Message from Baltimore Supe: Stop Trying to ‘Sell’ Superintendents

column | EdSurge Podcast

Message from Baltimore Supe: Stop Trying to ‘Sell’ Superintendents

By Mary Jo Madda (Columnist) and Michael Winters     Dec 5, 2015

Message from Baltimore Supe: Stop Trying to ‘Sell’ Superintendents

Being a superintendent is anything but easy. Bureaucratic politics, having to work with multiple stakeholders, communicating a 1:1 plan to tens of thousands of students and teachers… heck, that’s not a job that just anyone can do. In fact, that might be why the average district superintendent in America doesn’t last longer than three years in the position.

But when it comes to tenure, there’s one notable exception--and that’s Dallas Dance, the current superintendent of Baltimore County Public Schools. Dance is a relatively young superintendent in comparison to others, and he’s already been in the role for four years. But that’s not all--in September, Dance told board members that he wanted another four-year contract when his current contract ends June 30.

Right now, the Baltimore community is wondering if the board will let him stick around--”Will Dallas Dance get a new deal?” reads one newspaper entry. Lucky for us, we got a chance to sit down with Dallas back at the iNACOL conference in early November to learn about what can go wrong when communicating a rollout of technology, Dallas' favorite tools, how to sell to superintendents, and how Dallas gets professional development. Yes, that’s right. Superintendents need PD, too.

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