By Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana
I firmly believe the superintendency is more than an occupation, it is a calling. We all entered education because we want to make a difference in the lives of the children. Through these children we shape the future. They are our true legacy.
I think author and friend Louis Barajas described this sense of calling best when he spoke of an “occupassion.” It is the driving force behind our every choice, and it’s why we seek to become superintendents.
I know one superintendent who set the superintendency as her goal because she believed it was important for children to have people in leadership roles who look like them. Another superintendent made it his career goal because he wanted to make a difference for as many children as possible.
The most successful superintendents stay focused on the needs of the children in their districts, in spite of all the obstacles.
So, you want to be a superintendent?
First, ask yourself why you want to be a superintendent. The motivation of a successful superintendent cannot be the money or the title. With these as your only objectives, you will fail even if you succeed. The goal cannot be simply to reach the “top.” It has to be about the children, because as superintendent you will be regularly faced with making hard decisions that will be criticized, and will anger many stakeholders. At times your only support will be your own voice saying, “I am doing the right thing for children.”
Today, more women and minorities are becoming school superintendents than ever before. As the nation’s population becomes more diverse, women and minorities are moving into the role that has been called the most male-dominated executive position in the United States.
Once, virtually all school superintendents were married white male Protestants, but this is slowly changing. Fifteen percent of the nation’s superintendents are now women. The number of minority superintendents — men and women combined — remains about five percent. This figure is only gradually increasing.
These female and minority superintendents lead some of the nation’s largest, highest-profile districts. Ninety-five percent of female or minority superintendents in the United States serve districts with more than 25,000 students.
Minorities lead school districts whose student bodies are predominantly Black or Latino. African-American superintendents tend to be found in large urban districts, while Latino superintendents are generally concentrated in the southwest. They often lead challenging districts where they serve not only as educational leaders, but also as inspirational role models for students and staff.
If you are motivated to become a superintendent, then you are most likely a natural leader, a risk-taker and someone who seeks social change. You must also have good communication skills and be flexible, yet have strong core values to see you through the tough times and hard decisions. You will need strong family support, because the superintendency is a 24/7 job. Be sure you are doing this because you have a true passion for the work.
How do you become a superintendent?
Women and minorities who have reached this goal share certain things. Early in their careers many made a conscious decision to see how far they could go in public education to help the children. To this end, they set themselves a specific goal. They made certain that they had the appropriate academic credentials to get ahead. They put in the time to become the best possible applicant for the job. They acquired the credentials and degrees. They removed any excuse that anyone might use to exclude them, because those excuses are regularly used.
Most female and minority superintendents have a doctorate. Generally, they will be more academically qualified than other candidates for the same job. According to author and professor Flora Ida Ortiz (1999), the more prestigious the university from which they earned the doctorate, the more quickly they advanced to the superintendency.
Most superintendents started in secondary education, because secondary principalships have greater access to district-wide participation, and your superiors will see more of you. The opportunities for relevant advancement experience, after a solid frontline teaching career, are found in the district central office. However, not everyone starts in secondary education. I began my career as an elementary/secondary bilingual teacher. When I became principal, it was at an elementary school.
Often, women and minorities must be willing to relocate to gain the experience needed to reach their goals. One outstanding African-American female superintendent of a district with more than 30,000 students had a true “occupassion.” She had a prestigious history as a principal who led her large urban high school to numerous state academic honors. When she applied for a position in the central office, it was because she believed she could make even more of a difference for “her kids.” But she was denied, because “she was too valuable where she was.” A second position opened up to which she applied. Again, she was told that she was considered “too valuable” to promote. She read the writing on the wall.
She left the district, moving to another state to work for several years in that state’s department of education. There, she gained the vital administrative experience she needed. When the superintendency in her original district opened, she applied. Six years later she is a successful superintendent where she can make a real difference for the children she so passionately serves.
How I got there
Everyone’s path to the superintendency is different. In my case, I began as a bilingual classroom teacher in an urban California district in intermediate and elementary schools. I became an elementary school principal after several years. I then took a year off, hoping to become better at what I had chosen to do by completing a Ph.D. Next, armed with greater skills, I changed districts, becoming director of instruction, middle and elementary schools — an administrative position traditionally open to women.
After several years, I decided to broaden my administrative experience. I left my second district to become director of School Family Initiatives for LAAMP, the Los Angeles Annenberg Metropolitan Project. At that time many well-meaning individuals tried to discourage me from leaving K–12. However, my most trusted mentors said, “Go for it!” My experience grew as I implemented school-wide accountability reform programs in 15 school districts across Los Angeles County, where I managed grants that impacted more than 247 schools and 200,000 students.
From this vantage point I was able to observe national and local reform efforts, watching 14 superintendents lead their local reform efforts. From LAAMP I moved into the position of assistant superintendent of instructional services, eventually becoming deputy superintendent and chief academic officer in Pomona USD, an urban district with an ADA of 30,000. At this point I could have bided my time, just waiting for the superintendency to open. But I might have waited forever.
I chose once again to broaden my horizons, becoming a program manager for the national reform efforts of the Stupski Educational Foundation. I traveled a great deal to work with school districts in California and Illinois, building partnerships with public school district leaders to create high performance learning organizations that focused on raising student achievement and closing achievement gaps.
I twice took the risk and leap of faith to work outside of the familiar district organization chart. I earned valuable new perspectives and administrative skills unavailable within a school district as I developed a broad network of professional colleagues both in school districts and in educational foundations.
I now felt prepared, and when the position opened up, I was fortunate to be able to return to Pomona in 2006 as superintendent of schools.
The importance of a professional network cannot be overstated. Because women and minorities are often not in key positions, they are overlooked by search committees, headhunters and boards of education. Frequently, the friends and professional network you create are the means by which you are alerted to superintendent openings. Once you become a superintendent, when difficult situations occur, well-connected educational leaders can turn to their professional networks for advice and support. Their networks are professional organizations, educational foundations and the personal contacts they have made across many districts.
The importance of informal mentors
A mentor — someone with professional experience — is of paramount importance to navigating the path to the superintendency. Fortunately, there are a growing variety of mentoring programs to develop superintendents. A retired superintendent was quoted as saying, “When you’re first starting, you don’t know what to ask. You don’t know what you don’t know.”
I can’t emphasize enough the importance of having informal mentors. Early in my teaching career my first mentor, Darline Robles, was the principal who first hired me as a teacher. Robles, presently Los Angeles County superintendent, has mentored me and been a role model for me over the years.
Throughout my career I have sought out individuals who I have asked to mentor me. They include Bruce Matsui, now professor emeritus at Claremont Graduate University, who was my role model and principal at Bell Gardens Intermediate. I worked for Maria Casillas at LAAMP and sought her mentorship, following her example on how to be a strong administrator.
How to acquire a mentor
There are various ways in which you can acquire a mentor. The Association of California School Administrators and the New Teacher Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have started a pilot mentoring program. It eventually will partner with the California School Boards Association and executive search firms so that contracts for new superintendents will automatically include funding for executive leadership coaching for one or two years as part of the compensation package.
The advantages are priceless. One superintendent who had leapt from mid-level administrator to superintendent thought he was very well prepared. He knew how to manage people and to oversee a budget. “I woke up the day after I got the job and thought, ‘Oh my God, what have I done?’ One day you are overseeing 110 staff members and 700 students; the next you are in charge of 800 people and 7,700 students!” He turned to a mentoring program. “Getting involved was probably the single best decision I made in my first year.”
I was fortunate enough to be selected to attend the Eli Broad Superintendents Academy. This 10-month executive management program trains top executives from backgrounds in education, the military, business and non-profits to lead urban public school districts. It is the only program that recruits and trains non-traditional superintendent candidates as well as educators.
Participants continue working their 14-hour-a-day jobs while attending seven extended-weekend CEO-level training sessions. Each session covers a part of the whole: curriculum, finance, management, operations and organizational systems. This year’s participants include a former member of Congress, two retired Air Force colonels and a state superintendent of education. Today, my Broad mentors include Laura Schwalm of Garden Grove; Ray Cortines of LAUSD; Tom Payzant, formerly of Boston; John Simpson, formerly of Norfolk, Va.; and Tim Quinn, a former superintendent now with the Broad organization.
Organizations such as the California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators are also increasingly offering mentoring programs. Under the auspices of Kenneth R. Magdaleno and Executive Director Fernando Elizondo, CALSA has created an in-depth, two-year program. Experienced educational leaders mentor participants through an extensive application, interview and recommendation process, guiding them through racial and gender barriers on the basis of the mentors’ own personal and professional experiences.
A typical participant is someone who exhibits the “occupassion.” It could be a principal seeking an assistant superintendent position because he wants to expand his ability to better the lives of his students. Or it might be someone with wider administrative responsibilities. Leadership is developed through weekly conversations, reports and seminars; with workshops on networking and interviewing, resume reviews and visiting a mentor’s district for hands-on learning.
I participated in the CALSA mentoring program’s first cohort. My mentor was Edward Lee Vargas, superintendent of Hacienda-La Puente Unified School District. Those who have participated in mentoring programs often consider their mentors, doctoral cohort members and friends who are superintendents and assistant superintendents to be their most important professional influences. Our mentors share our passion for educating children and are our role models. I know that I will always consider Lee Vargas not only my mentor, but a trusted friend.
Becoming a superintendent
There is no magic formula to becoming a superintendent, but there are some similarities that most of us have experienced.
• Set a conscious goal about becoming a superintendent.
• Acquire the academic credentials and education to become the best qualified applicant of the pool.
• Gain experience in secondary education.
• Gain administrative experience through several central office positions.
• Be willing to relocate and/or look outside of K-12 to gain wider experience.
• Develop a professional network.
• Join a mentoring program and seek out informal mentors.
• Stay aware of superintendent openings.
Not all of these elements are necessary. But if you choose to become a superintendent, you will likely find yourself using most of them.
Is the superintendency worth it? Absolutely. Most of us aspired to the superintendency so that we could make a real difference in the lives of the children in our districts. As long as you keep your focus on the needs of the students, you will be able to be successful for the children.
References
Barajas, L. (2003). The Latino Journey to Financial Greatness: 10 Steps to Creating Wealth, Security, and a Prosperous Future for You and Your Family. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
Beem, K. (April 2007). “Superintendent Mentoring the State Way.” The School Administrator. Arlington, VA: American Association of School Administrators.
Johnson, W. Y. (2006). The Effects of Race and Gender on the Superintendency: Voices of African American Female Superintendents. University of Texas, Austin: Doctoral Dissertation.
Ortiz, F. I. (1999). “Seeking and Selecting Hispanic Female Superintendents.” In C.C. Brunner, editor, Sacred Dreams: Women and the Superintendency. Ithaca, NY: State University of New York Press.
Tallerico, M. (2000). Accessing the Superintendency: The Unwritten Rules. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Tallerico, M. (2000). “Gaining Access to the Superintendency: Headhunting, Gender, and Color.” Educational Administration Quarterly, 36 (1), 18-43.
Teitel, L. (January 2006). “Supporting School System Leaders: The State of Effective Training Programs for School Superintendents.” Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana is superintendent of Pomona Unified School District and president-elect of CALSA, the California Association of Latino Superintendents and Administrators.