- Our planet is in chaos.

Our waters are polluted, our air is poisoned.

We have no laws go forth through space to the planet Earth.

Learn from them.

We have so little time left.

- Take me to your leaders.

- Who are you?

What do you want?

- My planet is in trouble.

We need your help.

Please take me to, your leaders - Are getting close to wrapping up this investigation.

In fact, there's just one more area to cover and I'm sure that you're all interested in this one.

We're gonna check out your school leaders.

So everybody, let's go.

So nite, let's go.

The state superintendent of public Instruction is appointed by the State Board of Education.

The 11 members of the state board enforce educational laws and make policies for schools.

They are elected to four year terms.

The state superintendent is the educational leader for Ohio and heads the State Department of Education As the executive administrator, he keeps the board informed on educational issues and carries out policies adopted by the board.

The state superintendent serves as a link between the state legislature and the state Board of Education.

He lets the board know the governor's ideas for education in Ohio.

There are a lot of state and federal laws concerning education, and the state superintendent has the responsibility to see that they are followed by all schools.

Now in the state of Ohio, there are many school districts.

Let's go visit one of them.

Each school district has a board of education.

Its members are elected to two year terms.

The local board of education appoints a superintendent.

The superintendent is the educational leader who has the responsibility for all the schools in the district.

I met with Dr. Ann Stevens, superintendent of the Buckeye Local School District to find out about her responsibilities.

The district's superintendent's main responsibilities are carrying out state and federal education laws and board of education policies overseeing what is taught and how it is taught.

Raising money and preparing budgets, hiring district employees, building new schools, and repairing old ones, and supervising transportation and food services.

The district superintendent has to be aware of new things happening in education and must be able to work with many different people in the school district and community.

nec and I still have some questions about the schools.

Come on, let's get back to my office.

Is everybody back?

Good.

I'm glad you're all here because I need your help too.

Some of you have phones right in your classrooms today, and in a few minutes I'm gonna ask you to call me.

But first I wanna introduce you to some very special people.

Here in my office is Dr. Anne Stevens, the superintendent of Buckeye Local School District in Rayland, Ohio, and representing Dr. Ted Sanders, the state superintendent of public Instruction.

We have with us Ms. Barbara Rogers.

Thank you both for joining us today.

Now also with me are two of my assistant private eyes.

Here is Gretchen Frederickson Kilmer from East Elementary School in Athens, Ohio, and Brent Baumgartner from Logan Middle School in Logan, Ohio.

Now, I know that you have questions about how your schools are governed and well, we have some questions too.

So the first question for Superintendent Stevens is from Brent.

- Mrs. Stevens, what is your favorite part of the job as being district superintendent?

- My favorite part is being able to make a difference in what students learn and how they learn and being able to work with the staff that implements the programs in our schools.

- Okay.

Gretchen, do you have any say in hiring teachers and other people who work in schools?

- Yes.

All of the personnel that are employed in our school district are screened through my office.

- Right.

Mrs. Stevens, when did your board of education appoint you and how long do you have left in your term?

- I'm in my sixth year and I have a new contract, so I will be in the district for four more years.

- How often do you have meetings with the local board of Education and what happens during these meetings?

- We meet on a regular basis once a month, but we sometimes have special meetings, so usually if things are exciting and really happening in a district, we meet more than once a month and at the meetings they very formal, they're operated or run by the president of the Board of Education and I ask them to adopt resolutions that have something to do with the curriculum, the programs and operations of our schools.

Thank you.

- Okay.

What made you decide to become a superintendent?

- I've been in education for 26 years and I've liked every part of it, but I really wanted to be in a position where I could make some decisions that would make a difference in how the schools were operated.

- What kind of education do you need to become a superintendent?

- You need to have a four year undergraduate, undergraduate degree, and a master's degree, and you need to hold a superintendent certificate.

- Hmm.

If you weren't a superintendent, what would you want to be?

- I think I would probably want to be either a psychiatrist or an attorney.

- Oh, wow.

What important decisions have you made as a district superintendent?

- I think probably all of the decisions are important because they all affect someone's life and what they might do, what a child might do for the rest of their lives.

But probably the most important things have been deciding on what programs to offer to students and building schools and just organizing the school district.

- Right.

What has been your funniest experience as a superintendent?

- I think I've had a lot of tragedies and a lot of things to think about as superintendent.

There have been funny moments, especially building our new high school.

It was a a very difficult job, but there were funny times.

Probably the funniest thing that ever happened though was walking into a kindergarten classroom and having a kindergarten student tell me that he thought that the superintendent was kind of cute.

- Well, okay.

Well, let's have some questions about the state superintendent, and the first question for Ms. Rogers is from Gretchen.

- Mrs. Rogers, how long is the state superintendent appointed term and can he be appointed more than once?

- Yes, he can.

The state superintendent is appointed by the State Board of Education and he doesn't actually have a term.

He is appointed, and when he chooses to let them know that he needs to make another move, then he lets them know.

Okay.

- Brent, Ms. Rogers, what problems does the state superintendent work on?

- Lots of problems.

Probably the biggest problem in Ohio right now is finances.

The state superintendent works a lot with the legislature to propose new budgets to make sure that the school district has enough money to operate and we are looking long term down the road on how we can help school districts improve.

- Okay, gotcha.

How often does the state superintendent meet with the governor and what is discussed At the meetings?

- He meets with the governor a whole lot.

He meets with him, seems like daily, but definitely on a weekly basis.

A lot of things that they discuss are either the budgetary concerns, they also talk about where they want education to go in the future, what they want schools to be like and what they want you as students to be like.

- Okay.

Brent, does the state superintendent meet with the local superintendents very often?

- Yes, he does.

In fact, the Department of Education conducts a number of regional meetings.

We invite superintendents from like an area similar to Athens.

We would invite a number of superintendents to come together and to meet with the superintendent.

He also will go and visit school districts individually.

- Okay.

- Gotcha.

Does the state superintendent ever visit schools, and if so, what does he do during these visits?

- State superintendent does visit schools.

He meets with the superintendent usually first, and then he goes to some classrooms.

He meets with librarians and he meets with your classroom teachers, and a lot of times he'll come in and sit in on a class.

- Right.

How does the state superintendent of education let the state board know the governor's ideas for education in Ohio?

- Good question.

The state superintendent meets with the State Board of Education once a month, and at that meeting he makes a monthly report and he tells the State Board of Education what he has been doing over the past month and what kinds of information the governor has given him and any suggestions that the governor has.

- Okay.

What changes would - You or the superintendent like to see in education?

We'd like to see a lot of changes.

We've talked a lot about changing to an outcomes-based education, which means rather than putting you in a classroom for so many hours a day, it means we want you to master certain skills.

We want you to be able to know certain things by a certain point in time in your life.

That's something that we really hope as we make Ohioans aware of it, that can be done in the state.

- Okay.

How does Dr. Sanders know that the state and federal laws are about education are followed?

- Okay.

We put a lot of trust in local superintendents like Dr. Stevens.

We also have a monitoring division.

They're called standards and Evaluation, and they do five year cycle reviews of schools, and they actually go in and ask schools if they can see the curriculum and see the certificates of the teachers who are on staff.

And that helps us to know and also helps the su, the local superintendent to know that they are following re state regulations.

- Okay.

What kind of educational policies adopted by the board does the superintendent help carry out?

- That's kind of a difficult question because he works, the state superintendent works with the board to, to come up with resolutions.

Kind of like the way Dr. Stevens said that she proposes resolutions to her board.

The state superintendent does the very similar sort of thing.

He tries to make sure that information that the state board feels is important then gets to the local superintendents.

So when we talk about things like outcomes based education, we try to make sure at the state level that we also communicate with the local level to let them know what we feel the direction of education should be.

- Okay.

Well, I like to take some phone questions too, so I have my speaker phone turned on so we can all hear the questions.

So the first question is for Dr. Stevens and it's from Renee from York.

Renee, are you there?

- Yeah.

- Okay.

Go ask your question.

- Does your job consist of running one school or more than one?

- More than one school?

I have a A high school and two middle schools.

And four elementary schools.

- Okay.

Next question is, I think it's from Heidi, and what school are you calling from?

Heidi - Belmont Elementary.

- From Belmont Elementary.

Can you speak up a bit?

We're not sure if we can hear you out here.

- What does the state superintendent plan to do to make financially poor districts better?

- Okay.

It was what does the state superintendent plan to do financially for, what is it?

I'm sorry.

- Poor districts.

Better - For all the districts, - For poor districts - For the school district.

- Okay.

Recently, the state superintendent has been working on equity grants.

Those would help to get computers and technology into the school districts.

We recently made 19 grants in the state of Ohio, and that's gonna be an ongoing process.

He also has been working with the legislature to build up what we call the foundation program, which is the basic money that goes to the school district.

So hopefully in the future as we continue to work with the legislature and our new state superintendent builds up a rapport with the governor in the legislature, we can help school districts more and more.

- Okay.

Our next question is for Mrs. Stevens, and it's from Holly, from Junction.

Holly, ask your question.

- Tell us what an average day is like for a local superintendent.

- Okay.

Every day is a little bit different, but I guess an average day would mean that you're going to answer a lot of communications during the day.

Take a lot of telephone calls, and if there are problems out in the schools that cannot be solved by the building principal or the teachers, then those problems usually end up in the superintendent's office.

You might be involved in conferences, a lot of conferences with my staff at the central office, and sometimes out in the buildings.

Sometimes I will go to the buildings and go into the classrooms and talk with students or going to the cafeteria and see what is, what's happening in our school district.

- Okay.

Next question is from Kent from York Elementary.

It's from Ms. Rogers Kent.

- Ms. Rogers, why do we have a county board of education when each student, when each school district has its own superintendent and board of education, what is the job of the county Board of Education?

- Okay.

That's a very good question.

Not every school district falls under a county board of education.

Only local school districts fall under a county board of education.

What happens when you have a county board of education?

The local school districts work together, and normally there is one person who does curriculum and there is one person who works with handicap students, and that person coordinates the efforts for all of the local districts.

So it's kind of like a support group or, or a help station so that all of your local superintendents can go and get help.

- Oh, great.

Okay.

Tony is our next caller.

He's calling for Mrs. Stevens, and it's from Belmont Elementary.

Tony, go ahead.

- Dr. Stevens, how do you decide who is the right teacher for the class A class?

Hmm.

- Usually in the employment process, there's sort of a, a feeling that you get when you are sitting around a table talking to an applicant, and it's hard to explain exactly what that is, but I've always been able to, to tell, usually at an interview by by the way, that a person expresses themselves the things that they say to me, that they're going to be good.

One of the things is that I think a teacher has to be very child oriented.

Children have to come first in their life, and that has to come across to me in an interview that they're going to do everything they can to be a good teacher because they care about children.

- Okay.

We have one more question, and it's from Michael, from Junction City Elementary.

Michael, go ahead.

- Schools like ours can't get a levy pass.

How does the state plan to help us?

- Did you get that?

I didn't quite get it.

Can we, can I hear that again?

I'm sorry, Michael.

- Since schools like ours can get ready passed, how does the state ban to help us?

- Oh, okay.

Okay.

That's a tough question too.

You guys have got some good ones for me.

What we hope to do is talk to the legislature and inform them of what kind of condition our schools are really in.

The legislature has been very willing to listen and they are willing to help.

So what we hope to do is to get money for your buildings.

I talked a little bit about computers and textbooks and things that would help in the classroom.

Hopefully if we continue to work with a legislature and they have not passed our budget yet, so we don't know exactly, but when they do, hopefully they will have put in the types of things that we requested.

- Okay, great.

Well, unfortunately, we're just about out of time again for questions today, so thank you for being with us today, superintendent Stevens and thank you Ms. Rogers.

And thank you to both of my assistant privat eyes and thank you to you guys.

This investigation is going really well.

We've learned that boards of Education are elected our State Superintendent of public instruction, and our district superintendents are appointed by boards of education.

The superintendents provide educational leadership and carry out laws and policies.

Now, I wanna tell you about a challenge activity for you and your teacher.

Listen carefully.

Today's challenge can be found on page 24 of the Teacher's Guide.

This challenge is to advertise for a new district superintendent by the end of next week, write to me Katie Sherlock to tell me about it.

Let me know what you did and what you learned.

I just need one letter per class and include your teacher's name and school address.

You can send your letters to me at the address you see on your screen.

See you next time.

- Take me to Your Leaders.

Was made possible by a grant from the Ohio Education Technology Equity Commission.