Women aspiring to the superintendency are advised to advance their own careers by working as volunteers with talented leaders, getting involved in professional meetings and associations, looking for opportunities in other school districts, and joining a network of women administrators. (MLF)

Dade County (Florida) Public School Superintendent Octavio Visiedo demonstrated his four-star leadership capabilities in the wake of Hurricane Andrew's devastation. For weeks, Visiedo tirelessly directed military personnel and school workers in massive clean-up and repair efforts. When all but 10 of the district's 287 schools opened in…

Heightened racial and ethnic-group politics and increasingly rocky board-superintendent relations are making the urban superintendency increasingly untenable. The politics of urban school governance can stymie even the best candidates. To survive, big-city superintendents need a thick hide, sensitivity to diversity, charisma, self-confidence,…

Scarcely two weeks after Joan Kowal became superintendent of Volusia County (Florida) County Schools, the state legislature sliced $6 million off a $220 million operating budget, effective immediately. Kowal responded by convening a broad-based stakeholder's conference and asking participants to decide where cuts could be made. Other decisions…

Superintendents say that managers of decline are unafraid to take risks, make cuts, or face up to conflicts; and that managers of growth identify needs, set objectives, remain flexible but maintain a strong sense of direction, and prevent unwise innovations. (Author/MLF)

With scant resources but boundless commitment, Charles Johnson, superintendent in a rural Mississippi district, takes pride in stretching school funds. The district has never run a deficit or borrowed to make ends meet. (MLF)

Describes the efforts of a superintendent in Nova Scotia to bring about the amalgamation of two school systems where the majority of the population is French-speaking by offering complete instructional programs in both French and English. (JBM)

Tupelo (Mississippi) Superintendent Mike Walters eschewed his former "happy bureaucrat" role for a facilitative role allowing teachers to reinvent curriculum and instruction. Inspired by Deming's continuous-improvement precept and aided by a $3.5 million grant from the area's Fortune-500 business community, this superintendent finds…

Leonard Britton became superintendent of Dade County Schools (Florida) in 1980, when the system was on the brink of disaster. He successfully strengthened and improved the system. (MD)

A model of the new participatory-style school leader, San Jose (California) Unified Schools' superintendent Jim Baughman elicits a wide range of ideas and encourages broad-based participation to resolve district problems like imminent teacher strikes and an ever-worsening financial situation. His administrative cluster restructuring plan is…

Bill Anton, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, faces an explosive growth of culturally diverse students, a fiscal crisis, and threats of a strike. Despite these major problems, he remains optimistic that the district will overcome its current problems. (MLF)