Photograph by Robert Scheer
Superintendent Mary Gardner has led the Saratoga Union School District for the past four years.
By Cecily Barnes
Saratoga Union School District Superintendent Mary Gardner is not what you would call ordinary. Her motto is leadership, and during her four years on the job, she has tried to combine a women's care-taking skills with courage, a trait more traditionally associated with men.
"We're thinking about leadership as both having the courage to do what's right and what's difficult, but also always caring about the people who are involved," Gardner explained.
Gardner has spent her four years as superintendent slowly dissolving the district's hierarchy by involving others in decision-making processes. Her leadership motto (expounded on in the book The Constructivist Leader, which Gardner co-authored with six colleagues) rejects the superintendent's traditional authoritarian role in favor of one that works collaboratively and cooperatively with teachers, parents and administrators throughout the district.
"I work very hard at having it not look like a hierarchical system where the superintendent is removed," Gardner explained. "So I work closely with the teachers [and] stay tied with the curriculum and instruction. We do a lot of what we call shared decision-making so that the people who will be affected by the decision participate in making the decision."
Gardner grew up in Wyoming and attended Laramie University, where she majored in English and speech education. She has two children and one grandchild.
Gardner joined the Saratoga Union School District in 1976 as an early childhood education coordinator. By 1980 she was assistant superintendent, and she was named superintendent in 1991, although she does not see herself as the district's head.
The superintendent's responsibilities include overseeing the district's budgeting process and the hiring of principals and teachers. Supers also assist the schools in building partnerships with businesses and parents.
"I believe another major role of the superintendent is to help establish a vision and be sure that we're all working toward that common purpose," Gardner said.
For this superintendent, the common goal is one collaboratively established by all in the district.
"I don't make the decisions," Gardner said. "There are times for expediency, like the class size at first grade, but even there, the board, the administration and I made the decision together."
Gardener feels the most beneficial aspects of her job are working with the community and assisting the school district's growth and change.
"I'm really one of those people who loves change," she explained. "I don't like status quo. I like to have things energized, the energy that comes from change."
On the more difficult side of being a superintendent, Gardner admits that mediating conflicting perspectives and viewpoints is arduous.
"Finding ways in which you can get to a win-win solution is probably one of the hardest challenges," she said. "Interdistrict attendance is one of the hardest ones because the families we don't accept [into our schools] really feel as if they've lost."
Fortunately, Gardner sees this year's focus as a positive one.
"What I've been about the past four years," she said, "is tilling the soil, planting the seeds and preparing for a wide range of partnerships with the administrations and teachers. A lot of those are starting to come together."
Off the clock, Gardner enjoys reading, gardening and writing at her Los Gatos home. "The thing I get the most benefit out of is watching or participating in the growth of something," she said, making a metaphor of her love of gardening. "I really like to contribute to growth and development."
Gardner intends to stay Saratoga's superintendent as long as she is challenged and excited about what she's doing, and she thinks this will be the case for a long while.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, September 25, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved