5 Dec 2007, George J. Petersen and Lance D. Fusarelli
[This is an abstract of a paper given at the symposium School Board Research: Main Lines of Inquiry, in Des Moines, Iowa, September 14-15, 2007. The full paper is published in Relevancy and Revelation: The Future of School Board Governance, by Rowman and Littlefield, Spring 2008.]
In this chapter we explore the relationship of the board of education and district superintendent in an era of reform and eroding public confidence. We offer a brief review of extant literature and research examining the influence of this relationship on district leadership and decision making while also presenting some recent criticisms of the current governance structure of public schools. However, the heart of the chapter concentrates on four trends we believe are reshaping this relationship: (1) demographic changes; (2) external threats and stress; (3) the politics of personalism and; (4) changes in superintendents themselves. We use these four trends as lenses to explore their potential strength in influencing, in any substantive way, relations between superintendents and boards of education and the leadership of schools.