five Monmouth County superintendents are planning on leaving their jobs including leaders of the County's two largest districts some are saying the stress of the job including constant budget cuts and the rise in public criticism on social media are causing them to leave this wave of Departures also comes after the covid-19 pandemic altered public education as we know it and increasingly politicized school boards dividing Educators and communities but it's not just here in New Jersey where administrators are leaving their jobs it's part of a national Trend as senior correspondent Joanna gagas reports the job has only gotten more difficult it certainly has not gotten easier it's a very different job than what it was 15 years ago Chuck Sampson is leaving his post as superintendent of the Freehold Regional High School District where he served as superintendent for close to 13 years he's quick to say why he's not leaving had nothing to do with covid or any board politics or anything like that but as one of five superintendents leaving their jobs in Monmouth County this year it's a position that's gotten a lot harder to handle over the years superintendents get caught in obviously the you know the political climate um and you know you you know as a superintendent that you're you're never going to please everybody with decisions and you're you know you're tasked with making some very difficult decisions that um are always by you know definition going to make some element of the community unhappy Samson is taking a superintendent position in New York where he says he'll work more direct Ive Ed which offers a different freedom than he has here in New Jersey Jim stefankowitz is hanging up his superintendent hat for good after 12 years in the role nine of them in Ocean Township he felt it was time for new leadership but also acknowledges the politics that have seeped in obviously education is is always uh been political to some degree however absolutely in the last I would say five years or so uh it really I think was you know that was heightened um I don't know if that was a product of of covid or a number of different things but uh it is definitely um you know the political world has definitely crept more into to education Rich Baza doesn't feel these five positions opening up is a true superintendent Exodus but it points to the pressures of the job we've got levels of achievement of kids that are are below where we were pandemic and also we've got greater social emotions of kids you know their their mental health these so the pressure is has gotten greater but if there is a leading culprit in all of this they all seem to agree social media the absolute explosion of social media I think social media has added to it because everything is magnified very quickly during the time of coven for example you know particularly as related to vast mandates um you know I would receive messages over social media or over my email uh calling me a Nazi calling me a child abuser because of uh the mass mandates and that was really hard you know that was very difficult because as Educators we are doing everything we can to keep our schools open and to keep our kids safe and it's not making it any easier to attract new candidates at a time when the state and Nation are facing an educator shortage says National recruiter Molly swartzoff the characteristics they seek out with New Jersey it's mainly finding a leadership and finding that role to fill the staff boys because there's not only avoidant superintendents there's a shortage of teachers and somebody that knows how to retain employees and get everything back to where it needs to be New Jersey is just looking to kind of correct a little bit and level so they're looking for somebody with some experience experience a strong ability to communicate to listen and say these superintendents to always put the students first when making decisions for NJ Spotlight news I'm Joanna Gagis