Hey Teachers! Anyone know what you need to be..

[Melissa W.]

a superintendent? Our CT district just hired a new superintendent. Personally, I am excited by the new hire but some of the residents are not.

One resident said she hoped they would get someone with a MBA and business experience to run the district.

I'm trying to wrap my brain around how that is even possible. Don't the superintendents have to have a special certification to be one? I think it is unlikely that some one with a MBA would be gunning for a super job. Am I the one who is off?

[Deleted]

Most have doctorate of education degrees

[basilosaurus]

In some places it's an elected position, so the only qualification is getting people to vote for you.

Maybe they're trying to get someone outside of the traditional education path like Michelle Rhee (her only graduate work was a MPP)

[UMaineTeach]

Don't know, but my district did 2 rounds of interviews for one and still didn't find anyone they liked. We hired some interim unqualified guy as the current one is retiring at the end of the week.

So, any supers out there want to move to small town ME for low pay in a failing district?

::crickets::

[Melissa W.]

It is paid position in our town.

[UMaineTeach]

The easy path to get certification in Maine, there are others, this is the most straight forward:
1. Earned a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university

2. Earned a master’s degree, in any field, from an accredited college or university

3. Evidence of a minimum of three years of satisfactory public or private school teaching experience or a minimum of three years of equivalent teaching experience in an instructional setting (e.g., military, business, post-secondary, industry schools);

4. Evidence of a minimum of three years of previous administrative experience in schools or an institutional setting (e.g., military, business, industry, public or private agency);

5. Completed approved courses the following two knowledge areas:
a. Teaching exceptional students in the regular classroom
b. Federal and Maine civil rights law and education laws

6. Meets the standards of the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium (ISLLC)

7. Satisfactory completion of an approved internship or practicum based on the Interstate School Leaders Licensure standards and relating to the duties of a superintendent in a school setting.

[rugbywife]

In Ontario you need to have taken your Supervisory Officer Qualifications (it's a course). Pretty much anybody who takes this course has been a Principal for a number of years.

In order to be a Principal you have to have taken your Principal Qualifications Courses (2 of them) and to take the first class you have to have a Masters degree OR a double specialist (meaning teaching specialist qualifications in two areas), plus be qualified to teach in 3 out of 4 age groups, plus have 5 years teaching experience.

The only position in a school board that you really need a doctorate for here is to be Director of the School Board, but I am sure many of the S.O.s have them too, it just isn't a prerequisite.

Oh, and S.O.s make pretty good money in my school board seems to range from 132k for someone brand new to the role, up to 176k for someone who has been in the role for a while.

edit: There is an S.O. for the 'Business' side of the school board. They still need to take the course but they don't need to have 5 years teaching experience, they need experience in the administration of the school board.

[NitaX]

This is a slightly sore subject for me this week thanks to a local debacle, but it can depend on your state/county. In TN, we don't have elected superintendents. And the qualifications can be laid out in your state education code.

We did a national search for a super about 4-5 yrs ago. As long as I can remember, our supers have had a doctoral degree. The neighboring school system just picks people that the board president can make into a puppet. Oops. Did I say that?

Now, I have seen a couple of articles about selecting supers with buisness backgrounds. Not sure how that works unless you have a very strong academic operations officer. *shrugs*

[Melissa W.]

This guy has a great track record in bringing a school forward (which we need!) and communicating with parents. I know this same mom is looking for the super to "turn the BOE on its ear" but I don't think that is the super's job. It think if she is looking for someone to shape up the BOE, it should be the voters.

[NitaX]

Jun 26, 2012 10:02:35 GMT -5 Melissa W. said:

This guy has a great track record in bringing a school forward (which we need!) and communicating with parents. I know this same mom is looking for the super to "turn the BOE on its ear" but I don't think that is the super's job. It think if she is looking for someone to shape up the BOE, it should be the voters.

Bless her heart. She has no clue what the role of the super is. The super's answers to the BOE. If she wants to turn the BOE on its ear, then she needs to run for office or actively recruit new BOE members. Or better yet, formulate a relationship with the board members or a grass roots organization like Stand for Children to take issues to the board.

[Melissa W.]

Oh thank you so much for this post. I was feeling crazy when I posted that it wasn't his job to shake up the BOE but ours as taxpayers/parents via our votes.