Does the Park City school superintendent matter?

Thanks to those who came to Jeremy Ranch Elementary to talk schools this afternoon. I learned a lot, so thank you.

One of the topics that came up was Park City Superintendent Dr. Gildea. Discussions stretched from her $415K total compensation, to decisions she has made, to how she manages, and further. It was a good discussion with points both for her and against her.

We don’t need to get into the details here, as we all know… each of us have strengths and weaknesses. However, one gentleman asked what the role of the superintendent is. It’s an interesting question.My response was that they are the CEO. They manage all the essential parts of the school. He or she doesn’t do the accounting, HR, logistics planning, or any other direct job but they manage, and are responsible for how it ultimately works out.

After discussions like that I like to go home and better understand research around the topic. In this case I found an informative, and a surprising study from the Brookings Institute. They are an apolitical and well respected think tank.

So, according to their studies, how important is a school superintendent? Not very important when it comes to student outcomes. That’s surprising. They are the highest paid employee in most school districts. They are in charge. We give them props for all the successes and we rake them over the coals for each failure.

However, the Brookings institute study concluded five things:

• The typical superintendent has been in the job for three to four years.
• Student achievement does not improve with longevity of superintendent service within their districts.
• Hiring a superintendent is not associated with higher student achievement.
• The percentage of the variance in student achievement (a measure of the differences among individual students in test scores) that is associated with superintendents is smaller than that associated with any and all other major components of the education system.
• Superintendents who have an exceptional impact on student achievement cannot be reliably identified.

What the study indicates is that superintendents don’t quantitatively impact the success of our children. Further more, if you desired a rock-star superintendent that may make a difference, you’re unlikely to identify them in a placement search.

My take away from all of this is that it is likely Dr Gildea will be moving on from the Park City School district soon due to average tenure or failure due to our crises. A competent school board would seriously question renewing the contract of a superintendent who allegedly did not follow the law regarding mask mandates, had swastikas on desks that basically went unanswered, and had unreported cases of child abuse. She is also in that four year range of turnover.

Question for next.