AASA - FoS: Strategies for Superintendents Part 2 of 2
Presented on January 14, 2021
“We've had to be epistemologists, we've been HVAC experts, we've been leaders in logistics. We've become everything under the sun.” – Dr. Jesus Jara
“What an incredible, powerful strategy, ‘visiting individual parents’ to identify impediments and to work to solve for those obstacles.” – Don Kennedy
“Not everyone is getting access to the same education.” – Dr. Jesus Jara
“In order to thrive, "learning pods need strong community partnerships.” – Don Kennedy
“Right!!! This is an opportunity to "reset" our nation's education system for the future.” – Attendee
“Right on! Move to the way it should be! Student centered! Bold! Get rid of stuff that isn’t working! Thank you, Dan!” – Attendee
“Seat time going away is great!” – Attendee
“Demonstrate mastery and move on! Move on when ready!” – Attendee
“Teachers as facilitators of knowledge.” – Dr. Jara
“These ideas are so good… Right now we need consistent rules for who are in classrooms and who should not be. Kids who test positive are being sent home—but not the siblings. Some classes continue in person when a kid tests positive and others close. Teachers are caught in the mess.” – Attendee
“These concepts have served students well through full-time online schools for year—happy to hear these ideas will be piloted in our traditional systems.” – Attendee
“One of things the pandemic has unveiled is the inequities we have in internet access. In a district with 90% of our families living in poverty, we have realized a large number of our families have access to the internet through one or two cellular devices within the household. We recognize that providing hotspots to our families is only a temporary solution and that we will need a better solution to address the digital divide. I'd love to hear more about if you're observing this same phenomenon and what you’re thinking about the role of education in this work.” – Attendee
Panelists
Dan Domenech, Executive Director
AASA: The School Superintendents Association.
Dan has been an AASA member since 1979, he serves as president from 1998 to 1999, and his most recent role since 2008 is Executive Director. He has more than 36 years of experience in public education, the majority of those years, 27 to be specific, as a school superintendent.
John Watson, Founder Evergreen Education Group.
John Watson is the founder of the Evergreen Education Group, which has studied K–12 online, blended, and hybrid learning for twenty years. Evergreen organizes the Digital Learning Collaborative, a membership group made up of schools, NGOs, state agencies, and providers, and the DLC's main event, the Digital Learning Annual Conference. John is responsible for conducting, writing, and presenting research as well as providing testimony on digital learning matters to state boards of education, legislatures, and charter school commissions. He has extensive knowledge and experience based on his two decades working in online learning and education technology. This background has afforded him a wide-reaching network across the spectrum of education professionals, policymakers, and subject matter experts as well as the ability to provide insightful, dimensional analysis and recommendations.
Dr. Jesus F. Jara, Superintendent
Clark County School District
Dr. Jesus F. Jara knows our kids only have one shot at school. That is what drives him to help make the Clark County School District (CCSD) the number one choice for students and their families. Dr. Jara has a unique perspective after moving to Miami from Venezuela and growing up as an English-Language Learner. Teachers invested in him as a child, and Dr. Jara has set a priority of ensuring equity and access for our historically underserved and under-resourced students.
Don Kennedy, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer
Charleston County School District
As the Chief Financial And Administrative Officer, he enhances relationships between people and across organizational boundaries, arrived at through trust building, allowing for diverse perspectives, and creating environments that allow people to work more effectively together. Help people and organizations connect with core values in expressing care and compassion for themselves and others.
Amy Valentine,
Future of School
Amy Valentine has been called a social rabble rouser, a turnaround strategist, and a fighter of the status quo in K-12 education. She has served as a teacher, school leader, and executive director. She is a staunch supporter of those who educate our youth, a believer in the promise of new technologies, and remains, above all, an irrepressible optimist on system-level change. She knows that access to the highest quality, personalized education delivered in ways most beneficial to kids can reshape our schools, our families, our communities, and our society.