Donald Buckingham’s days are chock-full. The principal of Sedgwick Elementary School divides his time among a variety of tasks including dealing with transportation, discipline and special education issues; finding substitute teachers; filling out forms for the superintendent’s office; keeping abreast of the state’s latest testing requirements; meeting with parents and other members of the community; writing newsletters; and supervising sports. On top of everything else, he teaches part time.

Wearing so many hats can be stressful, but Buckingham loves his job. “It’s really a very exciting and satisfying profession,” he said Wednesday.

Most principals agree, according to a University of Maine survey released this week which indicates that more than 90 percent of the respondents found the job “energizing, rewarding and enjoyable” and said they feel good about what they’ve been able to do to improve their schools.

But the survey, conducted in 2005, also showed that 85 percent found the job “stressful” and 47 percent “often wonder if the long hours involved in the job are worth it.”

“That’s troubling to me because I would want to have the leader of every Maine school be somebody who felt that their job was the greatest job on earth,” said Gordon Donaldson, professor of educational leadership at UM’s College of Education and Human Development.

He wrote the report with Buckingham, a UM adjunct faculty member, and George Marnik, a UM instructor.

Mailed last spring, the survey documents the responses of 315 principals and teaching principals – 46 percent of the total number listed by the Maine Department of Education.

The questionnaire is the third to be conducted since 1997 as part of a long-term evaluation by the university education department in an effort to keep track of changing conditions in school leadership and the rewards and challenges of being a principal in Maine. The previous two studies were done in 1997 and 2001.

Among other things, the latest study indicates that Maine principals, on average, put in a 57- to 59-hour week and supervise an average of about 40 professional and support staff. They spend most time on personnel matters, followed by student management and interacting with the central office, and are increasingly engaged in public relations – dealing with parents and the media.

“The job is huge,” said Donaldson.

He said that one of the most startling statistics revealed in all three reports is that about a third of principals leave their positions every two years as the pressures to improve schools and student learning take their toll.

No one disagrees with the idea of making schools better, said Donaldson, but he pointed out that the burden of putting federal and state regulations into practice rests with the principal. “The MEA [Maine Educational Assessment] scores are being published in the paper, and people from Augusta are saying, ‘Hey, get those scores up.’ And it’s the principals who are at the crossroads.”

With such pressures, Donaldson wasn’t surprised that 24 percent to 30 percent of respondents in all three surveys since 1997 said they would not choose the career again.

Based on the newest data, the average length of time in a principal’s present position dropped from eight years in 1997 to 6.9 years in 2005.

After 22 years of being a principal, Buckingham said he understands the “stress and overload” experienced by others in his profession. He is concerned that fewer high-quality teachers are interested in becoming principals and that disillusioned principals “may not be as encouraging to potential incoming principals as people who are really excited.”

Noting that more than 60 percent of principals who responded to the survey are over 50 years old, Donaldson said the state will be seeing “a huge changeover in people who will be leaders of our schools in less than 10 years.”

Now is the time, he said, “to recruit a fresh, new energetic batch of instructional leaders.”

To that end, the Maine Principals’ Association and the Maine Education Leadership Consortium are discussing how to make leadership positions in Maine schools “manageable and rewarding for our very best educators,” Donaldson said.

Principals should discuss with their superintendents and school boards whether they’re making the best use of their time, said Buckingham. And superintendents and school boards should specify their priorities and make sure their expectations are reasonable.

UM also is doing its part to ensure less stress for principals. The master’s degree program in educational leadership now focuses not only on preparing principals and superintendents, but also on creating “teacher leaders” who can take some of the burden off principals.

“We’ve expected our principals to do everything,” Donaldson said.

The Principal Study report, “Change and Stability in School Leadership: 1997-2005,” may be found at http://portfolio.umaine.edu/~edl.