0.3 Preparing and training superintendents for the mission of  (Page 13/23)

Districts between 5,000 and 10,000 provide opportunities for superintendents to be“hands on”coordinators. In this size district, a manager or administrator hired by thesuperintendent typically accomplishes most functions instead of delegating them to a lower layer of management. It is likely themost effective district management occurs in this size of district.

Districts with between 3,000 and 5,000 students provide unique opportunities for superintendents desiringto have their“hands on”the pulse of the school district. In these districts, superintendents can usually lead, supervise, and“manage by direct coordination”of principals and central office staff. In this size district, the“formal”distance between the superintendent staff is narrowed to the point where employees feelthe superintendent is accessible to hear their problems.

Medium Size Districts

A majority of American school districts fall into the 300 to 3,000 student size category. The district and thesuperintendent do not usually have the financial capability to hire a needed complement of central office staff. In these districts,most superintendents managerially become co-workers with one or two central office administrators. They are“hands on”managers working singly or with another manager in completing management tasks. Thesuperintendent must be able to actually perform the management tasks in a medium size district.

A typical central office staff of the average American school district (2,400 students) would be a businessmanager, assistant superintendent, facilities director, transportation director, and food service director. Again, thesuperintendent in this size of district can realistically supervise the central office staff as well as building principals.

Small Districts

Nearly 2,400 districts fall into the category of districts enrolling fewer than 300 students. In these districts,the superintendent works with a business manager and a principal in performing the myriad of management tasks common to districts ofall sizes. The role of the superintendent is a“management worker.”There simply is no one else to do the work. Fortunately, county, regional, intermediate, and cooperatives often assist these small“one or two administrator”districts (Glass, Bjork,&Brunner, 2000).

A Management Grid

The superintendent literature generally assumes the managerial role of superintendents is supervising andinsuring the work of assistant superintendents for finance, personnel, curriculum, support services, student services, andspecial programs.

Table 1 does not continue to contribute to this myth nor the existence of a“monolithic”superintendent role. Superintendents in medium size districts singly or cooperativelyperform numerous managerial tasks that superintendents in larger districts delegate to one or more lower levels of administration.The role and level of involvement differs greatly among districts of varying size, wealth, and program configuration.

The reader should not believe all superintendents of average sized districts (2,400 students) performevery managerial task as it is displayed in Table 1.Superintendents and their staffs differ in training, background, and inclination. Often they“rearrange”management tasks to fit local situations. The purpose of Table 1 is to illustrate themanagerial role and work of the“average”American superintendent. Most management areas in Table 1 are found listed in Kowalski’s (1999) The Superintendency. Strangely this is the only“superintendent”text to do so since days of the“compendiums of best practice”prior to 1940 by the“founders”of educational administration such as Elwood Cubberly and Jesse Sears (Glass,2004).