Katz, s. (march 2010). women superintendents: standing for social  (Page 4/9)

Carmen’s district is situated in a wealthy suburban small town where pressures from parents can be overwhelming. Carmen had been an administrator in other nearby districts and was a school principal for several years in this district where she now leads as superintendent. The school district is not diverse, consisting of 95% White students, many who are Jewish American. The Jewish holidays are school district holidays and the district tries very hard to be sensitive not to schedule events around these holidays. Ninety-nine percent of the teachers are White. Carmen is Native Indian of the Cherokee tribe and makes this known to staff, students and parents. She will intervene if she sees a classroom is planning a unit on Native Americans with emphasis on the “wrong” kind of information.

Corwin , an African American woman who appeared to be in her 40s and by her own admission had been enjoying a successful career as an assistant superintendent in another district. She came back to her hometown district to take over because they were “in trouble.” Before she began her superintendency, Corwin worked for 20 years in a high school district in another suburban town. She taught there for 14 years, became a dean of students, and then an assistant principal. Corwin’s district is fairly large with ten schools, K-8 with 42% Hispanic students, 54% Black students and 3% White students. Sixty-nine percent of the district’s teachers are White, while 23% are Black and 7% are Hispanic. The district includes several towns which have a history of some infighting and racial tension. Seven schools have been in “school improvement” status for five years.

Tina, a European American woman in her 50s, began her teaching career as teacher and then director for students with visual impairments. At the time of the study, she was the interim superintendent in the district where she had been a building principal for 10 years. Tina explained that the school where she was principal had a large proportion of students in special education. Tina talked about including students with disabilities in regular education as a social justice issue. Another issue for her is the fact that the district’s population is changing as more Latinos move into town. According to Tina, this is creating “growing pains” in the populace. Tina has lived in the town for almost 20 years, and she stated this has been good for her position as superintendent.

The district is comprised of eight elementary schools (K-5), two middle schools (6-8), and one year-round school of choice enrolling students from kindergarten through eighth grade. Thirty-three percent of the district’s students qualified for low-income services. According to the state school report card, the district’s racial and ethnic background comprised of 51% White, 4% Black, 32% Hispanic, and 10% Asian/Pacific Islander students. Ninety-three percent of the teachers were White.

Delia, who is African American, taught and then had several building and district leadership positions in a large, diverse district in a town not far from her current district. This position is her first superintendency. As a former teacher and school leader for 24 years, Delia described issues with parents in her former large school district (15 schools) as sometimes difficult, averaging several parent calls a day. Her former district is located in a town that has had a racially diverse population for many years. There are ongoing race and class issues in the community and the schools. In her current small district with two buildings, one elementary and the other a middle school, Delia likes rarely having to deal with difficult phone calls from parents. Students in her district are 64% White, 2% Black, 5% Hispanic, and 29% Korean. Teachers in the district are 93% White and 5% Asian with a very small percentage of teachers who are Hispanic. While the district is small with 850 students, there are 12 languages represented – languages from several Eastern European cities as well as languages from Asia. Delia talked about her initial trepidation coming to a district that had never had a woman superintendent as a leader, let alone being led by a woman of color.