While I hope most of Hallville was having fun at the FunFest weekend---I represented our Hallsville school district at the Missouri School Board Association (MSBA) annual meeting. I had a blast in my own right! It was held at Tan-Tar-A at the Lake of the Ozarks and more than 200 districts were represented and in attendance.
Why do board members to go the MSBA Annual Meeting? It's a great opportunity for board member professional development, learning from each other as school districts, and a way for many boards to get to know each other at a more personal level. When I arrived early Friday afternoon, I got there just in time for a breakout session with members of the State Board of Education and the Interim Commissioner, Roger Dorson. Conversation topics included student assessments, teacher shortages, summer school reimbursement, MSIP 6, early childhood, and the state budget. As a policy wonk, this was a great session. The takeaway: State Board and the Governor's priorities will be school safety, early childhood, and career/technical education. After that session, the "delegate assembly" took place and it was the formal part of the meeting--where delegates (I was our Hallsville delegate) reviewed, amended, and approved the legislative priorities for MSBA for the upcoming legislative session. On Saturday, it was a full day that began by 8AM, when I met with a school board friend of mine from Springfield to discuss their early childhood program expansion. The first session on Saturday that I attended was a coalition-building breakout with folks from the Municipal League, and the Missouri Association of Counties. After that session, I went to the early childhood breakout, where MSBA recognized three districts for outstanding early childhood programs, varying drastically in sizes. I picked up a few tips that I hope to share with the folks interested in forming a early childhood center targeting at-risk children here. From there, I went to a session about "Launch"--Springfield Public Schools' virtual learning opportunity. I'll be passing along some good news to Mr. Daly and Mr. Downs about their program to ensure we're offering the best virtual learning for our district. The great thing about Launch is that the adjunct teachers are Missouri certified teachers, living here, and Springfield is operating it at an at-cost basis---with more than 100 districts utilizing their programs. As far as direct student impact, this could be exciting! During the general session that followed, Carmen Agra Deedy gave an amazing talk on the importance of stories to engage our children. She's written several books and I highly encourage you to Google her TED-talks. She's even better in-person. It was amazing--and the vibe from the room was awesome. Just before this, the MSBA President gave a short talk and encouraged board members to focus on: sharing the good news of our districts, school safety, and work to have good relationships with other elected officials. I'm proud that our district is interested and working on all of these things. I attended a breakout with Rep. Dennis Wood, who described his thoughts on the foundation formula. Rep. Wood is a state legislator, former teacher, and is on the Elementary and Secondary Committee in the state house. It was a good session that focused on his email to superintendents about tweaking the foundation formula. I won't bore you with the details here--but I thoroughly enjoyed the session. The late-afternoon breakout I went to was around staff retention and things to do. I'll share with Mr. Downs the ideas shared including: "Rounding" by administrators and the publication internally of items similar to what we do in our board meetings with celebrations. The session also covered how to make staff feel empowered. This includes always having an attitude of needing to "re-recruit" staff, having debrief sessions with new hires to learn from them (and listen to them), and sharing key words at key times in showing appreciation/thanks. One of the neatest parts of the MSBA annual meeting is the student showcase--where districts are invited to bring students to showcase their work. From FFA farming projects to 2nd grade programming projects with legos or students of the "JAG" program---it was a blast to spend an hour+ with the students who are the "why" school board members do what they do. I'm grateful for the opportunity to "nerd-out", meet some fellow board members from across the state from Kansas City City, Mehlville, Kirkwood, School of the Osage, or Carrollton. I'm happy to visit with anyone further about the items discussed or share the material/agendas with folks. As a reminder, our October board meeting will be held on Oct. 15th at 6:00PM. Hope to see you then!
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AuthorHallsville resident. Foster Parent. School board member. Politico. Jesus Follower. Cardinals Fan #MizzouMade Archives
June 2020
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