When Shikellamy Superintendent Alan Lonoconus left for a new district earlier this month, he may have sparked a trend in the Valley.

Milton Area schools could lose their superintendent if the Manheim Central School District near Lancaster gives its top administrative job to William Clark tonight. He is one of three finalists there. Meanwhile, Mifflinburg Superintendent Barry Tomasetti is reportedly eyeing a post elsewhere. He said he will have something to say about that when the school board meets Dec. 8.

“There are quite a few openings every year,” said Lewisburg Area School District Superintendent Mark DiRocco. “I get calls and letters every year wanting me to apply for a job or telling me about openings.”

The number varies from one or two a year to as many as 10, he said.

Superintendents are in shorter supply than in the past, according to Jim Buckheit, executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators.

Well over one-third of the superintendents in the state’s 500 school districts are nearing retirement age, he said.

“Fewer people are applying when there are openings,” he said. “We don’t know why.”

Frederick Johnson, superintendent at Selinsgrove, thinks it’s because “not many people do what we do.”

“Some may say superintendents are a dime a dozen,” Johnson said, “but the job is really unique.”

Not every principal is a good candidate for superintendent either, he said. While the jobs are loosely coupled — both serving education — they are dramatically different. A superintendent, he said, is responsible for everything in the district, including curriculum, money, personnel, policies, programs, promotion and transportation.

“You’re it,” he said.

Educators 15 to 20 years ago would have viewed a superintendency as the pinnacle of their educational careers, said Jay Goldman, editor of The School Administrator Magazine, published by the American Association of School Administrators. Now, they are happy to remain a principal or curriculum director or the equivalent.

That’s because being a superintendent “is probably the hottest kitchen in public life in America,” Goldman said. “It’s a can’t-win situation.”

The needs of children attending school are greater than they’ve ever been, he said, and a lot more people view public education as the answer to many societal issues beyond learning.

DiRocco added that there’s no due process at the end of a superintendents’ contract, which is rarely for more than five years. “The board can say ‘thank-you for your time, we’re going with someone else’ and that’s it,” he said. “A principal can lose his job, but he’s more insulated. There has to be documentation of the reasons for the termination, and he’s entitled to a hearing.”