“We are looking forward to the new location at the Louisville Marriott Downtown, which gives us more space, larger breakout rooms and the conference will all be on one floor,” said Laura Cole, KSBA’s director of Board Team Development.
Rhonda Sims, associate commissioner of the Office of Standards, Assessment and Accountability for the Kentucky Department of Education, will be the lunch general session speaker. She will discuss the state’s new star ratings for public schools. The first star ratings were released this fall.
“Sims will discuss what local school board members need to know as they analyze the performance of their district. With the star ratings being so new, it’s important for school board members to understand how the stars relate to their district performance and for members to be able to communicate that through conversations in the community,” Cole said.
In addition to the lunch general session, attendees will have seven opportunities to attend breakout workshop sessions. Each session will feature training on mandated topics as well as courses approved for charter authorizer training credit.
“Winter Symposium is the last conference in 2019, which makes it the last chance for members to earn state-mandated training hours this year,” Cole said. “Our members will be able to earn more than 10 hours of credit at Winter Symposium, so for those who still need several hours of mandated or charter authorizer credit, we encourage you to sign up for the conference at www.ksba.org.”
New training sessionsKSBA led a guided book study this summer on “The Governance Core” (see pages 16-18 for more on the book study), and KSBA will offer a two-part workshop session based on the book.
“The session will focus on successful school board governance, teach about the governance mindset, unity of purpose and a shared moral objective,” Cole said. “Good governance is a key to community support and long-term success of school districts.”
Part one of the Governance Core training session will focus on governance mindset and part two will focus on governance culture. Members can attend one or both parts of the training.
Another new session being offered at Winter Symposium is “Local School Boards Filling Vacancies.” A new state law that went into effect this past summer gives the responsibility of filling school board vacancies back to local boards of education. This session will discuss how the process works and how some districts have dealt with the situation already.
Tailgate ReceptionAfter a one-year hiatus, the Tailgate Reception will return at this year’s Winter Symposium and will be bigger and better than ever. Attendees are encouraged to show your school spirit by wearing your favorite team’s colors and apparel while networking with KSBA staff, affiliate members, exhibitors and fellow board members and superintendents.
“The Tailgate Reception is very popular among our members and we are excited to have it back at this year’s conference,” Cole said. “It’s a great opportunity to interact with your peers and we will have games and prizes during the event.”