WOMEN TAKE CHARGE AT AREA SCHOOLS

A plaque in Diann Bradshaw's office gave credit where it is due.

After 11 years as a classroom teacher, Beverly Schonhoff was looking for a different challenge and found it as a school principal.

In leaving the classroom for the front office, Schonhoff, who was an assistant principal for three years before being named principal at Perryville High School last year, joined a growing number of women entering school administration, which is still a male-dominated field.

Research indicates that in 1999, women made up 12 percent of the nation's superintendents, 20 percent of secondary school principals, 32 percent of middle school principals and 53 percent of elementary principals, according to Dr. I Sue Shepard, associate professor in the department of educational administration and counseling at Southeast Missouri State University.

Those figures are up from 1995 research when women made up 9.9 percent of the nation's superintendents, 13 percent of secondary school principals, 30 percent of middle school principals and 42 percent of elementary principals.

Catherine Trampe, superintendent of the 600-student Century Unit District 100 in Ullin, Ill., where the principals of the high school and elementary school are also women, said she has seen an increasing number of women in administration.

One reason for this, Shepard said, is the number of applicants, for administrative positions has declined, so women have more of a chance at being hired.

"And women who apply are at least as, if not more, qualified than male applicants," Shepard said.

As the state puts more emphasis on classroom results, districts are looking for administrators with classroom experience, she said, and women generally are classroom teachers longer before going into administration than men.

Dianne Bradshaw taught high school math in Scott City for 10 years before being named principal at Scott City Middle School three years ago.

While a teacher, Bradshaw, like many educators, sought a master's degree, but instead of getting the advanced degree in math, she studied administration.

"I decided if I was going to get more education, I wanted it to be in an area where I would move up," Bradshaw said.

Bradshaw loves the challenge of an administrative position and the feeling she's making a difference to a whole school full of children rather than just those in her classroom. However, she said, the job does involve sacrifice.

The hours are long, and the work load is large. She gets to the office long before the first bell rings in the morning and usually doesn't leave until long after the closing bell in the afternoon. Her day is filled with paperwork, dealing with issues and problems involving students and teachers and attending planning sessions, meetings and conferences. Then there are often school sporting or cultural events in the evening.

Trampe said being a superintendent demands even more.

As a middle school principal in Paducah, Ky., it wasn't uncommon for Trampe to work from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. then head off to a ball game.

"Now I do that during the week, plus work weekends," Trampe said.

Long hours are one reason more women, who outnumber men in the classroom, don't make the jump into administration, Shepard said.

Many women go into teaching because it provides a secondary income while still allowing them time at home with their children, Shepard said

"The hours required of secondary principals and superintendents are not good for someone with a family," Trampe said.

That shows in the statistics, Shepard said, explaining that a 1996 study found that 96 percent of male superintendents are married, while 62 percent of female superintendents are married. The other 38 percent of women superintendents were single, divorced or separated.

Trampe said her "enlightened" husband understands the demands of her job and helps lighten her load at home. Bradshaw, who has children in ninth, second and first grades, said she has a good support system in place.

But long hours are only one reason many women teachers don't go into administration. To be an administrator, Trampe said, you must be willing to take risks, be in the limelight, make and then deal with mistakes and always face job loss.

"It takes a personality that doesn't normally go into teaching," Trampe said. "Women who are risk takers and are more ambitious are more likely to go into business or professional jobs outside education where the pay is better and there are more benefits."

"It's not an easy job," Schonhoff said. "You are dealing with delicate issues and some days the pressure can be tremendous. It's not for everyone."

In fact, Schonhoff said, there are many men and women with the proper certification who choose not to go into administration because the demands are so great.

Bradshaw hasn't felt she's been treated differently because she's a woman; however, when she walked into a recent conference for aspiring superintendents with a male colleague, she was asked if she needed a spouse's tag.

"I guess it's still unusual to see a woman as an administrator," she said.

Schonhoff said there have been no expectations placed on her because she's a woman.

"There's only the expectation to do my job and you'd get that whether you were a man or a woman," she said.

Trampe thinks women administrators are paid the same as men for the same job, but most of the opportunity for women administrators is in small districts where the pay is less.

All agreed it's good for girl students to see women in administrative positions.

"It's always good for girls to have positive role models," Trampe said.

Bradshaw adds, "I hope seeing me in an administrative position makes it easier for girls to grow up believing they can be in a position of authority."

Bradshaw said her evaluations have said she has a stern but motherly image and that female reference is OK with her.

"I probably do mother my students some," she said, "but many of these students have rough home lives and need some mothering."