Baker said it has been a struggle during the last two years. He did not like that the students were not in the building as much.

“It hurt not seeing the kids’ faces. There was no joy in canceling school for a week here or there,” he said.

Still, Baker believes it is simply time to hand the reins to someone else. His wife has also retired and they want to spend some time together.

Baker is not alone. Also retiring at the end of the school year are Greenwich Superintendent Mark Fish and Glens Falls Superintendent Paul Jenkins.

Other districts looking to fill vacant superintendent positions are in Lake George, Fort Edward and Salem.

In Lake George, Lynne Rutnik left at the start of the school to take a job as deputy superintendent of the Schenectady City School District. Fort Edward is replacing Dan Ward, who moved over to become superintendent of Hudson Falls Central School District last July. In Salem, the Board of Education reached a mutual agreement to part ways with David Glover.

Baker said this is more turnover than he has seen in a long time.

“I think it’s going to be difficult to replace some of these veterans,” he said.

The New York State Council of School Superintendents has noticed an increase in the number of superintendents retiring. This year, there are 65 people set to retire compared with 45 from a couple of years ago before the pandemic, according to Greg Berck, assistant director of governmental relations and assistant counsel for the organization.

“Some of it may be coincidental based on age,” he said. “Some of it may be attributable to COVID and other opportunities presenting themselves.”

The average length of tenure for superintendent has remained about the same at around five years, according to Berck. He noted a new trend of superintendents leaving to pursue other opportunities in the private sector.

Berck said the pandemic has put a lot of stress on what already was a 24-7 job.

“Board meetings have become more hostile,” he said. “I’m sure the mask controversy contributed to some of this. It’s a rewarding but very challenging job.”

Greenwich Superintendent Mark Fish said that although the pandemic has been challenging, it also was not really the factor in his deciding to retire after eight years leading the district — and 18 years as a middle school principal in South Glens Falls before that.

“My wife is a retired teacher and it’s time for us to move onto the next chapter,” he said.

Fish said, hopefully, with COVID-19 cases declining, school officials can shift focus.

“It will be great to get back into instructional practices and all the fun things you want to do to engage kids in the business of learning, which is something we’ve kind of had to step back on and really focus on safety and wellness,” he said.

COVID all consuming

The job has been even more all-consuming during the pandemic, especially with ever-changing guidance from the state, according to James Dexter, district superintendent for the Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex BOCES.

“It was constant, every day. We have special meetings on weekends when things would come out on Friday night,” he said.

Superintendents had to be more nimble and quick to move entire systems “in a heartbeat.”

Also, Dexter said some of the COVID mandates brought politics into the job like never before.

On the positive side, Dexter said the pandemic has resulted in much more collaboration among school districts and school leaders and improved communication with parents and the community. Superintendents did a tremendous amount of advocacy during the pandemic.

“We weighed in on a lot of issues — because we felt we needed to,” he said.

Still, he believes the main factor for this wave of retirements is that a lot of these superintendents got their jobs at around the same time and have been there awhile.

“If you look back, we’ve been incredibly stable over the last several years,” he said.

Dexter, who helped schools with many of those searches, is also retiring. He has been a superintendent for 17 years and has spent 30 years in education. He said it was simply the right time.

Cathy Woodruff, spokeswoman for the New York State School Boards Association, agreed that some of the wave is due to demographics. The baby boomers are reaching retirement age.

However, she said the stress of the pandemic has accelerated that trend. Education is not the only industry that has been affected by what has been called the “Great Resignation.”

“Everyone in all careers probably took some time to think about what they were doing,” she said.

Finding new leaders

Now the task is to replace all these veteran administrators.

There is still a large interest in the position overall. Berck, of the New York State Council of School Superintendents, said the there is a full class of candidates taking the organization’s “future superintendent academy.”

The council is trying to increase the diversity of the pool of applicants to include more women and more candidates of color, according to Berck.

Dexter said he believes the pools of candidates in this region have been of high quality — not that they did not have good candidates before.

Over the last year, the number of applicants has been trending downward, so Dexter said he was pleasantly surprised to see the strong number of applicants for this round of vacancies. Perhaps people had waited until the pandemic had receded to take the next step in their career. During the COVID crisis, Dexter said a lot of people took the opportunity for personal growth.

“People see themselves as a leader and want to take on that challenge,” he said.

In addition, there are seldom this many good openings, so Dexter said “people are like, ‘If I’m going to go for it, this might be the time.’”

Fish said his advice for other people pursuing the position is to listen.

“I think sometimes listening is a very critical skill to be able to hear from the folks that are running certain areas of your district, and students,” he said.

Baker, of Hadley-Luzerne, said he does not see as many people applying for superintendents because the job has a short “shelf life.” Principals can obtain tenure, but a superintendent is under an employment agreement.

Baker said he enjoyed being a building principal because of the day-to-day contact he had with the kids. Still, becoming a superintendent was the next logical step in a career that he wanted to pursue.

A superintendent is always looking two to thee years down the road. Baker said the job is about making connections.

“This job is about relationships and the relationships that you make with your staff, the relationships you make with your school community and your kids,” he said.

Superintendents can make an impact. Baker said one initiative he is especially proud of is to add an in-district health center. It was perfect timing with the start of the pandemic. Also, he has added more counselors and social workers.

Cultivating talent

The next generation is already stepping up. Woodruff said at a recent association conference, one of the attendees remarked about how they were seeing younger faces among the superintendents.

Some districts have also indicated that they are interested in cultivating their own talent and encouraging their younger prospective leaders to become superintendents.

Hadley-Luzerne already has Baker’s successor lined up. The Board of Education voted earlier this month to appoint Burgess Ovitt, who has been the junior-senior high school principal since 2016, to the position. Baker had also been principal at the school before becoming superintendent in 2015.

Baker said he has come full circle with Ovitt, who was his assistant principal at the Fort Edward when he was principal during the mid-1990s.

Baker said there is an advantage to promoting from within because the board is already familiar with the person and their strengths and weaknesses.

Two other local districts that had superintendents retire in the middle of the school year also promoted from within. Justin Hoskins, who had been Fort Ann Junior-Senior High School principal since 2017, took over for the retiring Kevin Froats in January. The Warrensburg Board of Education picked Amy Langworthy, who had been principal of the junior-senior high school for 15 years, to succeed the retiring John Goralski.

Some districts decide to promote from within, according to BOCES Superintendent Dexter, because they believe perhaps they know the community and will stay longer.

Keeping a hand in

Some superintendents still stay involved in education through serving as an interim superintendent. Former Queensbury Superintendent Doug Huntley is filling in at Lake George, for example.

Fish kept the door open to a return to education.

“I’m not really great at sitting around. I’m sure I’ll look for something to do,” he said.

Baker also said he would like to stay involved in education and he could see himself get involved as an interim superintendent or possibly as a consultant to school capital projects.

The job is still rewarding.

“If you keep your focus on the kids, you’ll never go wrong,” he said.

Baker said the work of education continues — no matter who is in the superintendent’s position.

“The school is going to open in September and the buses are going to go regardless of whether I’m here or not.”