Abstract
Stressors for superintendents included shifting recommendations from public health officials, political pressure from local constituents, and conflict with state leaders, as well as challenges in meeting the basic needs of vulnerable families, supporting mental health of students and teachers, and creating new learning opportunities (Cohn, 2021; Hayes et al., 2021; Lochmiller, 2021; Lowenhaupt & Hopkins, 2020 Walls & Zuckerman, 2022). Conceptual Framework Given the importance of the superintendent role and relationship with both school board and community as factors for superintendent turnover, we structure our review of the literature around Kowalski (2003; 2005) and Björk and colleagues (2014) conceptualization of superintendents' roles. [...]Björk and colleagues (2014) identified the role of superintendents as communicators, including dissemination of information and two-way communication with constituents. Navigating these conflicts effectively requires relationships with teachers, students, parents, and community members (Walls & Zuckerman, 2022), reflecting the importance of people-centered leadership identified as a key function of rural school leaders (Preston & Barnes, 2017).