ACSA is currently seeking county offices of education and school districts to host an upcoming webinar focusing on successful communications for co-administrators.
"Having Difficult Conversations: Reflecting on the Soft, but Strong Side of Leadership" is scheduled for Sept. 23 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Hosted by Tom DeLapp, president of Communication Resources for Schools, it will provide techniques for co-administrators to use when having tough disciplinary conversations with staff.
ACSA is hopeful regions will sponsor meetings around this important topic and encourage as many co-administrators as possible, both ACSA members and potential members, to attend. The webinar will be videocast, and viewing will be limited to ACSA offices, county offices and school districts with high-speed capabilities at a cost of $100 per site.
The decision to sponsor a videocast came about from a discussion during a meeting of ACSA’s state Co-Administration Committee. John Ford, representative from Region 16, talked with the committee about a recent newspaper article reproaching administrators and co-administrators for the number of teachers and other staff districts have who are not or cannot work with efficiency toward student and school improvement.
During the discussion, committee members agreed to address these concerns. Their questions became, "What can we do as the ACSA Co-Administration Committee to assist our fellow co-administrators all across the state with this issue? How can we help co-administrators and enhance the assistance they receive from their human resources office to better do their jobs?"
Committee members agreed that talking with teachers and other staff in a respectful, helpful, non-threatening but assertive way is not something that is taught or regularly discussed with co-administrators, even though they are required to supervise, evaluate and, in many cases, discuss evaluations or other possible disciplinary issues with staff.
The words in these discussions, the committee decided, do not always come out the way they should. Moreover, co-administrators often worry about the possibility of lack of improvement by staff that could lead to more advanced discipline actions. These concerns led the Co-Administration Committee to sponsor the "Having Difficult Conversations: Reflecting on the Soft, but Strong Side of Leadership" webinar.
Additional information about the event will be available in May.
To participate as a videocast host, call ACSA’s Educational Services Department at (800) 608-ACSA.