Palm Beach County, Florida(CNN) As he stepped back and stared at his 66-year-old father and 12-year-old son following the family tradition of working on a car, Donald Fennoy made a life-changing decision. He needed more quality time with his aging parents and young children and less time dealing with other people's parents and children. The stress of trying to handle the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic compounded by divisive politics on full display at hostile school board meetings was too much.
The Palm Beach County Schools superintendent turned in his resignation letter two weeks later, in July 2021, and gained a new perspective.
"When I stepped away and I had time to actually sleep, not answer phones 24 hours a day, play with my kids, you start to realize that I was somewhere different," Fennoy said. "There were some really dark moments."
Fennoy became part of what observers say is a growing trend of school superintendents leaving their posts since the start of the pandemic, even as experience and leadership is sorely needed.
Fennoy won what he called "the greatest job ever" three years earlier. He became the youngest and first Black superintendent of Palm Beach County Schools in Florida, the nation's 10th largest district.
"I just love education so much. That's all I've ever really done professionally," he said. "To me, our entire economy is predicated on what we produce in terms of our education system. It plays such a critical role in our country. And I just like contributing to that."
He knew it would be difficult and he would likely never please everybody, but he never imagined how abruptly his role would change with the chaos of Covid-19.
Schools had to be closed but children still needed to be educated. Plans had to be created to reopen buildings with ever-evolving safety advice. Staff and families could get sick with a terrifying new disease. Fennoy knew this personally. In May and June 2020, his wife's parents died, they believe of Covid-19.
And added to this, was the often toxic political atmosphere bursting into the management of schools.
"There was something shifting that forced us to deal with politics way more than we ever did before. Democracy is messy," Fennoy said. "I think Covid brought out the hyper messiness."
It took a toll on Fennoy's mental and physical health. He received threats in letters to his home and had a security team assigned to him. He lost about 50 pounds and constantly had to monitor his blood pressure, noticeably worse on days with school board meetings.
At those meetings, he was accused of abusing children because he signed off on a mask mandate, and inciting division because of his support for new equity policies. Fennoy was even compared to a Nazi general.
The reality of the impact of the stress hit home one night after a particularly contentious meeting.
"I was in my office, and my daughter said that it's time to eat. So I stood up, and the next thing I remember, they were standing over me screaming and yelling," he said. "I passed out."
Fennoy tried to convince his family that it was merely an accidental fall to ease their minds. His own mind, however, quickly filled with disbelief and fear, wondering how much longer he could put up with the stress.
He is far from alone, according to the School Superintendents Association, which says it represents more than 13,000 education leaders in the US and globally.
"We've seen large numbers of educators, superintendents included, principals included, teachers included, who are leaving the profession and it's going to be a long-term problem," said Dan Domenech, the association's executive director. "It is a matter of threats. It's a matter of politics. It's a matter of not being able to do the job that they feel they need to do to protect the children and their staff."
In his 54 years working in the education sector, Domenech said he has never seen the level of turnover among superintendents that districts are experiencing today. He acknowledged there was a shortage of superintendents in pre-pandemic school years. The average tenure for superintendents, according to the association, is five to six years. The current climate, he said, is making it worse.
A survey by the National Superintendents Roundtable found nearly two-thirds of the superintendents who responded considered quitting during the 2020-2021 school year.
"The biggest threat to superintendency and public schools is what is happening with the radicalization of school boards," said Steve McCammon, the group's executive director.
Jason Grissom, a professor of public policy and education at Vanderbilt University, says a superintendent's relationship with the school board is a major indicator in predicting turnover, according to research he's done. Now, it's also important to acknowledge, he said, the added stressors like logistics for remote schools, staffing shortages and contact tracing, among others, that stem from the pandemic.
"Having to make very tough decisions under so much uncertainty, but also under the spotlight is stressing people out," Grissom said. "The stakes are very high."
Kurt Browning put it all in sharp perspective. He's a former Florida secretary of state and was a county supervisor of elections during the 36-day recount to decide the 2000 Bush-Gore presidential election. But he said being Pasco County Schools Superintendent, an elected position, is now the toughest job he's had, hands down.
"I'm tired of being told literally that I'm going to go to hell," he told CNN. "I'm tired of being told that I'm heartless. I'm tired of being told that I don't care about children."
Fennoy detailed one of the other unexpected difficulties. "Prior to Covid, if something tough was happening, there was another superintendent out there or a former supervisor that I could call that had that experience," he said. "When Covid hit, you were on your own. There was no playbook. There was nothing to reference."
With, at times, contradicting state and federal Covid-19 response strategies, making public health decisions for the school district proved to be one of Fennoy's greatest challenges. He openly jokes that he is not a "real" doctor, despite his doctorate degree.
National statistics on superintendent turnover do not exist, but statewide organizations tracking superintendents in Arizona, Alaska, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, and Idaho said more district leaders are leaving their positions now compared to pre-pandemic.
In Colorado, vacancies in 2021 jumped to 42 from a recent trend in the low 30s, according to the Colorado Association of School Executives, and that is not the only issue.
"Recruitment is tougher than ever," said the group's executive director, Bret Miles. "In a time where experience matters more than ever because there is no playbook on how to navigate these matters."
Hank Gmitro, chief search associate for Hazard, Young, Attea and Associates, one of the largest national educational leadership search firms, said overall there are fewer people wanting and willing to go into superintendency.
"The issue now is frustration of political fallout from decisions that have to be made and the stress that causes," he said.
Managing politics has now become part of the conversation for potential superintendent candidates and school board members.
In a Miami-Dade County Public Schools public meeting last week, school board members asked superintendent candidates directly about the challenge of politics playing a role in making decisions.
"If you are faced with a situation where the needs of our school district are threatened or in conflict with dangerous politics out of Tallahassee, how do you plan on addressing such a challenge?" Miami-Dade School Board Member Lucia Baez-Geller asked all three finalists.
"For anyone considering jobs now, I think the first thing they're doing is looking at YouTube videos of board meetings," Fennoy said. "You have candidates looking at board meetings to see if I want to deal with that."
Fennoy said he would still be leading Palm Beach County schools if there had been no pandemic and he hasn't ruled out the possibility of one day becoming a superintendent again. He admits he misses his old job at times, especially his team, the camaraderie and students.
Nearly four months after stepping down, he spends some of his time doing advisory work for companies and non-profit organizations, but he is focused on family. He plans his mornings around school drop-off time, and he makes sure to attend the fashion shows his six-year-old daughter puts on at home when grandma sends a new dress.
As for when he might eye another school leadership position, Fennoy said, "when I'm ready," quickly noting his blood pressure right now is "fantastic."