School superintendents under fire across the country, not just Douglas County

This week's resignation of Keith Lewis as superintendent of Douglas County School District in Nevada has brought to light a divisive time for people who lead schools, students, teachers, and staff, not only in Nevada but across the country.

Many school districts have reported they are under fire from conservative groups and newly elected conservative school boards. The politically divisive issue themes have been common in all states over the last three years - the teaching of race, critical race theory, book bans, history, and providing access to athletics and bathrooms for students who identify as transgender. The themes have also included COVID procedures, even three years after schools reopened.

All of a sudden, and whether they like it or not, school districts have become the political barometer of national emotion and culture wars, and the district leaders have become the targets of these passions.

In Nevada, five counties have changed superintendents in the last year, with Lewis the most recent after Nye, Lyon, Washoe, and Mineral counties. The Nevada Association of School Superintendents (NASS) in Carson City is a state affiliate of the national superintendent organization and offers professional development, advocacy, support, and leadership. All 17 superintendents in the state meet monthly through the NASS. They also have a government affairs team and offer help with innovation and educational benchmarking.

According to governing.com, surveys found that nearly 40 percent of superintendents in the nation reported being threatened or feeling threatened on the job. And, 63 percent of superintendents reported feeling worried about their mental health and well-being over the past two years.

The threats are not always coming from parents, as many new school boards are leading the fight against their own staff.

There is no national database for superintendent issues, but Kappan recently surveyed superintendents in both rural and suburban school districts across the country.

They found that superintendents from rural, suburban, and urban districts had significantly different perceptions of local school board relations, the contentiousness of local politics, and community support and respect. Kappan found a statistically significant relationship between superintendents’ district location type and the extent to which:

- Their most recent school board elections were contentious.
- They were concerned about what the most recent school board election may mean for their district.
- They were concerned about the platform or agenda of at least one candidate for the school board.
- Their school board meetings have become more contentious, and attendance at the meetings has noticeably increased.
- There has been a substantial increase in the number of Freedom of Information Act requests their district received.
- They have felt or been threatened and are aware of at least one school board member who has felt or been threatened.
- They are concerned about the spread of inaccurate information related to their schools and/or decision-making processes and the potential lack of support for their decisions from parts of the community.
- They feel they are being misunderstood and misrepresented.
- They have grown concerned about the mental health and physical well-being of their administrators, faculty, and staff.

Their survey found that 47 percent of suburban and 46 percent of urban superintendents reported being or feeling threatened, compared to 34 percent of rural superintendents. Similarly, 65 percent of suburban superintendents agreed or strongly agreed that school board meetings have become more contentious, compared to 55 percent of urban superintendents and 47 percent of rural superintendents.

In California, superintendents in Moreno Valley, Temecula, Hancock County, Orange, San Dieguito, Blackhawk, Capistrano, Fairfax, and Merced have all been replaced since 2022. According to Ballotpedia, their records show that other states have also lost superintendents in the last year: Arizona (1), Arkansas (1), Colorado (1), Florida (7), Georgia (1), Mississippi (1), North Carolina (1), Pennsylvania (1), Ohio (1), South Carolina (2), Virginia (3).

Douglas County Colorado's fired school superintendent was recently awarded $832,000 after he sued for wrongful termination based on discrimination and retaliation for his advocation for students with disabilities and minority youth. His attorney, Iris Halpern, told CPR News that "it comes at a particular moment in time when school boards across the country are being targeted by political forces, that there is financial fallout to acting out politicized agendas that target marginalized students."

She said the politicization of boards like Douglas County’s [Colorado] creates huge amounts of hostility in the community.

The tension hasn't just been felt at the local school district level. In July, the elected California State Superintendent of Schools Tony Thurmond was heckled and forcibly removed from a Chino Valley Unified School Board after speaking in opposition to a proposed district policy that would force schools to inform parents if their child identifies as transgender.

Some states are fighting back and putting in regulations to establish job protections for school superintendents who comply with state or federal law (as in Oregon),