As baby boomer superintendents retire, districts look to changes in education

When Marion Independent School District superintendent Sarah Pinion announced her retirement in January, she became the third Corridor superintendent in the past year to do so.

David Benson, the superintendent of the Cedar Rapids Community School District, had told board members of his retirement a month earlier.

And last July, Linn-Mar Community School District superintendent Katie Mulholland gave notice that this school year would be her last.

The three administrators have more than 100 years of combined experience, including 24 years combined as superintendents in their current districts. They have worked together since 2009, when Benson and Pinion started in their current positions.

The three new superintendents start on July 1.

PASSING THE TORCH

Superintendents are likely to get younger in the coming years, said Bill Attea, a superintendent search consultant and former superintendent who is leading the Cedar Rapids search.

Most superintendents today are in their mid-40s or early 50s when they start, Attea said. But he predicted that districts would start hiring more candidates in their 30s or early 40s.

That was true in Linn-Mar, which in December hired 37-year-old Quintin Shepherd to succeed Mulholland. Cedar Rapids is in the process of interviewing candidates to replace Benson. Marion plans to interview possible successors for Pinion next month.

School board members from two of the districts said they could not remember another time when three Corridor superintendents retired at the same time.

'There's a tremendous amount of knowledge and experience that's right on the cusp of walking out the door,” Shepherd said of retiring superintendents nationwide. 'There's going to be a great loss in education when that happens.”

Younger superintendents, Attea said, represent 'greater risk, greater gain.”

'The profession has never been in better hands for the future,” Benson said. 'The superintendents coming up are a talented group, and they have had their formative training in a much more complex environment than my experience.”

Mulholland agreed.

'I have lot of hope for the next generation,” she said. 'After all, we educated them.”

CHALLENGING THE TRADITIONAL CLASSROOM

Closing racial and socio-economic achievement gaps and managing a tight budget are among the biggest tests for the new superintendents, school board presidents from the three districts said.

Another central challenge is breaking away from the education model developed during the Industrial Revolution, in which teachers give lectures and assign homework to a large group of students, said Cedar Rapids school board President Mary Meisterling.

'We hang onto this industrial model of delivery of instruction,” Meisterling said. 'I'm not sure that model works anymore, and I actually look forward to the next generation of superintendents that can have an impact on that model in a positive way for students.”

One possible replacement, Meisterling said, is the project-based curriculum model the district uses at the Iowa BIG high school and the 'option” program at Roosevelt Middle School. Students there form groups to work on projects ranging from an online radio station to a charity fundraiser, getting math and writing lessons focused on practical applications.

That's tied into the idea that, with the availability of information online, schools should focus on creativity and critical thinking rather than memorizing facts.

'How I went to high school back in the '80s is not how they learn now, and not what businesses want,” said Tim Isenberg, the Linn-Mar school board president. 'We're trying to adapt our high school to that” with an upcoming renovation project.

Cedar Rapids associate superintendent Trace Pickering is in discussion with Marion and Linn-Mar about joining the BIG school, Meisterling said. A possible agreement - such as one already in place with the College Community School District - would allow Marion and Linn-Mar students to work on projects at the school, with their home districts transferring tuition money accordingly.

But going against the status quo in any school system isn't easy.

'We want to be innovative, and tradition is hard,” Meisterling said. 'Breaking that tradition is very hard. And even if you had an outstanding superintendent who was willing to take some risks here, I think you have faculty and staff ...

some would be inclined to do that, and some would be less inclined to do that.”

Schools also are required to collect a lot more data today than before the No Child Left Behind law was passed in 2001.

'We are held more accountable,” Pinion said. 'That sometimes causes a difficulty to spend time with people, because we're so tied to the red tape and the reports. That's not good for our society or our students.”

Cedar Rapids Community School District

l Number of schools: 31

l Number of students: 16,157

l Number of teachers: 1,277

l Current superintendent: David Benson

l Age: 64

l Tenure: Six years (since 2009-10)

l Salary: $229,104

Linn-Mar Community School District

l Number of schools: 10

l Number of students: 6,943

l Number of teachers: 435

l Current superintendent: Katie Mulholland

l Age: 67

l Tenure: 12 years (since 2003-04)

l Salary: $200,850

Marion Independent School District

l Number of schools: 5

l Number of students: 1,912

l Number of teachers: 168

l Current superintendent: Sarah Pinion

l Age: 59

l Tenure: Six years (since 2009-10)

l Salary: $148,600

Sources: School districts, U.S. Department of Education