Conference Daily Online

AASA's award-winning newsletter, providing daily coverage of events, photos and video clips of the conference.

VIDEO: Wanda Cook-Robinson on Her Women’s Leadership Award (1:09)

Storyteller-in-Chief

When I attended Trish Rubin’s Thought Leader session on marketing, I expected to hear best practices related to business. It was refreshing to have a focus on BrandED and to truly unpack our thinking about the story we tell about ourselves.

You are the Storyteller-in-Chief

“Your brand is your image, the promise you make, and the results you envision for your organization.” Never have Trish Rubin’s words resonated more with me. Today at AASA, I encountered content and design thinking  compliments of some very different types of AASA “movers and shakers.”

Contenders for AASA’s Presidency Make Their Public Pitches for Elected Office

The race for the AASA presidency is being contested during the coming three weeks by a pair of veteran school system leaders in Arizona and New York, and both got a chance to put their best foot forward in front of fellow members at the 2nd General Session on Friday morning. The candidates for president-elect […]

A Call to Action: Environmental Sustainability

I followed up on yesterday’s boat trip by attending the session hosted by the Superintendents Environmental Education Collaborative today and learned about how two other school systems bring environmental sustainability into their school district.

Bookworm’s Delight

Every semester, our administrative team participates in a book study, sometimes together with the District Leadership Team or District Walkthrough Cadre and sometimes for administrators exclusively, but always a new book each semester. The topics vary and are targeted toward district initiatives, strategic goals and leadership growth. There was even a semester when administrators were divided into groups, with each group reading different books around “hot topics”.

Effie Jones Luncheon Call: ‘Let Us Be Dissatisfied’

Charles H. F. Davis III began his keynote address midday Friday at the annual Effie H. Jones Memorial Luncheon in an unusual manner. He led the attendees through a rousing rendition of what’s widely considered the “black national anthem” – James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Davis, an assistant professor of clinical education […]

VIDEO: Mark Adler on Channeling Grief (2:12)

After losing his teenage son Reid to a cyberbullying-related suicide, a Nebraska superintendent launched an initiative to improve kindness among youngsters through their schools.

Leaders From Michigan and Florida Grab Women Leadership Awards

A superintendent from Michigan and a central-office leader in Florida were honored as AASA’s 2019 Women in School Leadership award winners at the 2nd General Session on Friday morning. The honoree in the superintendent category was Wanda Cook-Robinson, superintendent, Oakland Schools, Waterford, Mich. The titlist in the central-office/principal category was Marie Izquierdo, chief academic officer, […]