See them tumbling down
Pledging their love to the ground
Lonely but free I’ll be found
Drifting along with the tumbling tumbleweeds.
(Bob Nolan, Sons of the Pioneers)
Whenever I hear the song “Tumblin’ Tumbleweeds” (which is not too often, mind you) I think of school district superintendents. Like the tumbleweeds in the song, they kinda go from one place to another, stopping for a while when they get stuck on a fence, then off to the next place, rolling along, never staying for too long.
I wonder if superintendents in school districts think about their long-term legacies, about what people will be saying about them 5, 10, 15, 20 or more years after they leave? They really don’t have a lot of time to make a mark on an organization. One survey of urban superintendents in the US found that the average term of service in a district is about 3.6 years.
Less than four years to mold an organization into their image. That is a hard trick for anyone, but it is even more difficult since we all know how the superintendent game is played throughout our nation: If a superintendent is “super” and does a great job, he or she will catch a fresh wind and tumble on to another job somewhere else that pays a ton more cash and has more perks. If they do a not-so-super job, they trundle off to a position as a consultant, where they will probably make more money as well.
So good for them. They worked to get where they are, and they are pretty much set no matter what happens. However, when they leave, they do leave behind a city or a school district that, for better or worse, has to put up with whatever was created during their stint sitting in the big chair.
There’s a typical pattern when they go
I’ve been in education for many years and seen my fair share of superintendents come and go. And I’ve noticed this pattern arise once a superintendent leaves a district:
After 1 year: Most of the people who’d been brought in to be on the super’s team will have left for greener pastures.
After 2 years: All curricula and programs are replaced with newer, shinier, brighter curricula and programs.
After 5 years: No one will be talking about the old super. The former curriculum that cost tons of money and thousands of man-hours to create and train on will be gone. The programs that were so meticulously put into place will have been replaced. The school board that loved the “best superintendent we ever had” will have been either re-elected with a new agenda or defeated by others with an different agenda who didn’t think that the former super was “all that.” Out of sight, out of mind.
After 10 years: The superintendent will either be a fond memory of the old timers still in the system or maybe a punchline in a lunchroom conversation. (That all depends on the circumstances of departure.)
In 15 years: No one will be talking about the plans and dreams of the past; in fact, they won’t remember them at all. That once authoritative and visionary superintendent is a long-gone memory, except perhaps for an occasionally heard phrase like “We used to do that, but we stopped for some reason.”
So how do superintendents build a legacy?
Knowing that in just a few years after departure, no one will remember the current administrator, their programs, or their philosophy, one has to wonder what a superintendent can do to have a legacy?
There is only one thing: Build a school.
That’s right, a new school. Much like a President’s Supreme Court nomination, the building of a school will be the only nearly-permanent legacy that will have any truly lasting consequence.
Fifty years from now, the plaque on the wall of the school will still bear the name of the district leader in charge when construction took place. Until they tear the dang place down, the plaque remains, advertising the names of the super and the school board he or she served.
So, if buildings are the only way to have a lasting legacy — the only thing of permanence — how does one make that building special? People 30 years from now will be able to say one of two things when they look at any building constructed during any superintendent’s tenure:
– They will say: “That superintendent sure had vision. That superintendent sure was able to see where education was headed when s/he led the design planning for that school.”
– Or they will say: “That superintendent built the exact same school every other superintendent built.”
How many supers are visionary builders?
I wonder how many superintendents put as much thought into new campuses as they do into new principals, or new curriculum, or new school buses? I wonder if most of them just leave the decisions to a bunch of architects who really never had any background in education and could cookie-cut a high school and a state prison all from the same basic set of plans?
When they hire architects, do they hire ones that actually specialize in school design, like Fielding Nair, or do you hire a local company that just finished designing the big-box discount store on the corner, or were just awarded the local KFC remodeling contract?
Do they consider what education will look like in 20 years? The school will still be there. They won’t be. Will it be designed to grow with technology or are the classrooms all based on the same 4-wall, 4-outlet, 4-window model from the 1950’s?
I wonder if all those “21st century skills” we keep telling the teachers and principals are important will be taken into account as the school is designed? For example, could someone point to the blueprints and actually say, “This is where collaboration takes place in this school. This is the setting for powerful informal learning.”
Are superintendents looking at how the best schools are being designed, beyond just their immediate geographical locale? Remember how we were told that Thomas Friedman was right when he said the world was flat? Okay, if that is true, are we looking at school design in China? Australia? Germany? Scotland? What are they doing that we aren’t?
Will a parent be able to look at the newly opened school and get the sense that education is now fundamentally different than it was when they were in school? Or will they look at it and get a sense of nostalgia because it looks so much like their good old alma mater of 20 years ago?
So, my dear Tumblin’ Tumbleweed, before you roll on to your next barbed-wire fence, I hope that you will consider your legacy and build something brilliant and inspiring, something that will be attuned to times ahead.
Because if you don’t, we’ll be occupying your lack of vision for decades to come.
Images:
Tumbleweed, Big Stock Photo
School designs, Fielding/Nair International
Tim Holt
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I have always been impressed with the work of Prakash Nair and Randell Fielding and their architectural firm Fielding Nair. http://www.fieldingnair.com/ Their work inspired this entry. If you have a chance, please check out their site and look at what a school should be. Then, if a chance comes up in your district to perhaps say something about a new school, point the community to these pioneers. We need to stop making cookie cutter schools.
TBH
Tim,
I think that you hit the nail on the head. Your statement, “All curricula and programs are replaced with newer, shinier, brighter curricula and programs,” is right-on. I worked in the Houston Independent School District for about 20 years as an administrator in the Technology Department, with time also spent in the Curriculum Department, as well as in the Research/Evaluation Department and that was my experience through the transition of three new superintendents. Each one repeated the same pattern and was gone within five years after doing all the damage they could (basically by not listening to anyone who had experience in the district, and/or by implementing painfully idiotic and expensive district-wide programs).
Richard,
Thanks for the response.
It always seemed to me that the things the Superintendents would have the most long-lasting effect on they kind of shuffle off to other people. Probably because they have little or no knowledge of it. The building example above is a prime example but there are others: Any of the technology infrastructure and facilities-related items last way longer than most Supers yet I doubt if there are many courses at the Graduate level on Facilities management or technology infrastructure for school leaders.
TBH
Wow, you hit the nail on the head for sure. I’m ending my career next year and I have come to the conclusion that the majority of superintendents are in the game for one reason and one reason only, themselves (and their families, of course). To me they are expendable, but a great teacher can never be replaced. What is the saying , Technology cannot replace a good teacher, but a technology can replace a bad teacher.
It is really true that the superintendent’s vision is what school boards should focus on when hiring. I am blessed to work in Belton ISD where our superintendent Susan Kincannon and our school board share a common goal of preparing our students and building our schools with the future in mind. Our newest building boasts multiple collaboration areas with appropriate furniture and white board walls, classrooms which have clear walls creating a transparency not often seen in schools, and an infrastructure that supports 1:1 computing. You can see a couple of videos here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuCsUBqd3B0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baymfK_6HWE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cR8hBy5PLM4&feature=related
I saw your TEC-SIG plea and I am glad I did…interesting perspective Tim. I am one of those superintendents and do agree with about 90% of your post. As far as the lasting legacy being a building, you are correct and I do believe those will be the “30 year” statements that will be made. While in Giddings ISD, we worked with the SHW Group to design and build a high school in that community that is both functional now and designed with the future in mind. Additionally, with the help of Cisco and Insight, the technology infrastructure is expandable and fully connected throughout the facility. None of this would have been possible if it were not for the collaboration between the architects, technology experts, community leaders and school staff working together in the design phase of the project. Frank Kelly, Ted McCain and Ian Jukes coauthored a book about the cookie-cutter schools that you are referring to and I agree with you completely!
As far as the changes that take place with each new superintendent in the district, that is tough to sum up as “typical.” Remember that School Boards hire that person to do a job just like everyone else in the district. They are usually tasked with fix this or change that or leave this alone. Therefore, once the superintendent gets the baton in their hand, they have to run their race as best they can knowing that when the School Board/Community changes that they will be handing off that baton not necessarily because they want to, but because that is what is best for the district.
I agree with Richard that asking those that have been there a while for their thoughts about new initiatives is vital to future success, but sometimes superintendents just have to do what we feel is right knowing that, TTWWADI, is alive and well in many places across the country and if you don’t take that stand, it might not ever be taken.
It is sad to me that many very good supers are forgotten very quickly. Some very good programs are thrown out , as well as some very good people when changes are made.
I suppose it is the nature of the beast, but the beast sure can be cruel some times.
Like I said, 20 years from now, how will you be remembered?
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