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Case studies of four leaders of remote districts on their early-career challenges

My work as superintendent leading the 600-student school district in the village of Edgar in central Wisconsin doesn鈥檛 differ much from many other small, rural districts. I came to that conclusion after completing a doctoral dissertation about a year ago that studied the roles and challenges faced by first-year superintendents in rural communities.

My research focused on administrative demands, curricular development and instructional leadership and yielded evidence of specific leadership actions taken by superintendents during their entry periods in small, rural school districts. The four districts ranged in size from 420 to 600 students, and all are located in Wisconsin.

Given the lack of literature relevant to first-time rural superintendents, my study might serve as a bridge between the little research that does exist and the practitioner鈥檚 hands-on professional training needs. In addition, my study gave the participants an opportunity for their voices to be heard by those in the field of educational administration when much more attention is directed toward larger school districts.

The new, rural superintendents identified five important tasks that they performed in their first years. As their top priority, they pointed to this: 鈥渃onsult with, model and actively coach other professional staff in the district.鈥�

In the four short narratives that follow, the participants individually relate some of their challenges as early-career superintendents in small, rural school communities. Because the subjects were granted anonymity, the superintendents have been given pseudonyms, but all other details about them and their scenarios are factually accurate.

Superintendent Pentermann

Wayne Pentermann was shocked by how much he did not know about the job when he started as superintendent of a rural district in west-central Wisconsin that drew 600 students from four villages and the surrounding area.
鈥淏ased on the experiences I had at the principalship, I thought I had a broad range of skills and understanding of the system, but I think that the delegation of time to yourself and where you put things really sort of stresses a person out,鈥� Pentermann said.

The complexities of the organization fell to the superintendent to figure out. Without clear direction from the school board upon his hiring, he created his own transition plans, one for the first 45 days, the other for 90 days. The first plan called for him to meet a wide array of constituents to understand the school system. But starting work in July hampered that good intention.

鈥淵ou want to meet with your principals and all of a sudden, you find out that they鈥檙e not year-round employees and they鈥檙e off on vacations and what-not, so you鈥檙e kind of there trying to absorb written material 鈥� going over policies and looking at past board minutes and just trying to absorb sort of a knowledge base of what that organization looks like and what are their challenges. 鈥� So it wasn鈥檛 what I expected. It was a little lonelier in that initial entry period,鈥� Pentermann said.

He considered the transition plans significant documents, so he asked the board of education to use them as part of his evaluation. He had hoped these would give the board members, some of whom were new, a clearer picture of his day-to-day responsibilities as a rural superintendent, forestalling any misconceptions.

Pentermann found it necessary to differentiate his management system from that of his predecessor when dealing with staff members. This included spelling out early on how he wanted problems to be handled.

鈥淵ou deal with your own problems. I鈥檓 not here to take on your problems,鈥� he said he told them. 鈥淚鈥檓 happy to solve them, but you probably won鈥檛 like the way that I solve them, so it鈥檚 better off that you do.鈥�

When Pentermann found his organizational skills put to the test in his first year, he was assigned a mentor, a nearby superintendent, by the region鈥檚 educational service agency. The two initially met once a month and spoke occasionally by phone.

When he thinks back about addressing challenges as a new rural superintendent, he considers personal integrity the most influential factor. 鈥淵ou have to kind of maintain your integrity when even people within the organization do things that are against your own belief system and you have to deal with that, especially when they鈥檙e your boss, in some cases,鈥� Pentermann said. 鈥淚 think trying to maintain a personal sense of integrity 鈥� trying to keep your energy up, especially now in the climate that we鈥檙e in.鈥�

Superintendent Jerson

Soon after Justin Jerson was promoted from the high school principalship to the superintendency of a 420-student district in southeastern Wisconsin, he recognized the need to establish a close relationship with his board of education to understand their expectations.

Early on, he approached the board about his authority to replace an ineffective building principal at year鈥檚 end. The members granted that latitude. Jerson met with the principal to discuss the nonrenewal of his contract and the posting of the position. A week later, the board had changed its mind, met with the principal and issued a new two-year contact.

鈥淚 felt stabbed in the back,鈥� Jerson said. 鈥淭hey made me look like a fool.鈥�

In his capacity as the instructional leader, Jerson was determined to introduce the use of technology into classrooms 鈥� an area in which many school staff lacked experience and were resistant to change. 鈥淭he building principals have no idea how a computer works, so they can鈥檛 talk 鈥� about what teachers should be doing in the classroom because they don鈥檛 know,鈥� he said.

When Jerson met with teachers, he was disappointed about how little they knew of technology integration. Recognizing the school district needed to stay competitive with neighboring districts, he took a top-down approach where staff members were not given a choice to implement technology. He implemented a 鈥淏ring Your Own Device鈥� initiative in grades 6-12, stating, 鈥淭his is the way it鈥檚 going to be.鈥�

Educating his rural board members had to be part of this process. 鈥淢any times [school board members] went to school and graduated from high school, so they鈥檙e an expert,鈥� Jerson said. 鈥淚鈥檝e tried, over the years, to inform them, but they鈥檝e lived in the rural town for 60 years and they鈥檝e been involved with the schools since age 5, as a student or a parent or now a board member for 20 years. How can an outsider to our district tell me differently?鈥�

Superintendent Bishopson

The one thing that surprised Charles Bishopson the most during his first months as superintendent of a 600-student district in southwestern Wisconsin was the challenge of maintaining a calm environment. He described the staff as 鈥渧ery scared, nervous and unsure of their future.鈥�

It wasn鈥檛 their unfamiliarity with Bishopson that spurred the fearful climate. He had been the elementary school principal for 4陆 years before he was promoted to superintendent.

What had so dramatically altered the work climate was the state government鈥檚 strong arm in radically changing the rules of collective bargaining in public schools in short order. This completely transformed the role of management in employee relations in his first year, and Bishopson was left to grasp all of the legal and regulatory changes and to develop a new employee handbook.

鈥淚t鈥檚 so ridiculously complicated right now, and I think that was kind of born out of the speed with which the change took place,鈥� Bishopson said. He felt that the rapid overhaul caused a great deal of confusion and angst among teachers.

A significant benefit toward his understanding and handling of administrative demands during this early chapter of his superintendency was his involvement in state and local professional associations. Yet as a small rural district superintendent, Bishopson sometimes felt his voice was not heard at meetings with colleagues.

鈥淚 can try to get my voice out there full well knowing that the rural school people probably need to get together and bring their issues up as a small group or as a group of small schools because it鈥檚 really not a small group, it鈥檚 a very large group if you bring them in 鈥� there鈥檚 strength in numbers.鈥�

Subsequently, Bishopson joined a startup group, the Wisconsin Rural School Alliance, to raise the visibility of superintendents鈥� concerns over rural school issues. He considered this an important means for highlighting the differences between a rural school education and an urban school education.

Superintendent Houston

Richard Houston said he experienced a smooth transition into the superintendency of a 530-student district in central Wisconsin. He had been able to work closely with the superintendent in his previous district, also small and rural, where he was the high school principal. 鈥淚 kind of knew what to expect,鈥� he said.

Many of the job鈥檚 responsibilities were new, so Houston said he needed to 鈥渓earn by doing鈥� during his first year. One immediate challenge involved preparing for the district鈥檚 annual budget hearing and annual board meeting, both in August, just a month after his start.

He found it helpful to rely on routines to deal with the many managerial tasks that begged for his time. This became especially so at the end of his second year when he cut $800,000 from the operating budget, requiring him to assume a dual role as superintendent and high school principal. This change in duties sharply increased the number of staff evaluations the superintendent had to complete, among other school-based duties.

鈥淚鈥檝e had to streamline things and make sure that I rely on a calendar and the things that we鈥檝e done in the past,鈥� Houston said.

He said it was strategically advantageous to share instructional leadership responsibilities with all staff members, using a professional learning community model. By giving teachers a voice, Houston explained, they feel more connected and willing to make changes. He conceded the idea of letting go of key decision making was difficult for him.

Through the PLC model, Houston had to find ways to communicate his message of excellence, while giving staff members the autonomy to lead the change process. He discovered it was important to develop a strong knowledge base about implementing PLCs and how they worked before asking the school board for approval.

Houston adjusted the school calendar to give staff members time to meet twice a month in their professional learning communities. 鈥淭hey understand the expectation of excellence and what we want to do here, and they go and look at how we can accomplish that. So I think PLCs have caused me to back away from having to do that.鈥�