Rural Superintendents’ Responses to COVID-19: Navigating Local Control During a Public Health Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has prompted a variety of responses by organizational leaders throughout the United States and internationally. This paper explores the responses of five rural school superintendents who work in a conservative Midwestern state. Using an exploratory qualitative research design, the study analyzes interviews and documents collected remotely to adhere to current public health guidelines. The study adopted a crisis leadership perspective to explore how rural school superintendents were responding to the COVID-19 pandemic and managing the politics associated with it. Findings suggest that superintendents were acutely aware of their community’s current political stance toward the COVID-19 pandemic and were especially responsive to the individual political philosophies of their elected school board members. The superintendents did not uniformly adopt crisis leadership behaviors to respond to the circumstances created by the pandemic. Rather, superintendents responded in ways that managed the political perspectives held by their elected board members and sought to reconcile differences in the board members’ political perspectives that precluded action. As part of this reconciliation, the superintendents leveraged public health information to shape and at times change elected school board members’ perspectives. This information helped the superintendents overcome political perspectives that led some of the most conservative board members to resist widely accepted public health guidance. Implications for the field of educational leadership, research on rural superintendents, and potential revisions to superintendent preparation are discussed.

Washington View: Big ideas for a new day

As the United States has begun to make the transition from one presidential administration to the next, organizations with an interest in education have weighed in on what they think the Biden administration should focus on. Maria Ferguson shares recommendations from the Center for American Progress, AASA: The School Superintendents Association, Organizations Concerned About Rural Education, and advocates for social and emotional learning.

Balancing trust and control through dialogue meetings in Norwegian school district governance

Increased attention has been paid to school superintendents and their role in school reforms. Still, there are few studies on dialogue meetings between actors at different levels in the school hierarchy. The current paper investigates how a superintendent balances between trust and control while supporting school development through dialogue meetings. Drawing on interviews, reflection notes, and longitudinal observational data from dialogue meetings, comprising a superintendent, subordinated school leaders, and team leaders, this action research study provides insight into requirements for productive dialogue meetings. We argue that superintendent leadership through regular dialogue meetings can foster trust-building, empowerment, and professional commitment.

Managing Risk in School Crisis Intervention

This chapter reports findings from a study of school leader perspectives on crisis preparedness. The context for the study is a sample of school superintendents in the southwest region of the United States. Interviews were conducted with four school superintendents to gather insights into mainly organizational norms, policy, and planning related to crisis preparation. This chapter seeks to add insight into what leaders perceive as preparation for potential crises and to critically assess the demands and obligations set forth through state legislative policy. Furthermore, the authors explore myriad leadership challenges to maintaining public confidence and maximizing the safety of children. Recommendations for leaders to engage in reframing of their positionality with respect to crises and a model for engaging parents and community in assessing risks and threats are offered.

Accessing Minnesota School Administrators’ Knowledge and Perceptions Related to Sharing School Play Spaces after the Passage of Minnesota Shared Use Legislation

Lower levels of physical activity among children in the United States can be attributed in part to the lack of access to safe, low-cost recreational facilities. Shared use, or a partnership allowing the community to use school recreational facilities outside of normal hours, has received increased attention. Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the extent of knowledge among school decision makers about a law passed clarifying liability for school shared use in Minnesota and to understand perceptions held by school decision makers regarding shared use of recreational facilities. Design, Setting, and Participants: A survey of Minnesota school superintendents and other decision makers (N = 182) was conducted to understand the issues relevant to sharing school recreational facilities with the public. Results: The majority (90%) of respondents indicated concern about liability for injury on school property outside of normal hours, and that insurance and contracts provided the most protection from liability. Most respondents indicated they were not familiar with the Minnesota shared use legislation and its provisions (61.36%, n = 108). Conclusions: Findings suggest the importance of education and training to further school superintendents’ knowledge of Minnesota shared use legislation, legal and policy issues relevant to shared use, and issues related to the implementation of shared use within their Districts.

The Professional Learning Needs of School Principals

The purpose of this qualitative research was to identify the preparation needs of principals through the lens of school superintendents in the southeastern United States. This research was based on a collaborative university, multi-school district partnership. Superintendents were interviewed to determine their perceptions regarding the professional learning needs of principals. Three themes emerged from the analysis:(a) principal perception of community matters, (b) formal support is necessary, but challenging to schedule and scope, and (c) instructional and operational leadership are differentiated. These findings present several implications for university and district-based leadership preparation programs, both individually and collaboratively.

Food and beverage marketing in schools: school superintendents’ perspectives and practices after the healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act

Objective:Children are surrounded by ubiquitous forms of unhealthy food marketing at home and in schools. The US Department of Agriculture now restricts food and beverage marketing that does not meet Smart Snacks in School standards. School superintendents, as districts’ top administrators, play a critical role in ensuring marketing policies are implemented and adhered to; however, there is limited research involving this stakeholder group. The current study examined superintendents’ perspectives on food marketing in schools and the marketing provision in wellness policies, as well as experiences with the implementation of such policies.Design:Qualitative focus groups and follow-up interviews (with focus group participants) were conducted by trained researchers.Setting:Focus groups occurred at The School Superintendents’ annual meeting; follow-up interviews were over the telephone.Participants:Superintendents and assistant superintendents (n 39) from twenty-three states participated. Interviews were recorded and professionally transcribed; transcripts were team-coded in Atlas.ti using an iteratively revised coding guide to facilitate theme generation.Results:Despite common concerns that marketing to children was ‘insidious’, superintendents reported a wide range of food and beverage marketing policies. In addition, the main issue is fundraising – such as ‘restaurant nights’ – that results in marketing that occurs on- and off-campus and afterschool.Conclusions:Discrepancies between perspectives and practices point to the challenges that superintendents face with budgetary constraints, as well as relationships with parent–teacher organisations. These findings provide important insights about superintendents’ perspectives and challenges, particularly for government and child health advocates supporting school districts, to implement these policies.

An Exploration of New Superintendent Mentoring and Goal Setting

Using surveys and focus group interviews, this study explored the perspectives of new school superintendents and their mentors on goal setting in relation to national leadership standards in a formal mentoring and induction program. While the two groups shared certain views, statistically significant differences were found. The mentees displayed a contextualized understanding of advocacy--more related to local community values and beliefs than those of national or international views. The issue of goal setting, or lack thereof, and the engagement of national leadership standards to mentoring are most prominent and novel in this study.