Changing leadership is the new normal for school districts across the country. A recent analysis of administrative turnover by the Superintendent Research Project shows that between July 2024 and July 2025, nearly a quarter of the nation's 500 largest school districts changed superintendents. That follows a trend in recent years that has persisted since the start of 2020's COVID-19 pandemic.
Locally, the Tri-State area has seen frequent turnover with school leaders in recent years, especially among the area's most populous school systems like Cincinnati Public Schools and Lakota Local Schools.
In 2025 alone, superintendents at Mt. Healthy City Schools and Milford Schools announced retirements. In Northern Kentucky, the superintendent of Covington Independent Schools did not have his contract renewed, while Newport Independent's leader resigned, and Beechwood's superintendent retired.
The Superintendent Research Project's analysis also shows how women are slowly obtaining more superintendent roles. Women made up 39% of new superintendent hires in the country's largest school systems in the past year, and now represent over 33% of active superintendents, an improvement from nearly 28% in 2018.
Still, the data shows that at this rate, women are not expected to reach gender parity with men in these top districts until 2054. This is despite 74% of women in top administrative roles holding doctoral degrees, compared to 69% of men.
'The glass ceiling is still there'
Judy Alston, professor and chair of the Department of Educational Leadership at Miami University, attributes this gender gap to lingering perceptions about leadership roles being intended for men.
"They still see leadership as a male job," Alston said. "They don't appreciate what women bring as leaders in buildings, in classrooms, and in the organization. That glass ceiling is still there. And they really don't appreciate what Black and brown women bring to those spaces."
A 2024-2025 survey of more than 2,000 superintendents from 49 states conducted by The School Superintendents Association further highlights the existing gender and racial gap. It shows how minority superintendents are sometimes more heavily scrutinized than their white peers.
Of the more than 2,000 respondents, almost 87% were white, while Black and Latino respondents combined for just over 9%.
The survey shows 63% of all the superintendents who responded have been in the top job for less than six years, though white superintendents were more likely to stay in their jobs for longer than Black or Latino superintendents.
Additionally, more than 80% of Black superintendents surveyed held doctoral degrees, compared to 41% of white superintendents. Nearly 58% of Latino superintendents have a Ph.D. or doctorate in education.
Black and Latino superintendents also were more likely to have their performance evaluation linked to student outcomes, though this kind of evaluation process is more common in school districts with larger enrollments, which are more likely to have school leaders of color.
Alston says this more rigorous standard, along with pressure from communities and school boards to improve academic outcomes — all while funding for public education continues to slide for larger urban districts — may be what's keeping minorities from staying in leadership roles for longer.
"We will hire you, we'll bring you in, but we want you to come in and fix everything. We want you to walk on water and fix everything that has been broken for the last 100 years, and you've got 100 days to do it," Alston told WVXU.
Additionally, increased political pressure from the federal government and states to avoid discussing certain topics like race, gender, and sexuality makes the job even harder.
"You can't teach about this, you can't talk about this, and you can't use this book. Well, what can we do? What's the point?" Alston said.
How area searches are going
While retaining superintendents remains a challenge, local school districts are hoping to buck the turnover trend and find diverse leaders who can survive in the current education landscape.
At Milford Schools, five of the six candidates currently in the running to be the district's next superintendent are women. School Board President Emily Mason says that wasn't intentional, and gender won't be a deciding factor in the final stages of the hiring process. But, she says having a woman in charge would be a welcome change for some in the district.
"About 80% of our teachers in Milford are women," Mason said. "So, it's kind of nice to have women stepping into these roles as superintendents. We'll see who the right candidate is, and if it happens to be a woman, that's who we'll go with."
Covington Independent Schools also has begun its search process for its next superintendent. The district says it's gathering input from the school community about what they want in the district's next leader and plans to name a new superintendent by March 2026.
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