One month from today, the 77thannual KSBA conference will be in full swing and planners and attendees alike are heavy into the preparations for the three days of training and networking.
The conference – using the theme Kentucky Public Schools: Taking the Next Step – will be Friday, Feb. 22 through Sunday morning, Feb. 24 at the Galt House Hotel and Conference Center in downtown Louisville.
As of today, more than 500 school board members, superintendents, district administrators and others already have registered, most of them online through thislinkon the KSBA website. For those who haven’t completed their registration forms yet, online or hard copy, keep this in mind: It’s important that you indicate on the forms which of the 42, 75-minute clinic sessions you plan on attending. This allows conference planners to schedule the largest rooms to accommodate the largest advance registration and avoid people being shut out when those rooms are filled. Selecting a session is not an iron-clad commitment to attend that clinic nor does it guarantee a seat, but it does give the planners and presenters important insights for seating, handouts, etc.
The 2013 conference will open with five in-depth preconference workshops addressing:
· * Characteristics of effective school boards (led by NSBA associate executive director Lisa Bartusek)
· * Health care reform and employee issues under the Affordable Care Act
· * Things school leaders need to know about insurance coverage (an informational clinic on the Kentucky School Boards Insurance Trust is being added to the agenda later in the conference)
· * Advanced news media interview and reporter/educator relationship skills
· * Preventing bullying (annual school safety seminar, led by a veteran school resource officer)
Preconference sessions require separate registration and earn participants three hours of training credit.
This year’s keynote speakers include Roger Crawford of the National Hall of Fame for Persons with Disabilities; native Tennessee author, educator and networking expert Dr. Dale Henry; and youth advocate, U.S. Army vet and White House fellow Wes Moore. Each of these speakers comes highly recommended from education audiences in other states.
The election of new members to the KSBA Board of Directors is the main item for the Saturday afternoon annual business session. And the conference will feature the announcement of the F. L. Dupree Outstanding Superintendent Award and KSBA Friend of Education Award (Friday afternoon Opening General Session) and the Warren Proudfoot Outstanding School Board Member Award and the KSBA First Degree College Scholarship recipients (Saturday luncheon).
The winter meetings of the Kentucky Association of Superintendents Administrative Assistants (KOSAA) and the Kentucky Council of School Board Attorneys (see later article in this edition of Boardcast) also will take place. Members will receive their own registration information directly from their KSBA support units.
Housing reservation deadline just two weeks away
Remember that the deadline for the block of rooms reserved at the Galt House West (Rivue Tower) and Galt House East (Suite Tower) is Feb. 6. Hotel reservations must be made using the form provided online and in the hard copy mailer sent to all members and superintendents. Telephone reservations will not be accepted by the hotel.
Board members are encouraged to coordinate hotel reservations through their superintendents so that group reservations may be made.
Student-produced banners coming in daily
The loading dock at KSBA is a buzz of activity for many reasons, not the least of these is the daily delivery of banners by student artists depicting their vision of the conference theme – Kentucky Public Schools: Taking the Next Step.
As of today, more than 50 district banners have been received, on the way to the usual number well over 100.
This year, the banners will be displayed in the hallway around and in the Grand Ballrooms of the Galt House, as well as in the largest of the clinic session rooms.
Banners should be delivered to the KSBA offices in Frankfort by Friday, Feb. 15 to ensure display at the event.
Conference attendees will get a list of all districts providing student banners in their conference registration packets upon arrival.
Anyone with questions about the KSBA conference is encouraged to contact Kerri Schelling, conference manager, at 800-372-2962 or [email protected].