The typical superintendent these days is male (though the percentage of female superintendents is steadily rising, now accounting for one in four, according to AASA's 2010 decennial study of the superintendency), in his 40s and almost always married with children. When educators become superintendents, the issues of family dynamics and related concerns today often command as much attention as the employment terms. In his 2009 doctoral dissertation, Roger J. Klatt, superintendent of Barker Central Schools, a 1,000-student district in western New York, identified three key "hesitancy factors" that he says influence superintendents' perceptions and decisions about the job and how it interacts with their lives, public and private. Those factors are (1) having school-age children, (2) spousal considerations and (3) quality of life. However, empirical data exploring the status of family and personal relationships among superintendents are sparse. Relevant studies are few and limited in scope. Family dynamics may be a regular topic of casual conversation among superintendents at professional conferences, but it's not something they talk much about in public or on the record. In superintendent career decisions, weighing one's own family's needs before moving into that desirable new post is important.