LEXINGTON, Ky. — After an unprecedented 2020-21 school year dealing with COVID-19 protocols, district superintendents around the country are leaving their posts at a higher rate than in recent years. Kentucky, however, appears to buck the national trend.

A recent article in The Washington Post cited the main reason for the increase in vacancies as dealing with pandemic pressures at work and home. The American Association of School Superintendents reports many of the departures are in large cities. Still, an unusually high number of superintendents left their jobs in smaller suburban and rural districts.

According to the report, rural school districts may be particularly vulnerable after a superintendent departs since not many potential replacements are eager to step up. 

“It takes a special skill set, a tolerance for extra-long workdays, and a love of small towns to be a rural superintendent. But, though rural principalships have some of the highest turnover rates in education, rural natives tend to stick around longer in rural education jobs. Rural educators and administrators are frequently graduates of the schools they work for as adults or graduates of other rural schools,” according to the report. 

Around 25 superintendents in Kentucky left their jobs during or after the 2020-21 academic year for many reasons. Some “retire” but go on to other jobs. Tim Eaton retired as superintendent of Pulaski County Schools in 2010 after working in the role for 10 years. He now works as one of three field consultants for the Kentucky School Board Association that helps districts in their process of filling vacant superintendent positions.

“I’ve done 40 of them,” Eaton said about assisting in superintendent searches. 

Eaton said the roughly 25 superintendents that left their positions in Kentucky after the 2020-21 school year is fewer than in past years, such as after the 2012-13 school year when 34 superintendents left. He also said those who left their posts during or after this school year did not do so because of COVID-19, except the highly publicized termination of Clark County Schools Superintendent Paul Christy this past April. Christy’s contract was not renewed in a 3-2 vote by the school board after contention surrounding his handling of COVID-19 protocols. 

“He is an exception,” Eaton said. “But as far as any other places, I have not seen that situation. In most of the places I've worked, the superintendent is at the end of their career and ready to retire.”

Other exceptions to vacancies created by something other than retirement were in Knott County, where superintendent Kim King died and was replaced by Brett Hoover, and Floyd County, where Danny Adkins left and took the same position in Woodford County.  

The difficulty in Kentucky recently, Eaton said, is not finding replacements but rather the qualifications of the candidates.

“You don't see as many sitting superintendents wanting to move,” he said, citing Adkins as the exception. “At times in years past, you see sitting superintendents that want to go to a larger district, and we do not see that this year. Most of them are staying sitting pretty tight.”

Several districts have appointed interim superintendents to comply with the rule that superintendents must be in place by July 1. Superintendent contracts in Kentucky are for four years, and Eaton said he is not aware of any that have retired with time remaining on their contracts, which is another trend cited in The Washington Post article.

The number of applicants for superintendent vacancies has also held steady in Kentucky, Eaton said, with an average of about 20 people submitting the required paperwork for consideration.

“That’s a pretty good number,” he said.