PHOENIX — In less than two weeks, some districts will be kicking off the new school year. While a majority start over the next month, some new school superintendents will also be adjusting to their new roles.
Dr. Paul Tighe, the executive director of the Arizona School Administrators (AZSA), a nonprofit organization aimed at working with school administrators, says its new superintendent mentoring program has a cohort of 27 new superintendents for the 2023/24 school year.
Tighe told ABC15 this is the largest number of new superintendents they’ve had to mentor in recent years.
“It suggests that we have a lot [of] new leaders who need more support. It also suggests that we have a lot of new turnover in the leadership positions, which research has shown that having consistent leadership yields better results and ultimately helps student learning,” Tighe said. “We want superintendents to be in their position for a long time.”
While Dr. John Croteau is just three days into his first job as superintendent for the Dysart Unified School District, he told ABC15 he’s not nervous.
“It feels great. It’s a great opportunity and I’m excited to be given the opportunity to lead a district and affect the students in my community,” Croteau said.
He’s part of a group that met on Thursday in partnership with the AZSA, Arizona Department of Education and Grand Canyon University. There, new superintendents met their mentors who are veteran or retired superintendents.
Dr. Denton Santarelli retired from his years-long superintendent job six years ago and began mentoring new superintendents then. He’s been in the education realm for more than 30 years and has seen changes throughout the school system.
“Superintendents, right now, they’re juggling so many different balls and at one time and because of all of that, we have to continue to keep the focus on what we do: teaching and learning and there are so many distractions out there right now,” Santarelli said.
Those distractions, Santarelli said, includes diminishing resources for education, enrollment decline and political division.
“The reality is the job is super complex, super complicated. It’s always been challenging. The challenges now are certainly more glaring in my opinion because of the challenges our society faces,” Santarelli said. “Those challenges, ultimately, are having [an] impact. How can we actually come together with our differences and ways that make the outcome better?”
The growing teacher shortage is also causing concern up the ladder.
Because many principals are teachers moving up, then those principals are moving into district administrator positions, there is a “lag effect,” Tighe said. In turn, Tighe said some of these candidates have less experience compared to previous leaders, too.
“People are moving up in positions more quickly. So, principals may have less teaching experience. Superintendents may have less administrative experience than you might have seen years ago, so they need more support,” he said.
As the new school year approaches, the organization hopes having support, like the mentorship program they provide, will help keep superintendents in their jobs and ultimately help improve students’ education.
“The opportunity to come and be part of the education sector, there’s no other more important job in this world than being an educator and affect the people that are around,” Croteau said. “To lead that, and be part of that, we need to kind of flip that narrative, that you know what, education is the place to be.”
