The National School Boards Association (NSBA) is delighted to announce a new leadership academy for school board members in partnership with Howard University. The six-session program will begin in February 2025 and run through May 2025.

The Governance and Strategic Leadership Academy will bolster support for effective governance in PreK-12 schools by addressing policy development, budgeting, and superintendent evaluation best practices as a core part of the strategic planning process. Executive coaching is available for interested participants. Participants will engage with superintendents, school board leaders, state association leaders, and Howard University faculty to explore problems of practice and learn in a highly interactive exchange.

Enroll Today

Class Dates:

3 sessions (2 days per session with a total of 6 days)
All three sessions are in person at Howard University in Washington, D.C.

Cost:

$2,000.00 per session, if purchased individually
$5,000.00 if all three sessions are purchased at once

Curriculum:

The Academy is designed to help school board members execute in their three primary functions:

National experts and leaders with proven results and strategies will be guest lecturers throughout the program.

CEU credits available

Academy Sponsor

Verjeana McCotter-Jacobs, Esq.

Verjeana McCotter-Jacobs brings extensive leadership experience in the education sector, having served as Chair of the Board of Education for Prince George’s County Public Schools in Maryland — one of the nation’s largest school districts — for more than a decade.

During her time as a school board member, she served as president of the Maryland Association of Boards of Education and Chair of NSBA’s Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE), demonstrating an unwavering commitment to promoting excellence and equity in education and working tirelessly to enhance educational outcomes for all students. During her time on the school board, McCotter-Jacobs worked for more than 20 years for the Prince George’s County Department of Corrections, retiring as the Division Chief of the Office of Professional Responsibility and Legal Affairs at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. She maintains license to practice law in Maryland and the District of Columbia.

McCotter-Jacobs began her tenure at NSBA in 2017, leading the organization’s change around member engagement, as well as building upon the organization’s progress in member services, equity, and social justice to identify discriminatory practices, prejudices, and beliefs in education policy. Under her leadership, NSBA’s CUBE experienced triple-digit growth. She was named NSBA’s Chief Transformational Officer in 2020 and Deputy Executive Director in August 2022.

Academy Leaders

Dr. Shawn Joseph
Dr. Shawn Joseph’s passion for equity and social justice has led him to serve in a number of positions in the world of education. He has been an English teacher, reading specialist, school administrator, central office administrator, and superintendent in Delaware (Seaford School District) and Tennessee (Metro Nashville Public Schools). He served on the faculty of Fordham University in the Department of Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy during the 2019-2020 school year and is currently Co-Director of the AASA/Howard Urban Superintendent Academy and Assistant Professor of Educational Leadership, Administration, and Policy Studies at Howard University.

In 2009, Dr. Joseph was honored by his peers as the National Association of Secondary School Administrator’s Met-Life Middle School Principal of the year for the State of Maryland.  In 2010, Dr. Joseph was the recipient of the American Educational Research Association’s Outstanding Dissertation Award in the area of Educational Leadership.  In 2019 and 2020, Dr. Joseph was selected as the Person of the Year by the Tribune Newspaper in Nashville.  His first book, The Principal’s Guide to the First 100 Days of the School Year: Creating Instructional Momentum, offers insight into the complexity of the principalship and suggests strategies for focusing on increasing student achievement. In 2019, he published the book Finding the Joseph Within, a memoir which tells the account of his professional journey and how faith and perseverance unleashed favor upon his life.

Dr. Joseph earned a doctoral degree in educational administration and policy studies from The George Washington University and a master’s degree from The Johns Hopkins University.  His bachelor’s degree is from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, America’s oldest Historically Black College. Dr. Joseph’s research interests include studying the leadership experiences of Black superintendents, superintendent preparation programs, and how minoritized leaders lead for equity.

As an Associate for HYA, Dr. Joseph has served on cabinet level and superintendent searches since 2022. He most recently conducted cabinet searches in Montgomery County Public Schools, Atlanta Public Schools, Omaha Public Schools, and Patterson Public Schools. Dr. Joseph also conducts program evaluations and provides executive coaching.

Dr. Shannon R. Waite
Dr. Shannon R. Waite is an educational leader with over two decades of experience and holds a doctoral degree in educational leadership from Fordham University. Currently serving as an Assistant Professor at Howard University in the School of Education’s Department of Educational Leadership & Policy Studies, Dr. Waite is a scholar-activist-researcher. Her primary focus lies in cultivating critical consciousness among educational leaders by employing critical policy analysis and theories to scrutinize prevailing systems and practices. The ultimate goal of her work is to address and rectify the inequities prevalent in schools and districts.

Dr. Waite embarked on her educational journey in 2003 as a Global Studies teacher in New York City Public Schools. Over the years, she has held a range of positions, including teacher, teacher recruiter, and human resource director, culminating in her role as the Director of Principal Pipeline Recruitment at the New York City Department of Education.

Transitioning from PreK-12 to higher education in 2016, Dr. Waite began her tenure as a clinical assistant professor at Fordham University. In 2018, she was honored with an appointment to the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) for NYC Public Schools by former NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio. This appointment also bestowed upon her the role of a Trustee for the Board of Education Retirement System (BERS) and she concluded her service on both platforms in 2021. Throughout her service, Dr. Waite consistently utilized her influence to shed light on the socio-political and historical factors contributing to educational inequities. She collaborated with a diverse range of stakeholders with a shared commitment to addressing and resolving these disparities.

Micah Ali
Micah Ali is a seasoned education leader with a deep-rooted commitment to equity and student success .Born and reared in Compton, Micah Ali brings a keen grasp of the complex issues facing urban schools to help champion students, working families, and urban communities. A graduate of Loyola Marymount University with a Master’s in Education, Ali has dedicated his career to empowering students and strengthening communities.

First elected in 2007, Ali is the longest serving President in the history of the Compton Unified School District, where he helped lead a dramatic turnaround of the district’s educational outcomes as well as help pull it from the brink of state takeover (or state receivership).

Micah Ali is Founder and Conference Chairman of the California Association of Black School Educators (CABSE). Under his leadership, CABSE released a Blueprint for Education Equity—a living document of best and promising practices from across the state to address the opportunity gap for Black students. The Blueprint and CABSE have received support from a host of sponsors and funders, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Ali also served as the National Chairman of the Council of Urban Boards of Education, a Board Member for both the National School Boards Association and the California School Boards Association, and is a member of the National Association of Latino Elected Officials.

Throughout his years of service, Ali has been at the forefront of efforts to advance education equity for all students. He works with school districts and education leaders across the United States with a particular focus on helping school boards operationalize equity and high student expectations in order to secure real and measurable improvements in student achievement, student opportunity, fiscal administration, and board governance. Ali has also helped lead legislative efforts in California to broaden access to Early Care and Education for low-income children, establish school-based health centers to make healthcare more readily available to children in local communities, and expand opportunities for academic excellence in public schools.