Across the country, school districts seem to be facing a similar problem: It’s become increasingly difficult to find educators to fill leadership positions. During a two-part panel at AASA’s national conference on Friday, the audience heard from executive directors representing two key roles in a school district—superintendents and school board members—to explore potential solutions.
The heavy-duty panel of association executives included the leaders of AASA, the National School Boards Association, the Consortium of State School Boards Association, the National Association of Elementary School Principals and ISTE+ASCD.
Throughout the hour-long discussion, panelists delved into the challenges facing educators today and the importance of reshaping narratives on what it means to be a teacher. Speakers offered practical advice for leaders on increasing staff retention, connecting with their community and, overall, remaining sane in a difficult job.
Joined onstage by AASA executive director David Schuler, the national association leaders maintained a healthy level of humor, while encouraging educational administrators to keep their cool despite the tense, politically charged times in which they must lead.
“We need to reclaim this narrative that being an educator is an honor and is a service,” Schuler said when asked about the difficulty of hiring for school and district leadership roles.
“Yes, the work is hard. It’s really hard. But there’s no one in the school community, in my opinion, who has the ability to transform the community like a superintendent,” he continued. Schuler encouraged superintendents to be more vocal about the positive aspects of their job, instead of focusing on the downsides.
Richard Cullatta, CEO of ISTE+ASCD, agreed that school leaders are partly to blame for the negative association surrounding teaching. “We call it the ‘pooping in the nest’ problem,” Culatta said. “As a bird, you can’t poop in your own nest, then wonder why no one wants to live in it.”
Schools’ persistent staffing shortage isn’t necessarily due to a lack of educated teachers, the speakers explained. According to a National Education Association survey, a staggering 55 percent of educators say they are considering leaving the profession earlier than they had planned, citing burnout and exhaustion. The panelists acknowledged that being an educator is no easy feat, with heavy workloads and long hours contributing to the idea that teaching is a thankless job. An immediate way to combat those challenges, they say, is to be the one providing thanks.
Culatta recommended that superintendents set aside time to shadow different members of their school district, from principals down to individual students. The goal isn’t to measure anyone’s performance, but to build empathy.
If you can do that, Cullatta says, “people feel like you actually understand what they’re dealing with, even if the problems don’t go away.”
(Emily Topping, a freelance journalist in New Orleans, is a reporter with Conference Daily Online.)
