ASBA celebrates Arizona grads with special message
Celebrate all graduates today, May 20 as we recognize it as Arizona Graduate Recognition Day! This special recognition day is about the entire state coming together to make sure all graduates know Arizona is proud of their accomplishments.
We hope you’ll join the party, and encourage your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors to do the same! Share your pictures with us using #AZClassOf2020.
Potential adjustments to ASBA events for 2020-21
While many of us have been engaged with ASBA webinars and online learning, we know many of our members are eager to find out when life will return to normal. This is an unprecedented crisis that demands an unprecedented response. With that said, large-scale events and gatherings such as the Law Conference, County Meetings and the Annual Conference are still scheduled to happen but may look differently.
We are working with hotel management on how social distancing may change in-person meetings as well as other safety accommodations at this time. We want to keep our members informed of these events must be turned into virtual events for any reason. We are following the recommendations from our state and national health experts on the next steps and promise to keep you updated with new information as it is received.
Return to School Roadmap on ASBA COVID-19 webpage
ASBA members can now view the Return to School Roadmap, traditional school opening procedures and public health agency guidance, from the Opportunity Labs Foundation, Inc. on our COVID-19 webpage. These resources focus on essential actions to help districts and school leaders implement a safe and equitable return to school. This roadmap is one component of a continuum of school decision making and action relative to SARS-CoV-2 that includes school closure and continuity of learning and services while schools remain closed.
Why did you become a school board member?
As part of our “Become a School Board Member” campaign, we are telling compelling stories of current board members and why they decided to run for the school board. View Desiree Fowler’s video from the Page Unified School District.
Now available remotely – Our most requested custom board trainings!
ASBA’s governance and board support experts are eager to get back on the road and come to your district to provide you with custom training and facilitation to meet your board’s needs. However, until it is safe to do so, we’ve adapted some of our most requested custom board trainings and our board self-evaluation facilitation to live, online formats.
Scheduling is now open for the following:
Roles and Responsibilities
Effective teams understand the role and responsibilities of each team member. During this training, we take a deep dive into the different, yet interconnected duties of the superintendent and board. (2 hours*)
Effective Board Meetings (plus Remote Meeting Best Practices upon request)
This training helps your ream identify ways to have productive, efficient and informative board meetings. Agenda Setting, meeting norms and pacing are just a few of the topics covered in this training. (2 hours*)
Open Meeting Law
ASBA General Counsel Chris Thomas, provides an overview of Arizona’s Open Meeting Law. The workshop can be tailored to meet the district’s individual needs. (2 hours*)
Board Self-Evaluation
Board teams use ASBA’s online self-evaluation tool to assess their effectiveness, then review the results with an ASBA facilitator and identify areas of opportunity for improvement during the workshop. (3 hours*)
*One hour of preparation time is required for this session.
Questions? Contact Nikkie Whaley, board support specialist, at nwhaley@azsba.org, or Julie Bacon, leadership development specialist, at jbacon@azsba.org.
Reminder: Political Agenda Submissions due May 29
ASBA board members, superintendents, and superintendent secretaries should have all received the political agenda submission packet via email last week. All submissions for the 2021 political agenda are due by Friday, May 29. Please reach out if you have any questions by emailing Leigh Jensen, Governmental Relations Associate at ljensen@azsba.org.
Request for Proposals to present at Annual Conference now open
ASBA encourages your district to think about presenting at our Annual Conference, Dec. 3-4. Submissions are now open and close Friday, Aug. 3. ASBA will conduct a first review and notify semi-finalists no later than Aug. 17, 2020. If selected as a semi-finalist, you will be asked to provide additional details on your presentation which will assist ASBA in making final selections.
Submissions will be considered for either a 50 min or 30 min breakout session.
For questions or additional information, please contact Nikkie Whaley, ASBA Board Support and Field Service Specialist by email, nwhaley@azsba.org.
All the information is located on the website.
New superintendent named for Sierra Vista USD
Dr. Eric Holmes has signed his contract with Sierra Vista Unified School District and named superintendent for the 2020-21 school year. He served as superintendent of the City of York School District in York, Pennsylvania and has been an educator for 32 years. Earlier this year Sierra Vista selected ASBA as the search firm to help find a new superintendent.