Sunday, March 30, 2008

Resources

• Sunday, March 30, 2008 Conference Daily PDF [PDF 4,968,015kb]
  Print out the pdf for a complete copy of today's Conference Daily. Note: due to paper size difference from original copy font size will be smaller.
  
• Today's Program Changes [HTML 290kb]
• Today's Events [HTML 4,706kb]
• O’Connor: Make civics education more exciting, relevant [HTML 4,683kb]
  To understand how Sandra Day O’Connor came by her passion for improving civic instruction in the public schools, you have to go back to her 2005 retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court and her decision to advise emerging Central and Eastern Europe nations on setting up the structures of democracy.
  
• Bryant: We must work together [HTML 4,307kb]
  It’s essential for NSBA, the state school boards associations, and local school boards to work together if we are going to be effective advocates for public education, NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant told the audience at the First General Session.
  
• Houston: Education is ‘missionary work’ [HTML 3,370kb]
  Leave while they still want you to stay, Paul Houston says, and he’s following his own advice by stepping down as executive director of the American Association of School Administrators after 14 years in the position.
  
• Advocate for 21st century skills and incentives: Kay [HTML 2,539kb]
  The current model of K-12 education, based on the mastery of facts, is no longer relevant when the amount of technical education in the world doubles every 24 months—and will double every 72 days by 2020—said Ken Kay, president of the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
  
• Exhibit Hall, Wellness Pavilion draw large crowds [HTML 3,484kb]
  Elsy Mecklembourg-Guibert did not know that animal fur was a trigger for asthma. Environmental pollution, she knew, but not fur. Then the vice president of New York’s Elmont Union Free School District visited the Health and Wellness Pavilion on the opening day of the NSBA Annual Conference.
  
• Native American caucus hears ‘messenger of hope’ [HTML 2,323kb]
  Howard T. Rainer calls himself a “messenger of hope” for struggling Native American students. And he believes school board members can be messengers as well.
  
• Immigration battle fueling policy debate over ELLs [HTML 2,955kb]
  Today’s political environment—fueled by concerns over illegal immigration—is making itself felt in the policy debate over how best to educate students needing to learn English.
  
• NSBA recognizes outstanding board members [HTML 3,320kb]
  The NSBA School Board Member National Recognition Program honored school board members from Alaska, Georgia, Louisiana, Illinois, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.
  
• Negron: 1st Amendment cases could impact school districts [HTML 2,630kb]
  Two First Amendment cases before federal appeals courts could have major implications for school boards, NSBA General Counsel Francisco Negron told members of NSBA’s Council of School Attorneys Saturday morning.
  
• NSBA lobbyists review advocacy agenda, eye NCLB reauthorization [HTML 4,068kb]
  NSBA welcomes U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings’ announcement to launch a new pilot program to provide more flexibility under No Child Left Behind, but is still pushing for Congress to amend NCLB as soon as possible.
  
• Hurricane Katrina offered a lesson in disaster planning [HTML 3,284kb]
  After Hurricane Katrina rocked the Bay St. Louis-Waveland School District on Mississippi’s Gulf Coast, district officials learned valuable, first-hand lessons about dealing with a disaster.
  
• Healthier beverages now sold in schools [HTML 2,632kb]
  Since the Alliance for a Healthier Generation School Beverage Guidelines were approved in May 2006, there has been significant improvement in the nutritional quality of items sold in school vending machines.
  
• School-parks partnership improves quality of life [HTML 2,473kb]
  When a school district and city parks department team up to provide services for children and families, the entire community benefits, said Peggy Riggs, associate superintendent of the Springfield, Mo., school district.
  
• Partnership sessions focus on building 21st century skills [HTML 3,466kb]
  Results of a new nationwide poll shared by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills revealed that Americans are deeply concerned that today’s students are not prepared to compete in the global economy.
  
• Missouri district ties grading policy to standards [HTML 2,658kb]
  The Rockwood, Mo., school district has developed a new grading system that provides meaningful feedback for students, clear communication with parents, and more support for teachers.
  
• Threat assessments can prevent violence [HTML 3,420kb]
  When should districts conduct threat assessments and what should they entail? Attorney A. Dean Pickett of the Flagstaff, Ariz., firm Mangum, Wall, Stoops & Warden offered some tips during the Council of School Attorneys’ School Law Seminar.