Many superintendents quitting after pandemic school year; rural districts may have a harder time finding replacements

A wave of school superintendents are "leaving their posts, far more than in a typical year, a result of the extraordinary challenges of keeping kids learning after schools closed in spring 2020 and serving as crisis managers for months on end while dealing with pandemic pressures on their own families," Joe Heim and Valerie Strauss report for The Washington Post. "The departures are from the top spots in large cities . . . but also in many midsize and smaller districts in suburban and rural areas," according to the American Association of School Superintendents.

Some superintendents are moving to other districts, some have been forced out by school boards, and some are retiring, often with years left on their contracts. "The turnover this year has been unprecedented, superintendents say, with the usual job responsibilities and tensions exacerbated by crisis management and debates with communities and school boards over when and how to reopen schools during the pandemic. Conflicts over equity and education that addressed racial issues also boiled over, with superintendents often feeling the brunt of the disputes," Heim and Strauss report. "Changes in district leadership can always be problematic, but never more so than now, as plans are being made to reopen schools fully in the fall at the same time that a new coronavirus variant known as delta is becoming more common in the United States and is, according to President Biden, 'particularly dangerous' for young people."

Rural school districts may be particularly vulnerable after a superintendent departs, since not many potential replacements are eager to step up. It takes a special skill set, a tolerance for extra-long work days, and a love of small towns to be a rural superintendent. But, though rural principalships have some of the highest turnover rates in education, rural natives tend to stick around longer in rural education jobs. Rural educators and administrators are frequently graduates of the schools they work for as adults, or graduates of other rural schools.