https://www.reddit.com/r/Teachers/comments/1j7927t/explain_like_im_five_what_do_superintendents/
created by brindle_jenner on 09/03/2025 at 14:43 UTC
132 upvotes, 41 top-level comments (showing 25)
I’m a middle school teacher, and I’m genuinely trying to understand what role our superintendents play in my classroom. In my district, we have both a district superintendent and a county superintendent, each with a full staff. But what do they actually do that impacts my students, my school, or my teaching?
I know they make big-picture decisions, but what does that look like in practice? How does their work trickle down to my classroom? I’d love a kind coworker to explain it to me like I’m five because, honestly, I just don’t get it. Do we need them?
Comment by AlternativeSalsa at 09/03/2025 at 14:57 UTC
230 upvotes, 4 direct replies
They make recommendations to the board and act as the board's representative in district strategy.
That curriculum or equipment you want? Superintendent recommendation. Hiring or firing staff? Same. New building, levy, etc. They ensure compliance with state and federal mandates. They manage the managers. When those people do shit jobs, the super has to deal with them, and then they get to replace them. When a district has crap leadership and incompetent teachers, that falls squarely on the superintendent's judgment to put the right people in the right place.
We need them because teachers like me sure as fuck don't want to be responsible for all that.
Comment by youcantgobackbob at 09/03/2025 at 14:51 UTC
106 upvotes, 1 direct replies
They intend to be super.
Comment by StopblamingTeachers at 09/03/2025 at 14:48 UTC
22 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Fire your principal
Comment by Maleficent-Debt5672 at 09/03/2025 at 15:09 UTC
24 upvotes, 2 direct replies
They answer to the school board who are elected officials. It can be a very difficult job balancing the whims and wants and priorities of politicians whose ideas can have positive or detrimental effects on a school district. The superintendent has to be a politician himself/herself since the board can hire and fire him. Beyond that, the superintendent manages his assistants who oversee instruction, personnel, budget, and all the other jobs. They also have to be great crisis managers. I was an asst superintendent and there’s no way in hell I wanted any part of being the superintendent.
Comment by memefan69 at 09/03/2025 at 15:19 UTC
17 upvotes, 1 direct replies
my last superintendant signed a deal with a software company that offers an alternative to Google Classroom that forced every teacher in the district to use that alternative even though they didn't like it and he got a financial incentive to do that as well
he later left the district and in his new district tried to change their health care plans with under 5 days notice in the middle of the school year
those are some ways that superintendants' work trickles down into the classroom
Comment by South-Lab-3991 at 09/03/2025 at 14:54 UTC
31 upvotes, 3 direct replies
Mine showed up to an after school staff meeting when we all wanted to go home and then spent 20 minutes telling us his autobiography before telling us that the graduation rate isn’t what he wants to see so we teachers need to “step it up.”
Comment by RepulsiveReception84 at 09/03/2025 at 14:59 UTC
24 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Budgeting is the big one. Typically budget for each school in the district, teacher and admin salaries, makes sure bills are paid. Transportation. My district of like 3 schools had a $28k electricity bill last month.
They also act as a liaison to the school board. So, they take whatever the principal and admin share with them, and they share with the school board. They facilitate conversations to address school board needs or concerns. In my area we have open school board meetings monthly and it's live on Facebook.
The school board approved principal, staff, and faculty appointments each year with the super acting as liaison (collecting info and presenting to the board).
They request funding from the state and federal government. Metaphorically speaking, think of all the superintendents in a meeting with the state education department. They're all asking for more money and have to justify their needs.
Once they get the money, they help determine which schools it goes to.
They process teacher certifications and recertifications. Set curriculum standards to be implemented in the schools.
HR.
They probably do other things I'm not aware of.
Comment by bv310 at 09/03/2025 at 15:06 UTC
8 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Depending on what the structure of your local union is, if you can get involved in negotiations for things you really get to see what superintendents and your board directors and things do. I've been involved in two rounds because our contract is a bi-level one, and I have gained a lot more understanding and respect for some parts of the higher level admin jobs. I still consider them to be kind of the enemy, because they are the ones standing in the way of us getting our teachers the things that they deserve, but at least I understand why now.
Comment by MonkeyTraumaCenter at 09/03/2025 at 14:55 UTC
13 upvotes, 2 direct replies
Honestly, idk if we need any central office administrators beyond those who manage payroll and benefits, transportation, building services, legal issues, PR, or other necessary practical/compliance things. All my superintendent and the assistant superintendents seem to do is tout vanity projects and ask for more and more data.
Comment by beanie_bebe at 09/03/2025 at 15:23 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Make sure educators remember their “why.” 😆
Comment by Sulleys_monkey at 09/03/2025 at 15:20 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Make promises they can’t or don’t intend to keep. Tell schools to make it work or deal with the problem when parents complain. Send out useless emails trying to convince staff a 1% raise is enough.
Comment by Miserable_Ad_7773 at 09/03/2025 at 15:26 UTC
6 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Superintendent is the only employee of the school governing board. School governing board is supposed to represent the interests of the public and the Superintendent carries those it in addition to performing the chief executive duties.
Superintendent directs cabinet-level leaders that oversee specific departments to carry out specific tasks, but essentially responsible for all of it when it comes to the board.
Without a Superintendent, you don’t have someone that’s making the executive decision for all the departments and how they interact with each other. Business and HR propose reductions, Superintendent approves what that reduction is actually going to be. Same is true with if you’re going to buy curriculum, make capital improvements, etc.
They are the CEO and responsible for deciding what direction you’re going on, how you’re going to get there, and making sure the people responsible get it done the way it was intended.
Comment by ajswdf at 09/03/2025 at 15:31 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I don't know about superintendents specifically but I'm familiar with other similar roles.
They are ultimately in charge of this big, complicated machine and they are trying to make everything run smoothly. They have a dozen different groups of people all wanting things, but only a certain amount of resources in which to help them.
Let's think about the day-to-day life of one of your students. They get on the bus to go to school, the bus goes around and picks up a portion of the kids that go to that school, then arrives with all the other buses at the same time at the school. Then the kids all get off at the same time, get breakfast, then go to their homeroom. This student then goes to math, then art, then science, then English where their class goes together to the cafeteria to lunch, and they get the food that was prepared and sit and eat it while being monitored. Then the English teacher comes to get them and they finish English class. The next class is PE in the gym, and during this class the student feels a little nauseous, so they go to the nurse before returning. Then they have social studies, then band, then they go to track practice. After that their parents come and pick them up.
To make this day run smoothly for the student the superintendent needs to make sure all the people and facilities are in place and working well. They need to make sure they have enough buses and bus drivers, that the buses are maintained properly, to plan the bus routes so that everybody can be picked up and that every school has buses going to them and they all arrive at the school at the same time. They need to have a secure place to store the buses. They need to make sure the food service staff has the people they need, and that they have quality food that is cooked and maintained safely. They need to make sure all the appliances are working properly. They need to make sure the classrooms are in good condition, and that every classroom has a qualified teacher. The student has art and band electives, meaning the superintendent has to decide what electives they will offer and making sure whatever they choose is supplied and has a qualified teacher. They need the nursing staff for kids who need it. Then they have to make decisions on what after school activities are offered and make sure they're supplied and staffed.
And there's a lot I didn't cover there. Think about the staff needed to handle truancy and help with families that don't speak English. Then there's the office staff like HR and IT.
All of this needs to be done with the funds they have available. The track at Middle School #2 is in bad shape and needs redone. One of the fridges at Elementary School #6 went out and needs replaced. There's a cockroach problem at High School #1. HR is having trouble hiring enough bus drivers, so the person in charge of transportation has given you a handful of options on how to handle it, none of which are appealing. You're competing with other school districts for quality teachers so you want to offer the best pay and benefits you can, but there just isn't enough money to go around.
And this isn't just one year. You have to make these decisions in a way that provide stability for the long term. And of course you have to keep in mind that your bosses on the school board themselves feel pressure from the voters who can sometimes be irrational. So now you have to explain to the new board member who got elected by crazy people who obsessed over "indoctrinating kids about gender ideology" the policies around that.
Comment by hiphoptomato at 09/03/2025 at 15:36 UTC
5 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Great question. Also why does no school district seem to keep the same superintendent for longer than like three years?
Comment by SnooTomatoes8985 at 09/03/2025 at 16:34 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
They have important meetings about what kind of important meetings they should be having.
Comment by zomgitsduke at 09/03/2025 at 15:10 UTC
10 upvotes, 2 direct replies
School needs to be treated like a corporation in terms of accounting and compliance. Supt oversees all workers at upper levels and brings the whole thing together.
That's what they are supposed to do.
It's amazing having one who DOES know what they're doing, treats workers well, and knows everyone by name and makes sure employees are happy, while also pushing forward the vision of educating our young. I've seen bad ones, and formerly worked under a few that had mixed popularity across community, board of education, and staff. Huge difference.
Comment by echelon_01 at 09/03/2025 at 15:01 UTC
15 upvotes, 1 direct replies
Make useless proclamations that uproot sound teaching practices.
Comment by InternationalJury693 at 09/03/2025 at 15:18 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Buy double digit million dollar programs to standardize how we teach and what is on our boards, even if it doesn’t make sense for our subject area.
And add that to their resume.
Then move on up from there.
Comment by DoomdUser at 09/03/2025 at 15:29 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
The good ones facilitate open communication between the administration, schools and the community. They are involved in making policies that affect the whole district, budgeting, districting, etc.
What most of them do nowadays is issue reactionary statements when they are completely blindsided by something bad happening after teachers/the community have probably been talking about it for months. They also show up on the first day for teachers to get on the mic and remind everyone who’s in charge, and send generic all-staff letters around Christmas and the end of the year that say stuff like “thank you for all that you do”, etc.
Comment by flatteringhippo at 09/03/2025 at 15:30 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
They don’t play any role in the classroom. They fire/hire principals and district leaders. They basically communicate what the board wants.
Comment by softcoded at 09/03/2025 at 16:04 UTC
4 upvotes, 0 direct replies
My school district is fairly small, and all contained in one building. My superintendent is my direct supervisor so I spend a lot of time noticing what he does and I also get some more behind the scenes perspective. He is a very inspirational leader for our school and community.
This week when our building secretary was gone our superintendent filled in for her. Answered phones, took messages, called kids down to the office, greeted visitors.
He visits classrooms often and maybe reads a book (if asked) or just lets the class share what they are doing. Each week he shares an email to the district that includes shout outs for the praiseworthy people he encountered the previous week - plus announcements about things going on in his world.
He is in a lot of meetings. It is contract negotiations season, we are in the middle of big construction projects, and there are personnel issues to resolve and employment interviews to conduct. As the district's chief executive he is also responsible for the district's relationships with external partners like law enforcement, our state legislators, county attorney, state agencies, etc. He is almost never in his office working alone. If he is, that is when I knock on the door and steal a few more minutes of his time to update him on my work.
Since he is sometimes hard to pin down during the day it is obvious how much work he takes home with him. A lot of his emails get written at night but scheduled to send out the next day. We have had winter weather lately so he is up in the middle of the night assessing road conditions deciding whether to call off school. On a recent snow day the school's Internet was down and he was working all day off his hotspot.
What a superintendent does is probably highly dependent on each district. The way I see it, his role is to keep all the BS and stress out of our classrooms that he can. In my school, he does this, but he also feels like the glue to everything or maybe a solid foundation we feel steady on. He is probably one of the most trusted people in the community!
Comment by CraftyGalMunson at 09/03/2025 at 16:25 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Definitely a job I wouldn’t want to have. The amount of stress that comes from the budget alone would put me in the ground. The amount of evening meetings they have to go to would make me crazy. Dealing with principals?? No way. I’m good with dealing with one. I’m sorry, but 250,000 isn’t enough to pay make we want to do that.
We’ve got some great superintendents in our board that do some really great things and have made some good changes.
Comment by Paramalia at 09/03/2025 at 15:09 UTC
9 upvotes, 1 direct replies
They record the messages that announce weather delays and cancellations.
Among other responsibilities that presumably justify a 6 figure salary.
Comment by Rednag67 at 09/03/2025 at 15:19 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
Skinnnnnnerrrrrr!!!
Comment by 128-NotePolyVA at 09/03/2025 at 15:23 UTC
3 upvotes, 0 direct replies
They take the worst of phone calls and meetings, call the lawyer and figure out how to dismiss the teachers the Board of Education doesn’t like.