Wilmington Star-News, September 15, If majority of North Carolina teachers are women, why are most superintendents men?
When she was a superintendent in Augusta, Georgia, Angela Hairston took up golf. It was the best way, she said, to network with the mostly male leaders from neighboring school districts.
Hairston is now starting her second year as superintendent of Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools, the fourth largest district in the state. Though she no longer has to schedule tee times, her counterparts across the state are still overwhelmingly men.
“Board members and community members oftentimes associate strong leadership with a male figure,” she said. “You want to be able to tell some of them, ‘You know, I can provide quality leadership as a female.’ But you must be able to understand that those perceptions are out there and be able to address them.”
Around 71% of North Carolina public school teachers are women, representation that doesn’t extend to the superintendents’ office. Out of the state’s 115 school districts, only 31 are helmed by women.
