ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, October 22, 1996 TAG: 9610220054
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: reporter's notebook
SOURCE: LISA APPLEGATE
Stable, long-term superintendent positions are a thing of the past. Nationally, particularly in urban areas, few superintendents are staying more than a few years.
In Virginia, 15 of the 135 school superintendents left last year, according to the Virginia Association of School Superintendents. Though the state group hasn't tracked the numbers through the years, it reports seeing the same trend.
Part of it, according to Cass Cannon with the Virginia School Board Association, simply has to do with mobility. Where once a teacher would spend years advancing within one school system to the position of superintendent, career experience now means jumping from place to place, promotion to promotion.
But how much of that trend is political? After the Montgomery County School Board made clear last week it would not renew his contract, three-year Superintendent Herman Bartlett said politics had played a role.
That depends on how you define the word political.
Statewide, the switch from a school board consisting of members appointed by the board of supervisors or city council to ones elected by the people certainly has had an impact. Cannon said some superintendents have chosen to take early retirement rather than deal with an elected board.
Board members have always heard from vocal community members. But election campaigns place candidates in direct contact with all voters. Elected school board members tend to hear from more constituents during their terms.
That's a good thing, said Montgomery County board member Wat Hopkins, who was elected last fall. Though he said he hopes all his decisions are made for the good of every child in the county, he does wonder what the response will be from his constituency.
"I should be thinking about what the people in my district feel about [an issue], rather than how the Board of Supervisors feels," he said.
During the election, no New River Valley candidate ran specifically for or against a superintendent. Hopkins said voters in Montgomery wanted board members who could view the job Bartlett had done with "an open mind."
But more than a few voters voiced their concerns about Bartlett during last year's election. Ultimately, their impact may never be measurable.
Marshall Leitch, with the Virginia Education Association, said boards across the state have certainly acted more independently than in the past when choosing superintendents.
In general, most agree people are speaking out about education more and more. If that is how "political" is defined, said Leitch, we need to see more of it.
"There has always been politics in education; it depended on whether it has been open to involve the community or closed." The public, he said, "has more access to the process, and that makes it appear more political."
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