A high school calculus teacher helps her students at Glendale High School work through a tough word problem.
Credit: Lillian Mongeau/EdSource
Superintendents around the nation have stepped down from their roles at alarming rates.
Since the start of July, more than two dozen district leaders have abruptly resigned, retired or been fired by their school board, according to an EdWeek analysis of local news coverage. A number of superintendents in California have left their districts in the last year.
Recently, board meetings have become a political arena for issues such as banned books, critical race theory and Pride Month. In June, while I was serving as superintendent of Glendale Unified School District I, recommended that the board adopt a resolution to designate June 2023 as LGBTQ+ Pride Month. But this exact resolution — adopted without issue for three consecutive years — now faced backlash from some in the community.
The controversy contributed to my decision to retire, although I had recently received a stellar evaluation from the board and signed a four-year extension to my contract. How do democratic values show up when angry individuals interrupt public meetings, invade private lives and threaten the safety of leaders? How can students advocate for themselves? How do educators and school administrators navigate public forums where our students’ opportunity to learn is at stake?
Students, listen up. Here is a final message from your superintendent: You have a voice and you have agency. Schools belong to you, so be thoughtful and organized, engage in civil discourse to improve conditions for learning and teaching. These words stand in sharp contrast to the lesson played out at the Glendale board meetings. What students observed was far from the civil discourse I encouraged Glendale students to practice.
Practice civil discourse and engage in dialogue, not just with those who are alike in their thinking, and always show courage. Finding common ground makes us a more united and powerful community.
To teachers: With the support of school leaders, site leaders, and superintendents — uphold our democratic values and prepare students to become responsible and productive citizens. Teachers deliver lessons about democracy that center on citizenship and encourage individuals to respect diverse perspectives and opinions.
However, what played out in Glendale reminds us that we must step back and ask what lessons we teach our children. How do they make sense of the rhetoric that adults model for them? What does this mean in a nation committed to respect for the individual’s rights and commitment to the common good?
To parents: Get involved and volunteer at your student’s school site for student well-being. Trust the teachers and administrators. The way you build trust is by building a relationship. Relational capital is the prerequisite or foundation for building trust within the school community and beyond.
Relationships established among the district’s stakeholders stem from a strong sense of belonging and a highly developed cooperation capacity. Trust is earned through the display of relational and interpersonal skills. Meaningful engagement with stakeholders requires the exchange of lived experiences to address challenges by generating solutions and building common ground.
For fellow superintendents who had similar experiences with their boards, I emphasize the following priorities:
- Ensure a positive, collaborative and productive relationship with the board built on trust and communication.
- Earn public trust, welcome community support and honor student voice.
- Build positive and productive relationships with political and community leaders, parents and business organizations.
- Celebrate the community and our diversity, culture, traditions, history and expectations.
Our kids are watching! What lessons will they learn? Is there a place where we can find common ground, model respectful discourse and promote the common good? There are at least two sides to any debate. Let us cherish our freedoms and those differences of opinion. This is what makes our society strong and preserves trust in public education.
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Vivian Ekchian served as the superintendent of Glendale Unified School District and was named Los Angeles County Superintendent of the Year for 2022-23. She has an Ed.D. from USC Rossier. Maria Ott, USC Rossier professor of clinical education and an expert on school administration, contributed to this commentary.
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