In Minnesota, the superintendent of any school district is — deservedly — a high-profile, highly educated, well-compensated position mandated by the state. Those factors alone provide an extremely compelling case that it must be a full-time (and beyond) job.

Yet as a recent news report noted, at least a few central Minnesota school districts have pared the position to part-time status in recent years. That’s a troubling trend.

While we are always reluctant to compare education to the business world (educating kids just isn’t like building widgets), there is validity in comparing a school district’s superintendent to a company’s CEO.

Both are driving forces in setting (and meeting) budgets, motivating and overseeing staff, maintaining and acquiring facilities needs, and, of course, building that all-important public/customer relationship. Both are essentially “on duty” no matter the time, day or month. And both are ultimately who people look to first for accountability and leadership.

We know of no successful company in which the CEO works 25 hours a week.

Given the myriad of educational challenges — not to mention its bureaucracy — we can’t imagine even a small school district being successful with its key leader working half-time.

This person not only sees the big picture, but is equally responsible for maintaining day-to-day to operations — ideally so that they help the district fulfill that bigger picture.

To do that effectively while working only part time is impossible. Or dare we say, if it is possible, then the state’s entire public education system should be re-evaluating whether superintendents are needed at all or if more districts can be consolidated or merged.

Sure, we understand times are tough and school boards must be innovative in how they use scarce resources. While those and other conditions may justify hiring interim leaders or even contracting out some services temporarily, we just don’t see a district having long-term success when its top employee works only half the time.

— St. Cloud Times, Aug. 13