Feb 28, 2013 3 min read

Yet another area school district is looking to replace its superintendent in the middle of the academic year.

This time it’s Bethlehem-Center. Dr. James Stockdale, hired in 2010, submitted a brief letter of resignation to the school board through his attorney. His resignation is effective March 29, but he has been on leave since Dec. 3.

“He gave no reason,” school board President Karen Drill said.

It’s not at all unusual for teachers and office personnel to spend their entire careers in the same district, but that is not the case with most superintendents, the highest paid employees. They come and go with confounding regularity, often leaving their districts in administrative turmoil and owing large sums in the form of contract buyouts and accumulated sick pay.

A National School Boards Association survey determined that the average tenure for school superintendents in urban districts is five years, but other estimates of average tenure among Pennsylvania districts are as low as 2.5 years.

Washington County has seen more than its share of turnover lately. The disruption caused by the comings and goings of these top administrators is experienced by small and large districts, rich and poor.

The revolving doors have been spinning at larger districts such as Trinity, Canon-McMillan and Peters Township. In Peters, Diane Kirk worked through the length of her contract and was replaced by Timm Mackley in 2006. He left in the middle of his four-year contract, shoved out the door with a $170,000 parachute provided by taxpayers. His replacement, Nina Zetty, once superintendent at Bentworth, resigned effective Nov. 30 last year.

As with Beth-Center, smaller districts have had problems, too. Wayde Killmeyer resigned as Avella Area superintendent in June 2011 to take a higher-paying position in Clairton.

Over the past few decades several school boards have hired highly touted outsiders for eyebrow-raising salaries, only to be chagrined by not just sudden departures but by embarrassing lawsuits, sexual scandal and even criminal charges.

We should note, though, that not all districts in our area have been subject to such turnover. Some have found solid leadership and stability by hiring from outside the district, as Washington did with Roberta DiLorenzo. And some have enjoyed the same by hiring from within, as Carmichaels Area has done.

Craig Baily has been superintendent at Carmichaels for seven years. He was born in the Carmichaels area, graduated from Carmichaels High School and taught in the district, just as his predecessor, Jim Zalar, did. And just as his predecessor, Dolores Zoldos, did. For the past 40 years, the district in eastern Greene County has been led by three people born and raised in the area and who worked their way up through the local schools. Perhaps such close connection to the community has much to do with the length of their tenure, and in how well they have managed their relationships with the school board.

School directors should launch their searches for superintendents by first looking to the districts that have avoided the high cost and disruption of the revolving door, using them as examples to emulate.