Kentucky School Advocate
April 2024
In Conversation With features an interview between a leader or figure involved in public education and a representative of the Kentucky School Advocate.
Don Martin is a consultant with
KSBA’s Superintendent Search Service. He’s been in education more than 35 years, working in numerous roles, including as superintendent and assistant superintendent in several Kentucky school districts. Here, he talks about the work of the search service.
Q. You are part of KSBA’s Superintendent Search Service, which helps school boards with their superintendent searches. Why do boards need help when looking for a superintendent?
A. Hiring a superintendent is unlike any other position that a school district hires. Statutes were created as a result of KERA in the early ‘90s, and they outline a procedure each school board must undertake before a superintendent can be employed. It is the only position where a broad-based search committee must be created that will go through all the applications and recommend a slate of candidates that they would like the school board to consider before the hiring is done. By statute, the committee must include two teachers, one board member, one classified employee, one principal and one parent. Districts with more than an 8% minority student population are required to have minority representation on the committee. Confidentiality is extremely important throughout the entire process. There are also some duties that school boards must undertake during this process. So, districts usually want a service like KSBA’s to provide a level of comfort that the selection is done properly.
Q. You say you’re impressed by the dedication of search committees. Talk a little about that.
A. The search committee members take their jobs seriously. By the end of the process, they are confident in the slate of candidates they recommend to the board. School boards recognize all the hard work the search committee does: they do the interviews, check references and backgrounds, craft the questions to ask applicants. In my area of the state, we have those interviews by Google Meet or Microsoft Teams so the entire committee can see every interview. The board of education has the right to select the superintendent from that recommended list or they can employ somebody that was not recommended by the committee. But that happens very rarely.
Q. So KSBA’s service oversees the process but doesn’t go out and search for candidate?
A. Right, we are not like a headhunter. We receive all the applications, resumes, letters of reference, etc., in a secured digital mailbox and process them. We do have a list of people and if we think a superintendent job is a fit for a particular person, we will contact them to see if they are interested. Our job is to direct the process, make sure the process is legal, ethical and fair to everyone from start to finish. We provide all the information to the school board so they can make a decision that will benefit that school district. Each school district is different, and we trust that school board members have the knowledge of their school district to make an informed decision about hiring their superintendent.
Q. You are a former superintendent of Grant County Schools. How does that experience help as you work with boards to find a superintendent?
A. It helps tremendously. Sometimes they ask our opinion about what makes a good superintendent, and then we might talk about issues that occurred when we were superintendents and how different people would react to those situations. I think it gives the whole process credibility with school boards. They are dealing with someone who has been in that seat.
Q. What’s the most common misperception that board members have about hiring a superintendent?
A. Sometimes board members question whether the board actually needs a consulting service or whether it can be done internally. Most board members know the process that must be undertaken, but there are a lot of moving parts. Most districts will choose KSBA as the consulting service, primarily because we have been it doing it for 30 years.
Q. What are some challenges boards face when they’re looking for a superintendent?
In addition to helping school boards hire their next superintendent, Don Martin, KSBA Superintendent Search Consultant also presents at KSBA conferences to help boards be ready in case they have a superintendent vacancy. A. Probably the biggest challenge is the applicant pool. It has been reduced over the years, just like every other job classification, in and outside of education. It was not uncommon seven or eight years ago to have 30 to 35 applicants for a position. Now the average is about 15. Once in a while we’ll see 20. Also, turnover is more than it was in the past. It was fairly common back in the old days for superintendents to be in that position for more than 20 years. That never happens anymore.
Q. The average tenure for a Kentucky school superintendent is just over four years, which is about the length of a contract. Why aren’t they staying as long as they used to?
A. I think the job has gotten more challenging. The advent of social media has made the job tougher. The economy has made the job somewhat tougher. And superintendents don’t get hired as early in their career as they used to. We used to have superintendents hired at about 30. It’s rare now for boards to hire someone that age. They’re a bit older, so they have fewer years to serve.
Q. So it’s not a matter of superintendents moving to the same position in, say, a larger district?
A. Actually, we now see less movement of superintendents from one district to another than we have in the past.
Q. Since the tenure of most superintendents is short now, is there anything board members can do to encourage their superintendent to stay longer?
A. If they’re pleased with their current superintendent, they need to make that known to the superintendent early as they can, that allows them to have discussions about an upcoming contract period so they could have a contract that is appealing and that would keep that superintendent.
Q. School boards want to attract the best candidates. What can boards do to make sure they can get quality applicants?
A. I think the big thing is to use a service that will attract a wide range of applicants. And that’s what we provide. We do a lot of advertising of the position when it comes available. As soon as the agreement is made between the school district and KSBA, we put it on the KDE site. Then I send an email to all the superintendents in the state with the advertisement attached and say, please pass this along to all the people in your organization who may be considering becoming a superintendent. We are also a part of the National Affiliation of Superintendent Searchers, which includes more than 100 consultants in 40 states, so we have the ability to reach out of state candidates. The communications department at KSBA will also put information about the opening on all of the association’s social media feeds. Sometimes we use topschooljobs.org, the online recruiting service of Education Week.
Q. You’re not the only KSBA search service consultant. Tell me about the other consultants and how you divide up the state?
A. We have three consultants. I primarily work with districts north of a line that runs along I-64 from Ashland to Louisville. Tim Eaton, former superintendent of Pulaski County, is our consultant in southern and eastern Kentucky. Quin Sutton, former superintendent of Lyon and McCracken counties, primarily works west of I-65. So, he’s our west Kentucky guy. If one area has a lot more openings, we work outside of our area and help each other out.
Q. It’s a lot of districts to serve. When are you busiest?
A. Primarily late winter and early spring. Superintendents who are retiring usually announce that between Christmas and mid-February. The way we conduct the search process, it takes about three months to hire a new superintendent.
Q. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
A. For a school district, the right fit for a superintendent is crucial. It’s probably the biggest decision that a school board will make. And an applicant can be a really good fit in one district, and less of a fit even in a neighboring one. The right fit for a superintendent can make a district run very efficiently and make school board members’ lives easier.