelines that don’t readily adapt. My families want to know why we’re not doing what the CDC is saying. Well, we’re being consistent in following the Department of Health. It puts districts in a very difficult position because our families and staff are looking to us for answers, and we are trying to give them the best answers possible, but because the guidance sometimes conflicts and quite frankly is ever-changing. it’s sometimes hard to give them the clarity and the certainty they’re looking for, and people are desperate for certainty in any way shape or form they can find it.

I want to be clear. I will lay plenty of criticism at the feet of those in leadership who I believe did not do what they needed to do and did not own what they needed to own. That said, I also understand that everybody, regardless of your position, was figuring this out as we went along and there was no road map for this. I get that. I’ve been very clear that we need to give one another grace, and that goes for our elected officials and Department of Health officials. I believe they’re doing the best they can under difficult circumstances because this is a constantly changing and evolving and fluid situation. However, I do believe that school districts have had to take on a tremendous amount of leadership that should have been handled at other levels of the state and federal government.

My father once told me that when you’re backed into a corner you do the best you can and make the best decision you can. Sometimes you get it right and sometimes you get it wrong, and we were all backed into a massive corner in this pandemic, and we got it right and we got it wrong. For example, contact tracing. Why in heaven’s name were school officials ever put in the position to be responsible for contact tracing? That’s a public health responsibility. When I talked to educators in other countries, their jaws were on the ground. That continues to take a huge toll on my principals and it’s so time consuming.

I work with the best team of professionals at every level of my system, anywhere in this country. I’ll put them up against anybody, and on many occasions they’ve come close to the breaking point. As superintendent, I have to make sure that I’m not pushing them past that breaking point. I think at the end of the day, we’ll come back and wonder if there was a better way. 

Did you ever think of quitting and, if so, why didn’t you?

I don’t think I ever thought of quitting. There were moments where I thought I don’t know if I can do this, but that’s different than quitting. I never said, 鈥淚’m out of here,鈥� and my decision to leave Highline was not a response to the pandemic. I’m ready for a fresh challenge and Highline is ready for a fresh leader. I didn’t think of quitting. That doesn’t make me super strong and special and courageous. I think I was blessed to go through the past 700 days in Highline. I’ve said many times, I’d rather not have to live through a global pandemic, but if I did, Highline is the place I鈥檇 want to be. I’ve taken my fair share of hits with the rest of them, but my board has been so supportive, and so has my staff, my families, my community andmy union leadership for the most part. Of course, there have been disagreements, but I think people have really understood that we’re all doing our best and we’re all in this together. I hope they’ll look back and say I did right by them.

Putting a human face to this is really important, especially in the online era, it’s super easy to type into the chat box or the Q&A box. I remember doing one of our webinars on returning to school and bringing staff back in hybrid, because almost half of my families wanted to send their kids back, and I had a responsibility to make that happen. One staff member typing in the chat box wrote, 鈥淧lease tell me how long it will take for my husband to receive my death benefits after I die because you forced me back to school.鈥� 

I finally said in a long speech at one meeting that you can disagree with me, you can even dislike me. That’s fine. But I ask you to sit back and be honest with yourself and your criticism. I’ve lived in this community for almost a decade now. Whether you like me or not, you know me, and I don’t think anyone would honestly say that I don’t genuinely care about the children and families in this community. I may get it wrong and you may not like it, but to say that I don’t care 鈥� that I have to take issue with.

After she was named Richardson Independent School District鈥檚 superintendent five years ago, she drew accolades for how well she advocated for district parents and the strides she made in closing the vast learning gap between students of color and white students. The Texas PTA in 2019. Last year, the Dallas Business Journal named her a 鈥渓eader in diversity.鈥� Then it all came to a sudden stop.

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She quit.

Stone did not publicly reveal her reasoning when she resigned in early December, before her fifth anniversary on the job. But now, in an interview with The Texas Tribune, Stone said the increasingly contentious climate surrounding Texas public schools prompted the decision. After being accused of promoting , weathering backlash over the district鈥檚 decision to require face masks during a deadly pandemic and navigating the community鈥檚 divisiveness, Stone said she had to step away.

鈥淗eartbreaking is a pretty accurate way to describe this,鈥� Stone said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 all I鈥檝e ever known. It鈥檚 all I鈥檝e ever done. It鈥檚 all I ever wanted to do.鈥�

Stone is just one of many public educators who have borne the brunt of a shifting culture war 鈥� filled with fierce accusations and rising tensions often stoked by state officials 鈥� about how K-12 students learn. And she is among at least nine North Texas superintendents who have announced they would leave their jobs since the start of the school year.

While not every departing superintendent pointed to the same issues to explain their exit, the Dallas-Fort Worth region鈥檚 鈥済reat exodus鈥� 鈥� as one expert called it 鈥� comes as educators have faced mounting political and social pressures.

A new state law limiting how race can be discussed in the classroom, community fights over whether to require coronavirus safety precautions and new scrutiny on books available on campus have turned school board meetings into rancorous arenas. Meanwhile, the pandemic has also sickened teachers and staff, often leaving fewer people to help students navigate what鈥檚 become a new normal.

鈥淎ll of that creates pressure on the educators that are in the classroom, the leaders on campus and the leaders of the central office,鈥� said Shannon Holmes, executive director of the Association of Texas Professional Educators. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 been going on for a solid two-and-a-half or three years at this point. And so it鈥檚 creating some issues where people are considering retirements and resignations.鈥�

Since last summer, many Texas parents have been at odds with school administrators. Some see mask mandates as an infringement on personal freedoms. Some have been appalled at explicit content in books available on campus. And many see diversity and equity initiatives 鈥� and social studies lessons on slavery and systemic racism 鈥� as attempts to make white students feel guilt or discomfort.

The term 鈥渃ritical race theory鈥� has become a rallying cry for Texas Republican leaders, who use it to incorrectly describe how race is taught or discussed in public schools. In actuality, the theory is an academic discipline whose central idea is that racial bias is embedded in policies and legal systems. It isn鈥檛 taught in K-12 schools.

Accusations that the theory is taught in public schools preceded the resignation of a Colleyville high school鈥檚 first and stoked in Fort Worth.

Adding even more tension to the political war zone public education has become, Gov. recently unveiled a reelection campaign plank he dubbed his 鈥減arental bill of rights,鈥� which school leaders fear will further pit parents against administrators and teachers.

Stone believes Abbott and other state leaders should be supporting public education and not creating ways to discredit it. Instead, she said, they are stoking a narrative that public schools don鈥檛 want to work with parents and so the government has to step in.

鈥淭hose kinds of efforts only provide weapons for some to continue this dismantling of public education,鈥� she said.

Outside pressures

Stephanie Knight, dean of the Simmons School of Education and Human Development at Southern Methodist University, said nine north Texas superintendents leaving at the same time is unprecedented.

But she believes the sheer number of challenges these administrators have faced have made the past two years overwhelming.

鈥淭he most detrimental part of it is that the superintendents are dealing with extreme polarization around almost any decision that they make,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t would be a mistake to say that they鈥檙e running away from the job or the situation. They may be running toward a job that would enable them to have the impact that they don鈥檛 feel they could have right now as superintendent.鈥�

Other North Texas superintendents who have resigned, retired or announced their departures this school year are Michael Hinojosa of Dallas ISD, Kent Scribner of Fort Worth ISD, Ryder Warren of Northwest ISD, Steve Chapman of Hurst-Euless-Bedford ISD, David Vroonland of Mesquite ISD, D鈥橝ndre Weaver of DeSoto ISD, Kevin Rogers of Lewisville ISD and Sara Bonser of Plano ISD.

Bonser said in a that she was leaving to focus on family matters. Warner told The Texas Tribune he felt it was time to retire, something Vroonland echoed in a statement to district employees.

鈥淢y retirement is something I have been planning for quite a while, and the timing of this announcement is wholly on my own terms鈥攏ot in response to the pressures facing public education, the pandemic or any of the other challenges we educators have faced over the past couple of years,鈥� Vroonland said.

Weaver, Hinojosa, Chapman, Scribner and Rogers either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for interviews.

Several of the districts have dealt with faculty shortages, student retention issues and heated responses to critical race theory over the last school year.

For Stone, the outside pressures started over the summer, right before the school year began. Community members began tagging diversity work she long championed 鈥� meant to give students of color a better opportunity at academic success 鈥� as critical race theory.

This came after Republican lawmakers passed a new social studies law regulating how race and history are taught in schools, saying that white children were being blamed for past acts. While the law never mentions critical race theory, Republicans tout it as a law that bans the theory in schools.

The work that Stone was once applauded for was turned against her, she said. Richardson school board meetings were monopolized by the topic, and board members couldn鈥檛 do anything about it.

鈥淭he passion and purpose of my work was all of a sudden named CRT and something that was bad to do,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd then that took off like wildfire, and I was never able to ever figure out a way to put that out.鈥�

Then Stone issued a mask mandate in August, defying Abbott鈥檚 order against such required safety precautions.

Stone wasn鈥檛 facing backlash only from parents. She said Richardson was targeted as one of the only six school districts that Attorney General Abbott鈥檚 order that banned mask mandates in schools.

鈥淚t just became every single time you open up an email 鈥� it鈥檚 another challenge that you鈥檙e doing the wrong thing,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 you鈥檙e doing the wrong thing, when you know that you are working to do the right thing.鈥�

Warren, the Northwest superintendent who will retire at the end of this school year, said he and his wife had discussed his retirement two years earlier, but the decision was postponed because he didn鈥檛 want to leave during the dire pandemic.

鈥淭here were just so many dynamics of what we had to do,鈥� Warren said. 鈥淲e all had to be concentrating on the job, and from our families to the kids to the staff, everybody had to be in their role. So we put the retirement question far behind us in that time period.鈥�

A fast-changing position

Warren said superintendents have always had to solve problems and pivot quickly. While he had already thought about retiring, he said the last two school years were anything but normal.

鈥淚 think anyone who鈥檚 a current superintendent, an aspiring superintendent or aspiring leader, I think they will understand that this could very well be the new normal,鈥� Warren said.

He closed the district Jan. 14-18 during the omicron wave of the pandemic because there was a shortage of substitutes. But a more long-term concern for Northwest ISD is the lack of teachers for its growing district. According to Warren, the district sees about 1,000 new kids a year. However, during the last two quarters of last year, the student population jumped by 2,000 students.

鈥淭he most important adults at any school district are the classroom teachers,鈥� Warren said. 鈥淭hey are the true leaders of our school district, and we are all experiencing less, fewer and fewer teaching applicants coming into the position.鈥�

Knight, the education dean at SMU, said the role of a superintendent has likely permanently changed. The way these positions are filled will no longer be dependent only on how the district stands academically, but whether the school board will fully support the superintendent and how divisive the community is, she said.

Knight will look to tackle these topics head-on at her school, which offers degrees in public school leadership. If the last two years have taught her anything, it鈥檚 that school leaders will need other critical skills, such as crisis management and improved communication with community members.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to have to make decisions more rapidly than they have in the past, and then they鈥檙e going to have to be quick to change course when something isn鈥檛 working,鈥� Knight said. 鈥淲e haven鈥檛 moved this quickly in the past.鈥�

鈥淧arental bill of rights鈥�

Abbott鈥檚 recently unveiled 鈥溾�� is largely a political effort to win over parents who are dissatisfied with public schools as he seeks another term and faces challengers from his right in the March 1 primary.

Since last year, the governor and lawmakers have become more outspoken and hands-on about coronavirus safety measures, how schools approve books in their libraries and how social studies is taught 鈥� particularly when it comes to teaching about slavery鈥檚 long-term effect on American society.

Stone said these kinds of strategies are doing harm to communities. Parents and school administrators are at odds when they should be working together.

鈥淲e absolutely have to be working together and we can, but the whole notion is that public schools don鈥檛 want to or that they aren鈥檛 working to effectively do that,鈥� Stone said.

Warren of Northwest ISD said everyone from the state to the local parent-teacher association must be supportive of teachers, principals and all other staff so that people have the motivation to teach.

As the impact of political decisions and opinions infiltrates classrooms, Holmes sees a divide in school board meetings and on campuses, but he hopes superintendents can concentrate on doing what鈥檚 best for students. Still, he鈥檚 worried about the long-term impacts of such a large exodus in North Texas 鈥� especially since the social and political climate shows no signs of letting up at a time when schools are already facing teacher shortages.

鈥淚n any given year, there is some level of turnover, obviously, in the rank of superintendents, but anytime the profession loses career educators like North Texas has and the caliber of leaders they鈥檝e lost, it obviously hurts all of us in the profession because people like that are hard to find,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd they鈥檙e even harder to put into the right positions.鈥�

Disclosure: The Association of Texas Professional Educators and Southern Methodist University have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune鈥�s journalism. Find a complete .

Brian Lopez and Timia Cobb are reporters at , the only member-supported, digital-first, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.  at TexasTribune.org.

U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona doesn鈥檛 expect to see more enrollment loss in public schools this fall, but said educators must 鈥渨ork twice as hard鈥� to rebuild the trust of some families after a year of remote learning and reopening delays.

鈥淚 am confident that everyone wants to return back to school and that schools are doing their best to get students back in. I know in some places it wasn鈥檛 quick enough for some families,鈥� the secretary said last week in a brief conversation with 麻豆精品. 鈥淲hat we have to ensure is that we鈥檙e following the guidelines to make sure that our schools are safe and that we鈥檙e engaging our students and families in ways that we haven鈥檛 in the past.鈥�

Cardona said he recognized the challenges districts are facing in trying to make up for lost instruction. While he鈥檚 encouraged by what he鈥檚 seen during his recent visits to summer learning programs, he added that some districts will need to work harder to strengthen connections with other organizations so students can get the 鈥渁ccelerated support鈥� they need to overcome the pandemic鈥檚 impact.

鈥淚鈥檝e seen examples of it already 鈥� where schools are really stepping up to give students a good opportunity to engage socially and academically,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 expecting with full, in-person options for students that the sense of community and the sense of family that our students and families are longing for, that they鈥檙e going to get it.鈥�

Schools, Cardona said, also need to be specific with parents about what safety precautions they鈥檒l be taking this fall.

鈥淚 know some schools had major issues they had to address in terms of ventilation systems or ensuring that the environment was safe,鈥� he said. 鈥淎t the end of the day, this is a health pandemic. We want to make sure that schools are safe for our students and our staff.鈥�

And they should be clear about the opportunities they鈥檙e offering to help students make up for instruction they missed last school year, he added.

But the pandemic and learning loss aren鈥檛 the only reasons some parents have grown dissatisfied with schools over the summer. some parents want to see different learning options for their children when school starts this fall. And others are outraged over how districts are addressing issues of race and equity in the classroom, with debates dominating school board meetings from coast to coast.

Reiterating what he鈥檚 told House members during recent budget hearings, the secretary said the topic has become politicized. But he sympathized with administrators facing pressure over the issue and said he wants to shift attention to the resources schools now have to make school improvements.

Superintendents, 鈥渉ave shown tremendous leadership reopening schools during a pandemic,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hey did their best to make sure that our students got the support that they needed. I don鈥檛 just mean a laptop and broadband access, which is in itself a challenge, but making sure our students were fed, making sure that they had the social and emotional support. We owe it to our education community to stand behind them.鈥�

In recent weeks, the secretary has visited summer learning programs in Los Angeles, New Jersey and Oregon, and said even though some districts to find enough staff to work over the summer, he said he鈥檚 seen strong examples of schools and nonprofit organizations sharing the responsibility for summer learning.

At the virtual reopening summit Cardona held in March, he said he 鈥渏okingly鈥� warned educators that he didn鈥檛 want to see students doing any 鈥渄itto鈥� sheets this summer and that he hoped for engaging programs that interest students while shoring up some of the academic skills they鈥檝e missed over the past year.

While he said he saw some students writing words on a whiteboard in a classroom in Portland, he said he was happy to report, 鈥淚 have not seen any worksheets.鈥�

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To wind down after a chaotic school year, Austin Ambrose, who teaches third grade in Nampa, Idaho, purchased some fun reads he hoped would keep his students engaged until summer break 鈥� and like much good children鈥檚 literature, provide a window into another culture.

One title, , tells a Harry Potter-type story set in Brooklyn featuring a young Black boy. But when the book turned up on a , one family at Gem Prep, a charter school, argued it ran afoul of the prohibiting schools from promoting critical race theory.

Under the school鈥檚 policy, Ambrose had to offer the student an alternative book to read.

鈥淚 told them, 鈥業鈥檓 only trying to expose your child to different cultures and experiences,鈥欌�� he said. 鈥淭hese conversations are going to help them when they get into the real world because they are going to meet people who are different from them.鈥�

Idaho is among nine states so far to ban critical race theory 鈥� which holds that racism is baked into U.S. systems and institutions to purposely keep people of color at a disadvantage. Lawmakers in at least 20 more states have proposed similar laws to block what they see as a dangerously divisive form of indoctrination. But for many teachers, the backlash feels like a new kind of McCarthyism, one where they fear being harassed, for a wide array of classroom activities. It doesn’t help that the clash comes as school leaders are struggling to help students 鈥� many of them lagging up to a year behind in core subjects 鈥� bounce back from the pandemic. To that end, educators are steering an unprecedented influx of federal funds toward their recovery.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a huge distraction at a time when we can鈥檛 afford a distraction,鈥� said Dan Domenech, executive director of AASA, The School Superintendents Association. 鈥淭his has been a year the majority of students were not exposed to the kind of learning they should have been exposed to. Now you鈥檙e going to paralyze teachers because they are afraid to teach.鈥�

The furor is hard to miss.

The Nevada Family Alliance wants teachers to wear to prevent them from 鈥済oing rogue and presenting their own political ideas.鈥� A mother in South Kingston, Rhode Island, to learn how the district teaches race and gender issues. And a conservative watchdog group, maintains an 鈥渋ndoctrination map鈥� showing districts influenced by critical race theory.

In suburban St. Louis, tensions over issues of race and curriculum have grown so fraught that educators feared for their physical safety.

Several Rockwood School District administrators had private security officers stationed at their homes. In June, school officials spent nearly $5,000, according to district spokeswoman Mary LaPak, to place private security for two weeks at the home of a district literacy coordinator, who instructed teachers in an April email to remove a lesson plan for a 鈥渃ulture and identity鈥� unit from the online classroom management system 鈥渟o parents cannot see it.”

In a letter, the local teachers union called on district officials to protect educators from 鈥減ersonal attacks and outright threats of violence鈥� following the backlash. Parents argued the district was teaching critical race theory and 鈥渕aking white kids feel bad about their privilege,鈥� according to the email.

鈥楨ye of the beholder鈥�

That鈥檚 a lot of mileage for an idea most Americans hadn鈥檛 even heard of until six months ago.

In that brief span, critical race theory emerged from grad school obscurity to become something of a Rorschach splatter of our anxious political moment. Some see little more than an attempt to reclaim episodes of Black history like the 1921 Tulsa race massacre or the long practice of Jim Crow redlining. For those who decry it, at school board meetings and , it encompasses a host of ills, from anti-bias training to that other 鈥淐RT鈥� 鈥� culturally responsive teaching, the integration of students鈥� cultural and ethnic backgrounds into the classroom. Some have lumped social-emotional learning and restorative discipline into the mix.

Because it can be so hard to define, Jonathan Zimmerman, an education historian at the University of Pennsylvania, called the dust-up over critical race theory 鈥渟carier鈥� than similar controversies, such as the recent clash over teaching The New York Times Magazine鈥檚 .

鈥淭he 1619 Project is a thing you can look up; it’s a very specific document with a curriculum attached to it,鈥� he said. 鈥淐ritical race theory isn’t in that category. It’s kind of in the eye of the beholder. And if that eye has watched a lot of Fox News, it’s going to behold a lot of critical race theory.鈥�

Fox has used the term times so far in 2021, according to the Washington Post. And conservative organizations such as continue to highlight schools that focus on students鈥� racial or gender differences. found that least 165 such 鈥済rassroots鈥� groups have sprung up over the past year, many with ties to GOP strategists.

Republicans see it as a winning strategy they can ride into the 2022 midterms. Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster, expects the fight to keep playing out in school board elections.

鈥淲e’ve gone through different waves, but school board races are very unequal terrain because the right spends so much time focused on them,鈥� she said.

In Virginia鈥檚 Loudoun County Public Schools, a conservative group, Fight for Schools, has launched over board members鈥� support for equity-related initiatives of Lilit Vanetsyan, an educator in neighboring Fairfax County Public Schools, went viral when she appeared before the Loudoun board to declare that classrooms had become 鈥渋ndoctrination camps.鈥� While the Fairfax district confirmed she is an employee, she also runs a Instagram account and is a correspondent for the Right Side Broadcasting Network.

In Tennessee, a chapter of , a group seeking more parental influence over school policies, opposes teachers鈥� use of the autobiography . Bridges wrote the 2009 book, which is aimed at second graders, about her experience as one of the first Black students to attend all-white schools in New Orleans. According to local news reports, the group objected to the book showing a crowd of 鈥渁ngry white people鈥� protesting integration.

When parents equate key aspects of the civil rights movement with critical race theory, they 鈥渉ave become very confused,鈥� said Erika Sanzi, the director of outreach at Parents Defending Education, a nonprofit at the center of efforts to resist what they see as 鈥渉armful鈥� political agendas in the classroom. (The organization鈥檚 website does not identify funders, and Nicole Neily, the group鈥檚 president, declined to to name them out of concern for 鈥渄onor privacy.鈥�)

Sanzi said she鈥檚 not necessarily in favor of the GOP-backed legislation because she鈥檚 鈥渟till hanging on to the belief that we beat bad ideas with better ideas.鈥� But she does question the messages some young elementary students are getting about their 鈥渨hiteness.鈥�

At an elementary school in Bellevue, Washington, for example, a for the 2020-21 school year said that students would 鈥渉ave explicit conversations about race, equity, and access,鈥� and that fourth and fifth graders would be responsible for implementing schoolwide anti-racist strategies. The plan has since expired and the district said it allows parents to opt their children out of 鈥渋dentity-related discussions.鈥�

鈥淭hese are children who believe in Santa Claus and put their teeth under their pillow,鈥� Sanzi said.

At outside Columbus, Ohio, the confusion ran so deep that two families asked to remove their children from a course that focuses on critical thinking.

To their parents, that sounded a lot like critical race theory.

In a February email to the school鈥檚 principal, one father who pulled his child from class said 鈥渉e didn’t want his kid feeling guilty about 鈥楳arxist critical race theory,鈥欌�� recalled Robert Estice, who teaches the required course. The class syllabus has no mention of Marxism or critical racial theory. For seventh grade, course themes include 鈥淗ow do I know what I know?鈥� and 鈥淗ow do I interact with others to understand their perspectives?鈥�

鈥淚 don’t want to put ideas in kids鈥� heads that aren’t their own ideas 鈥� that they wouldn’t have come to themselves,鈥� Estice said.

Some educators wonder whether the laws will take away a powerful tool that teachers have to connect with students 鈥� their own personal stories.

鈥淚 was a teacher, and one of the things I loved the most was the freedom to teach,鈥� said Tramelle Howard, a board member in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System in Louisiana, where a bill curtailing the teaching of critical race theory failed to advance in the legislature this session. 鈥淚 did not shy away from my lived experience. I had white male students in my classes, and it wasn鈥檛 my job to get them to think a certain way, but to think critically.鈥�

鈥業ntentional agenda鈥�

Little of this has anything to do with actual critical race theory, the legal term coined by scholar Kimberl茅 Crenshaw in the 1970s. It has become synonymous with a kind of racism that applies to institutions rather than individuals. It could, for example, describe police departments that disproportionately apply excessive force against African Americans.

In fact, it was one of these moments, the murder of George Floyd by a white officer in May 2020, that is most responsible for pushing critical race theory into the public consciousness. The cell phone video of Floyd鈥檚 death taken by a Black teen prompted months of protests and led many school leaders to take public stands condemning racism and calling out 鈥渨hite privilege.鈥�

Some of those efforts prompted outcries not only from parents, but educators. Teachers in a New Jersey district about being required to participate in what they described as 鈥渋nsulting鈥� anti-bias training. One white teacher reportedly said a presenter told her she was a 鈥渋nherently racist鈥� and a 鈥渨hite supremacist.鈥�

And in the Virginia Beach Public Schools, where some board members are pushing to ban critical race theory, Superintendent Aaron Spence agreed that his district went too far when literacy coaches attended a February training in which a video speaker said white educators should say 鈥渙f course I’m racist.鈥� Such approaches, he said, alienate teachers when 鈥渢he whole goal of equity is to keep everybody in the room.鈥�

With public comments over critical race theory dominating the last three board meetings and staff members frequently responding to calls and emails from residents, he called the uproar an 鈥渋ntentional agenda of distraction鈥� that 鈥渢akes us away from the real work of addressing the challenges we face in public education.鈥�

In September, former President Donald Trump put his stamp on the issue with an banning federal employees from receiving any training about critical race theory, further contributing to the perception that it promotes anti-American ideas. President Joe Biden reversed the order, but its language became a template for state bills to come.

Just last week, Republicans on the peppered Education Secretary Miguel Cardona with questions about critical race theory, specifically a notice for a that references the 1619 Project and the work of Boston University鈥檚 Ibram X. Kendi, a leading author in the field. (The department has since removed the references.)

Named last year as one of most influential people, Kendi won the National Book Award for . With such accolades, he is among speakers who can command over $20,000 an hour to address school districts on the issue. Kendi, like others, argues that everyone is born into a society founded on racism and that it requires to reverse disparities. He advocates for a , which would create an anti-racism agency to evaluate all local, state and federal policies to ensure they don鈥檛 contribute to inequity.

During the virtual hearing, some committee members tried to get Cardona to denounce Kendi鈥檚 work. 鈥淒o you realize how radical and how out of touch this guy is?鈥� Rep. Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin asked.

Virginia Rep. Bob Good pushed Cardona to ensure that the federal government wouldn鈥檛 legally challenge state laws banning critical race theory. While Good was speaking, someone shouted 鈥渞acist鈥� and New Jersey Democrat Donald Norcross鈥檚 name briefly showed on the screen. Chairman Bobby Scott, D-Va., later noted the 鈥渋nappropriate comment鈥� and asked the members to respect each other.

Cardona said multiple times the issue has become politicized and the department doesn鈥檛 dictate curriculum, but that he trusts teachers to navigate these issues and believes culturally responsive teaching 鈥渂uilds community.鈥�

Scoring 鈥榩olitical points鈥�

In states where legislation has already passed, some educators are questioning how they鈥檒l be able to address controversial topics this fall.

鈥淗ow can we learn about U.S. history without feeling distress at times?鈥� asked Eddie Walsh, an eighth-grade social studies teacher at Memphis Grizzlies Preparatory Charter School in Tennessee, one of the states that has passed anti-critical race theory legislation. 鈥淥ur goal as educators isn’t to make kids guilty, but we also can’t lie to them or omit the truth when it comes to our past.鈥�

In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed this month that allows teachers to cover the history of white supremacy, including topics such as the Ku Klux Klan and the eugenics movement, which involved the forced sterilization of Black women. But it forbids instruction from causing students to 鈥渇eel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or another form of psychological distress鈥� because of their race or sex.

Asia Klekowicz and Ryan York, co-CEOs of The Gathering Place, a San Antonio charter school with a focus on social justice, know they could be sued.

鈥淭here is a long history in the U.S. of laws being written as a way to score political points.鈥� York said. 鈥淲e welcome challenges to the way we [address these subjects].鈥�

鈥楾housands of critical conversations鈥�

So, where do we go from here? Legislation designed to suppress the controversial philosophy鈥檚 influence is problematic for a few reasons, said Matthew Shaw, an associate law professor at Vanderbilt University. First, he said, the laws are difficult to enforce. And second, they鈥檝e only created greater interest in the ideas they seek to wipe out.

鈥淭he irony is that trying to ban or limit critical race theory in conversations in such a public, blunt, legalistic manner has sparked thousands of critical conversations,鈥� he said.

One of the more thoughtful exchanges occurred last week, when two Black educators addressed the National Charter School Conference. Ian Rowe, a fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, called the debate a 鈥渕assive distraction鈥� from the fact that too many students 鈥� including white children 鈥� read below grade level.

鈥淲e want to create equality of opportunity for all our kids. Literacy has to be the anchor of that,鈥� said Rowe, who sits on the board of the which aims to unite people based on 鈥渃ommon humanity.鈥� 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want the whole hullabaloo around critical race theory to detract from something that is holding back kids of all races.鈥�

He said students should know the history of racial oppression, including the Tulsa race massacre, alongside the 鈥渟tories of racial resilience,鈥� such as how Booker T. Washington founded more than 5,000 schools in Black communities throughout the South with Julius Rosenwald, the president of Sears. And teachers should introduce critical race theory alongside ideas that challenge it. The problem, he added, is when it鈥檚 presented as a 鈥渟ole theology.鈥�

But at the same session, Sharif El-Mekki, CEO of the Center for Black Educator Development, described the backlash to critical race theory as 鈥渁bsolute hysteria.鈥� He added that focusing on successful Black people who 鈥渕ade it鈥� ignores the reality of why they had to be resilient in the first place.

鈥淭hat is a pathway to the dark side without the full story,鈥� he said.

鈥擱eporters Beth Hawkins, Mark Keierleber, Asher Lehrer-Small, Kevin Mahnken, Marianna McMurdock, Bekah McNeel and Patrick O’Donnell contributed to this report.

Clarification: An earlier version of this story reported that Rockwood School District officials spent $2,500 to place private security guards outside two administrators’ homes. That expenditure was related to a district controversy involving the removal of the “thin blue line” flag 鈥� a police solidarity symbol that has become associated with white supremacy 鈥� from a high school team’s baseball cap.

Lead images: Getty Images, Teaching for Change/Flickr and /Instagram