Articles tagged with NSBA annual conference

Massey reflects on “adaptive” year as NSBA President

Adaptive leadership was the theme of C. Ed Massey’s presidency this year, and in his final address as president of the National School Boards Association (NSBA), he reflected on the changes this leadership has brought about.

“We have adapted by selecting our new executive director and by creating the New NSBA,” he said at the Sunday session of NSBA’s annual conference.

Massey, who is a member of Kentucky’s Boone County school board, will become NSBA Past President Monday as NSBA President-elect David Pickler of Tennessee’s Shelby County school board takes the leadership role.

Massey reflected on his travels during his presidency; he made it to 26 states and two countries – Finland and Estonia. In those places, he said, he met many people “with a passion for public education and the interest of children.” And while Finland may top the U.S. education system in some ways, “they can’t match us in creativity,” he said.

He talked about his efforts to advocate for local control and mentioned the Local School Board Governance and Flexibility Act, a measure proposed by NSBA. The bill, H.R. 1386, is designed to protect local school district governance from unnecessary and counter-productive federal intrusion from the U.S. Department of Education.

He stressed the importance of advocating for school boards and public education at the state and federal level, suggesting that we tell our members of Congress, “we put you in office and if you don’t support public education, we’ll take you out.”

Now that his presidency is coming to an end, Massey said he will “continue to fight the fight for public education.” He is dedicated to continue to be “a lifelong learner to be an advocate for public education.”

Massey illustrated his adaptive leadership philosophy with a quote from John F. Kennedy: “Change is the law of life. Those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.”

He closed by telling the audience, “I hope I have made a difference in your life.”

Kathleen Vail|April 14th, 2013|Categories: Leadership, Legislative advocacy, NSBA Annual Conference 2013|Tags: , |

Watch inspiring speeches by NSBA leaders on YouTube

Videos of NSBA’s leaders’ speeches given during NSBA’s 2012 Annual Conference, held April 21-23 in Boston, are now available on NSBA’s YouTube channel.

Mary Broderick, NSBA’s 2011-12 President, detailed a letter to President Obama she had written during her term as president, calling for a greater focus on nurturing children’s desires to learn rather than an emphasis on testing.

Speaking at the Second General Session on April 22, Broderick cited examples of federal and state policies stifling children’s motivation and learning through an overemphasis on standards and testing. She called for more focus on motivational research on students, and she also emphasized the need for public education systems to attract and retain good teachers and administrators by giving them flexibility to do their jobs.

Broderick’s letter to President Obama elicited several news stories and hundreds of Twitter “tweets.”

NSBA President C. Ed Massey also engaged attendees with a speech on adaptive leadership and ways that school boards can position their schools to adapt to a constantly changing world. Rethinking the ways the system has operated can improve students’ learning, and ultimately, the nation’s economy, he said at the Third General Session on April 23.

Massey called on national leaders and school board members to “commit to public education as a civil and moral right” and to make education a top priority in policy and budget discussions.

The NSBA YouTube channel also features videos of speeches by leaders and presenters at previous NSBA conferences.

 

 

Joetta Sack-Min|June 22nd, 2012|Categories: NSBA Annual Conference 2012, Teachers|Tags: , , , , |

Kentucky’s C. Ed Massey starts term as president of the National School Boards Association

School board leader C. Ed Massey of Kentucky’s Boone County Schools has become the 65th President of the National School Boards Association (NSBA) at the association’s Annual Conference that took place April 21-23, 2012 in Boston.

David A. Pickler of Tennessee’s Shelby County Schools was elected President-elect and Anne M. Byrne of New York’s Nanuet Union Free School District was elected Secretary-Treasurer by NSBA’s 150-member Delegate Assembly.

Massey has served on the Boone County Board of Education for 16 years and is a former President of the Kentucky School Boards Association. Massey was first elected to NSBA’s Board of Directors in 2008, serving as a Central Region Director representing school board members in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin. In 2010, Massey was elected Secretary-Treasurer and in 2011 was elected President-elect.

In the one-year term as President, which began on Monday, April 23,2012, Massey plans to focus on NSBA’s service to its state associations.

“My goal as NSBA’s President is to find new ways to serve our state associations, which will enhance their work with our local boards in promoting student achievement,” Massey said. “I’m honored and humbled to serve as the President of NSBA and I look forward to serving as a national voice to promote public education through local school board leadership.”

NSBA’s Executive Director Anne L. Bryant praised Massey’s dedication to school board governance.

“Ed Massey is passionate about the children we serve, and he brings not only that passion but the understanding of the importance of school boards working with their state associations,” said Bryant. “As a local school board leader, former state association leader, and now national President, he understands the synergy and power of the connection between the local school board, state association, and NSBA.”

NSBA’s Delegate Assembly also elected the following school board members as regional directors:

  • Miranda A. Beard of Mississippi’s Laurel School District was re-elected as a Southern Region Director;
  • Judy R. Lair of Kansas’s Woodson School District 366 was re-elected as a Western Region Director;
  • Kristin A. Malin of Maine’s Georgetown Central School elected as a Northeast Region Director;
  • S. Scott Mueller of Rhode Island’s South Kingstown School District re-elected as a Northeast Region Director;
  • John S. Payne of Indiana’s Blackford County Schools re-elected as a Central Region Director; and
  • Frank C. Pugh of California’s Santa Rosa City Schools elected as a Pacific Region Director.

Serving as NSBA ex-officio directors will be: Sandra J. Jensen of Nebraska’s School District of Omaha as the Chair of the Council of Urban Boards of Education; Paul H. Chatman of California’s Ocean View School District as Chair of the National Black Caucus of School Boards; Mike DeLaO of Arizona’s Safford Unified School District as Chair of the National Hispanic Caucus of School Board Members; Elizabeth Eynon-Kokrda of the Nebraska law firm of Baird Holm, LLP as the Chair of the Council of School Attorneys; Dr. Edwin Dunlap, Jr. of the North Carolina School Boards Association as the Chair of the Organization of State Association Executive Directors’ Liaison Committee; and NSBA’s Executive Director Anne L. Bryant.

Alexis Rice|April 24th, 2012|Categories: Announcements, Governance, Leadership, NSBA Annual Conference 2012, School Boards|Tags: , , |

Big names, big moments, all a part of NSBA annual conference

DSC_43591-e1271009270864-199x300Let me preface this blog with a confession: I missed Wynton Marsalis’ speech at NSBA’s 70th Annual Conference last weekend in Chicago. I’ve since heard that his speech and performance was one of the best in recent memory at an NSBA event, and we’ve had some pretty darn good speakers in recent years (Bill Clinton, Sydney Portier, Sandra Day O’Connor, to drop a few names).

For me, the most important speech of the conference wasn’t a General Session headliner, it actually took place in a jam-packed room on the fourth floor. But I believe what Diane Ravitch had to say was pretty close to revolutionary in the 15 years I’ve covered education policy. My former NSBA colleague, attorney Tom Hutton, called it a “watershed” moment in education reform.

My second confession: I hadn’t read Ravitch’s new book, “The Death and Life of the Great American School System,” before listening to her speech. I had read lots about it, and how she’s changed her views on issues such as school choice, testing and accountability models, and free enterprise as a model for K-12 education reform.

Fortunately, Ravitch walked the audience through the chapters of the book and explained how she had changed her mind about a lot of the concepts she’d previously endorsed (there’s been a lot more research since the inception of standards-based reform in the 1990s and No Child Left Behind, for one thing).

It all started when she decided to have her home office repainted and had to pack up and sort through some 30 years worth of books, papers and memorabilia. It was then that Ravitch, who began her career as an education historian, served in the George H.W. Bush administration, and later became a conservative-leaning analyst, began examining the ideals versus the implementation of NCLB and current political climate.
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Naomi Dillon|April 19th, 2010|Categories: American School Board Journal, Educational Research, Governance, Policy Formation|Tags: , , |

Negative narrative hounds education, despite evidence of good work, big challenges

Diane Ravitch speaks at 70th annual NSBA conference

Diane Ravitch one of many speakers at 70th annual NSBA conference

I came away from Chicago feeling much like I have after other NSBA annual conferences: inspired — and frustrated.

Inspired because, corny as it might sound, I really am impressed with the work that you — school board members and administrators – are doing. You know what makes a good school system and, if Chicago’s conference is any indication, are working diligently against difficult odds to improve the education of all students.

I could cite any number of examples, but will just mention one interactive workshop I covered at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday (well-attended, by the way), led by Rob Delane, deputy executive director of the Ohio School Boards Association, titled “What Makes A Great Workplace: The Board’s Role in Ensuring a Positive School Climate.”  If you had listened to the questions and comments, you would have heard board members who were intently focused on improving the climate in their schools and their communication with the public.
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Naomi Dillon|April 14th, 2010|Categories: American School Board Journal, Educational Research, Governance, Policy Formation, School Climate|Tags: , , , |
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