The beginning of the 12-session KSBA Fall Regional Meetings is just over a month away, and superintendents and board members soon will be able to reserve spots for the dinner and program in their region.
KSBA Executive Director Mike Armstrong said the emphasis of this year’s regional meeting program will be on gathering feedback from members on several specific topics.
“With the 2016 General Assembly drawing ever closer, we’ll use the regional meetings to get attendees’ help ranking some of the top priorities already identified for the association’s 2016 Legislative Agenda that the board of directors will adopt in December,” Armstrong said.
As with other elements of the meeting program, participants will take an instant poll on the top issues that have been identified for KSBA’s Governmental Relations Team to focus on in the upcoming session. The results from all 12 meetings will be combined and shared with the KSBA board.
An initiative started this year by KSBA President Allen Kennedy of Hancock County will be on the program. Kennedy has had the board of directors set a series of priorities tied to member services. After a brief presentation on that lineup of subjects, participants will use the electronic clickers to put their 2-cents’ worth in to rank the areas under consideration.
The final area involved in instant polling will be about the regional meetings themselves. Board members and superintendents will be surveyed about a specific set of aspects of regional meetings from format to topic. Those results will be used in planning the meetings for 2016 and beyond.
Another aspect of the evening’s agenda will be an update on KSBA’s development of a new service for local board self-evaluations. KSBA is working with the Green River Regional and Ohio Valley Education Cooperatives’ Race to the Top project to develop and pilot a new school board member self-evaluation system based on the latest research of effective governance practices. Once complete, the self-evaluation instrument and process will give each board member the opportunity to compare their perception of the board’s current performance level against recognized standards and identify the areas in which they are doing well and the areas in which they want to improve.
All of the regional meetings begin with a dinner followed by the program. The schedule is on the KSBA website here.Board members and superintendents will be receiving registration information from the 12 regional chairpersons and/or regional secretaries in the very near future.