Unwrapping joy.

The theme of this month's issue is that I've wanted to do for as long as I've been an editor for The School Administrator. (If you're counting, that'll be 20 years next summer.) Yet anyone with passing knowledge of the public education scene might find it incongruous for us to frame our editorial fare on "the joys of the superintendency." What could be so joyous about one of today's most demanding and often unforgiving jobs in public life?

One only needs to read the words of Gwen Gross, Mark Edwards and Thelma Melendez de Santa Ana, among others, in the pages that follow to fully appreciate the considerable delight that these educators take in fulfilling their responsibilities as superintendents of schools. They remind us, through their stories collected over the years, how a single education leader can profoundly influence the lives of children. How easy it is to overlook the joyous gratification that stems from this all-consuming work.

I especially relished the comment Frank Petruzielo, the veteran, tell-it-like-it-is superintendent in Cherokee County, Ga., made to writer Patti Ghezzi in this month's lead article: "I get satisfaction in knowing I excel in a job most CEOs in the private sector could not do."

So I hope as we take this end-of-year "timeout" from the magazine's usual coverage of serious education issues of the day that our readers will reflect on their own pleasures in the work they perform as our nation's leading public servants.

Jay P. Goldman

Voice: 703-875-0745

E-mail: [e-mail]