Session Highlights

Discover new ways of creating impact together through cross-functional learning. Find new ideas at 64 sessions covering nine focus areas—There's relevant content for everyone on your team. Check out some of the sessions offered at the NSBA 2021 Online Experience.

• School Board Members

  Superintendent Selection:  The Right Process and the Right Fit
  Discover what it takes to conduct a high-quality, professional superintendent search.  The presentation, led by the officers of NSBA's National Affiliation of Superintendent Searches (NASS), will cover the critical points of planning and conducting a search, including establishing a timeline, how to best engage stakeholder groups without ceding the board's decision-making authority, best practices for interviews, and ways to ensure a healthy transition once an appointment has been made.

  From the Boardroom to the Classroom: Governance That Works 
  Find out how the Sun Prairie Area School District (Wisconsin) (enrollment 8,500) went from a focus on operations of a school district to a primary focus on student achievement.

• School Business Officials

  How to Create an Award-Winning Budget
  The most scrutinized and utilized financial report in school district financial reporting is the annual budget. Therefore, communicating budget information to the community is critical. This workshop, based on the Association of School Business Officials International's Meritorious Budget Award (MBA) criteria, will show participants how to develop a budget document that meets today’s most rigorous demands using guidelines specifically created for school entities.
  
  Secrets of the Effective District Administration Team and the Role of the Rock Star Business Administrator
  Educators are exceptional people being drawn to their 'callings' to help others. Education requires funding and financial controls. Business Officials ensure fiscal accountability. School business departments can be viewed as a necessary evil as they seemingly restrict desires and goals of educators. Potential conflict between 'Education' and 'Business' staff need not exist. Attendees will acquire tangible skills and strategies to unify departments. It is possible for the Teacher and the Accountant to be friends.

   

• School Safety Officers

  Reasonable Accommodations in the Time of COVID-19
  Learn from school board association attorneys how school districts across Oregon are complying with their duty under the ADA to provide reasonable accommodations to staff returning (or not) to the schoolhouse as districts begin to reopen amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Find out what creative, out-of-the-box thinking and tried-and-true strategies have served districts in supporting employees with anxiety or conditions placing them in high-risk categories, while maintaining high-quality educational services to students, in these extraordinary times.

  Schools on the Frontline: Mental Health Providers and School Systems Working Together
  This presentation will include the participation of district leaders, student services staff, partner mental health provider, and school board members as we outline the path the Pewaukee School District (PSD) has followed to provide therapeutic services for students on campus and during the school day. The session will include a description of the request for proposal (RFP) process, logistical planning, and results following the first year of implementation.
  
  

• Superintendent & Assistant Superintendents

  Hope, Engagement, and Belonging: More Important Than Ever!
  Educators, families, and community members understand the critical need to foster Hope - especially during these ever-changing times. Join this interactive session to explore the science across decades of research on Hope - and its connection to emotional engagement and a sense of belonging in the learning environment. Session participants will learn why hope, engagement, and belonging are essential to overall student well-being, as well as practical strategies to use in school and in remote learning environments.

  At The Table Together: The Collaborative Superintendent Evaluation Process
  The board of the Kansas City Missouri Public Schools (enrollment 15,000) implemented a unique superintendent evaluation process that brings the superintendent to the table during the deliberation and determination of his summative evaluation. Learn how the board has transformed the responsibility of completing the superintendent's evaluation from an 'event' into a transparent and collaborative process based upon clearly defined standards, goals, and measures.