The emphasis was on reflection and renewal for the resilient group of education leaders at this year’s ACSA Leadership Summit.
The Nov. 6-8 annual conference attracted more than 1,000 school leaders to the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego. While attendance was down over past years, those who experienced the event agreed it was well worth the time and expense, even as schools have had to cut back on spending.
The Leadership Summit presents “what it takes to be an education leader; what it takes to build capacity; and what we’ve learned from the generations,” said Marc Ecker, superintendent of Fountain Valley School District,
Ecker, who represents Region 17 on the state ACSA Board of Directors, specifically praised a presentation by Boston College professor Andy Hargreaves, who has written a new book with Michael Fullan titled “Change Ways.”
ACSA President Frank Gomez told the first general session that the theme of the conference, “Celebrate the Hero Within,” is absolutely about hope, and working for positive change.
“It requires that ACSA become an activist, and we’re doing that successfully,” he said. “ACSA will continue to be an activist for you and the children of California…We cannot afford to have it done for us or to us, but to be a driver of that bus.”
ACSA Executive Director Bob Wells said it is during difficult budgetary times like these when the collaborative effort of colleagues is most important.
“We all know these are tough times,” he said. “And we know when we’re in tough times we need each other, and we need ACSA, more than ever.”
The Thursday, Nov. 6 general session speaker was teacher and author Rick Rigsby, who discussed the importance of making an impact, rather than making an impression. He said nowhere is making an impact more important than in education.
“When you view your job as a calling, nothing can stand in your way, and every day is renewed hope,” he said. “The goal every day should be what can I do today that I didn’t do yesterday? What can I do to impact people, so I can be an agent of change, an agent of hope?”
A product of California public schools himself, Rigsby spent more than two decades in education, and worked as a professor at Texas A&M University. He said quality leadership is made up of kindness, authority, honesty and hope.
“You talk about budget problems, you talk about difficult times. But when you make a commitment to make an impact, to help others, even your greatest liability becomes your greatest asset,” he said.
During the second general session, Nov. 7, ACSA Vice President Bob Noyes said now, more than ever, the success of children is dependent upon strong educational leadership.
“Our youth need us more than they have in past generations,” he said. “There’s a little bit of hero in all of us. So work hard and continue to make positive things happen. We’re counting on you.”
Also speaking Friday was state Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell, who said it is the job of educators to ensure every student has the opportunity he or she needs to succeed.
“We need visionary leadership now more than ever before,” he said. “The public today wants change. They’re not going to be satisfied with the status quo.”
Investing in the future
O’Connell said the public has repeatedly indicated that education is a top priority, even when money is tight. During the Nov. 4 election, for example, 77 of 85 – or 90 percent – of school bonds across the state passed.
“In these challenging economic times, the public still wants to invest in the future,” he said.
With the condition of the nation’s economy in crisis, most families are forced to make financial sacrifices. But unlike state government, when families tighten their belts, they don’t do so at the expense of their children, O’Connell said.
“Now is the time for all of us to redouble our efforts in public education,” he said. “I can give you 6.2 million reasons why that’s important.”
The keynote speaker was teacher and astronaut Barbara Morgan, who attended California public schools and began her teaching career in California. Morgan said the NASA Teacher in Space Program taught her a lot about leadership.
“A true leader guides rather than demands,” she said. “A great leader trusts the people he or she works with.”
The fellow members of her crew each possessed individual traits, and when brought together made the ideal environment in which to achieve, Morgan said.
“A great teacher learns from his students. They know the importance of teaching beyond the basics,” she said. “A great leader leads by caring, and by getting to know students.”
Working in NASA and learning about space exploration is fulfilling because of all the opportunities for knowledge it provides, she said.
“Space offers the opportunity to always learn more,” Morgan said. “Everyone knows education is key to the future, but the future is also key to education. The universe is constantly expanding so all there is to learn will grow and grow.”
School leaders as heroes
The third and final general session Saturday, Nov. 8, was opened by ACSA President-elect Charles Weis, who invoked the association’s Mission, Vision and Goals.
“In the ACSA vision it states ‘…ACSA and its membership will be regarded as virtually indispensable’ – indispensable! That’s the goal your board has in creating these events each year,” Weis said. “I challenge you to be active at the state level and at the charter and region levels.”
ACSA was formed in 1971 to increase the viability of various administrative groups, he said, adding: “We still need that voice for all administrators.”
Third general session speaker Richard Santana brought his alter ego “Señor Chocolaté” to bear on the conference. The brash, no nonsense “gang-banger” delivered Santana’s message that students are eager to receive school leaders as heroes.
“Someone like me is out there.. not making it,” he said. “Someone like me? All I ever wanted was for someone like you to pay attention to me.”
By the time this Harvard grad revealed his true identity, the audience was moved to understand that children who are often prejudged by their appearance want what everybody else wants: family, protection, respect, money and power.
Santana drew specific attention and admiration to the ACSA Every Student Succeeding Award program, which each day of the conference brought students to the stage who have overcome great odds to achieve educational goals with the help of school administrators.
Elevating the profession
Throughout the Leadership Summit there were events designed to elevate the profession and send administrators back to their jobs with a renewed lease on life.
Among the highlights were a 7 a.m. Friday Women’s Leadership Breakfast presentation by Thelma Meléndez de Santa Ana on ascending to the superintendency.
Meléndez, who was just named California’s National Superintendent of the Year, talked of her own journey from being dismissed by school personnel as a child to becoming superintendent of Pomona Unified School District. That journey is chronicled in an article in the September/October issue of ACSA’s Leadership magazine and is available at www.acsa.org.
Meléndez said women know about the “glass ceiling” that often blocks the path to higher office, but there is also the “sticky floor” of self-defeating behaviors.
Women often assume others know their career goals and fail to ask for what they need. They often fear talking about their accomplishments and assume they are not good enough to reach out to those who are already at the top.
“These are the sticky floors,” she said. “Self awareness is key to overcoming these beliefs.”
Steps women should take to ensure their position for advancement include seeking mentors, not staying too long in one place and becoming “boss centered,” avoiding micromanagement, developing social intelligence and never putting yourself down.
Engaging the next generation
Another important event at the summit was Thursday’s Gen-X Lunch Conversation. Eighteen administrators and prospective administrators born between 1965 and 1981 participated in network building activities and a frank exchange of ideas to improve ACSA services for younger leaders.
Among the exercises during the event was one designed to find out how useful ACSA’s new Web site can be. Participants easily found information on new jobs, professional development opportunities, school improvement and legal aid.
Conference attendees also had an opportunity to attend a fascinating seminar on dealing with a multi-generational workforce on the jobsite, titled “Generations at School: Building an Age-Friendly Learning Community.” Currently, this multi-generational scenario includes four different groups: Veterans, Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers and Millenials.
Presenter Suzette Lovely, deputy superintendent with Capistrano USD, pointed out how each of these groups is unique, having been shaped by growing up in different times and each having different expectations from their careers.
Lovely discussed the best ways to reach out to each group in order to get the best out of them.
She also noted that many of the same factors come into play in dealing with parents. Most parents with children in schools would fall into the Gen-X category, with some Millenials and Baby Boomers as well.
Each group tends to have a unique parenting style, and when school leaders are aware of this, they can more easily reach out to parents to achieve their help in educating their children.
A packed room on Friday morning attended the seminar “Get a Life! Surviving the Stresses of School Leadership,” presented by John Blaydes, director of ACSA’s Principals Academy.
In a fun and informative session, Blaydes discussed what he calls the school leader’s new “three R’s”: Resiliency, Renewal and Reflection.
Blaydes talked about the pressures inherent in balancing a demanding job with the essentials of one’s family and personal life. He discussed the need to take care of oneself first before beginning to take care of one’s school. This is the key to avoiding burnout. Feeling renewed and invigorated personally makes one a more effective school leader.
Also dealing with the pressures of school leadership was consultant Dave Weber, whose ultra high energy storytelling style has made him hotly sought after for such presentations as “I Am Spread So Thin, You Can See Right Through Me” and the summit session “Overcoming Life’s Goliaths.”
Life’s Goliaths, Weber said, can include diseases such as cancer, death of loved ones, hidden addictions and anger.
Building good working relationships and teams can help ease the stress, he said. Great leaders don’t focus on failures. Weber cited the fact that baseball’s greatest home run kings, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron and Reggie Jackson, were also the sport’s strike-out leaders. But they obviously did not let that stop them from phenomenal success.
“Attitude is contagious,” Weber said. “What you choose to become can have a greater influence on who you are today than all your yesterdays.”