2013 Spring Alabama School Boards Magazine

Birmingham800.444.6170

Montgomery888.241.3101

Dothan888.712.4900

Mobile800.478.3901

Huntsville800.805.6551

Thomasville855.523.3311

Now Serving Alabama’s Schools with 6 Blue Bird Locations

Contact one of our six Alabama locations for more information!

HUNTSVILLE

BIRMINGHAM

MONTGOMERY

DOTHAN

MOBILE

THOMASVILLE

Introducing Busworx Blue Bird, an extension of Truckworx Kenworth. With six authorized Blue Bird facilities state wide, we now offer parts delivery and mobile service to every school system in Alabama.

Proud new member of

the Alabama Association of School Boards!

ASBA ad.indd 1 1/24/2013 4:17:50 PM

Alabama School Boards • Spr ing 2013 3

Inside Spring 2013Vol. 34, No. 1

www.AlabamaSchoolBoards.org

18 Beware of the little foxeS Tips and techniques to make your schools the schools of choice.

FEATURES6 educatioN &

legiSlatioN Adapt the school calendar for

student success.

8 where do we go from here?

Aftermath from the Alabama Accountability Act causes us to take pause.

10 the Power of gettiNg & ShariNg traiNiNg

Training meets the unique needs of school board governance teams.

22 Better School SyStem weBSiteS

Develop and maintain a website the community can be proud of.

24 ByNum’S childreN Superintendent Donny Bynum talks about the hostage-murder case in Midland City.

26 oNe-to-oNe laPtoPS are No SilVer Bullet

Laptop programs may only be as effective as the schools that adopt them.

28 headS firSt, walletS SecoNd

Best practices to improve the "meals per labor hour" in schools.

IN EVERY ISSUE4 TrenDS, reSeArCh &

DATeS

17 CALenDAr

29 AT The TABLe

oN the coVer: compilation of artwork ©fotolia.com

Pages 3, 6, 16, 18, 19 & 22 artwork ©istockPhoto.comPages 3, 5, 7, 8, 24, 27 & 31 artwork ©fotolia.com

OFFICerSPreSIDenT

Steve fosterLowndes County

PreSIDenT-eLeCTKaty Smith campbell

Macon County

VICe PreSIDenTPam doyle

Muscle Shoals

IMMeDIATe PAST PreSIDenTflorence Bellamy

Phenix City

BOArD OF DIreCTOrSDISTrICT 1

James woosleySatsuma

DISTrICT 2don NicholsPerry County

DISTrICT 3Jimmy rodgersCovington County

DISTrICT 4gwen harris-Brooks

Lanett

DISTrICT 5Suzy Baker

Alabama School of Fine Arts

DISTrICT 6dr. tony Bolton

Oxford

DISTrICT 7Belinda mcraeMarion County

DISTrICT 8

Karen dukeDecatur

DISTrICT 9

dr. Jennie robinsonhuntsville

STATe BOArD LIAISOndr. yvette richardson

STAFF

eXeCUTIVe DIreCTOrSally Brewer howell, J.d.

ChIeF OPerATInG OFFICerKen roberts, cPa

DIreCTOr OF PUBLIC reLATIOnSdenise l. Berkhalter, aPr

DIreCTOr OF GOVernMenTAL reLATIOnSlissa astilla tucker

DIreCTOr OF LeADerShIP DeVeLOPMenTSusan Salter

ASSISTAnT DIreCTOr OF LeADerShIP DeVeLOPMenT

Sarah cobb

MeeTInG/MArKeTInG COOrDInATOrangela ing

MeMBerShIP COOrDInATOrdebora hendricks

eXeCUTIVe ASSISTAnTtammy wright

BOOKKeePermorgan hilliard

STAFF & TeChnOLOGY ASSISTAnTlashana Summerlin

ADMInISTrATIVe ASSISTAnTSNancy Johnsondonna Norris

Katie Schroeder

CLerICAL ASSISTAnTSha’wanda franklin

ALABAMA SCHOOL BOARDS eDITOrlinda tynan

PUBLICATIOn POLICYAlabama School Boards is published by the Ala-bama Association of School Boards as a service to its members. The articles published in each issue represent the ideas or beliefs of the writers and are not necessarily the views of the Alabama Associa-tion of School Boards. Subscriptions sent to mem-bers of school boards are included in membership dues. Complimentary copies are available upon request to public school principals throughout the state. Additional annual subscriptions can be obtained for $30 by contacting AASB.

Entered as third-class mail at Montgomery, AL. Permit No. 34.

Alabama School Boards is designed by Linda Tynan Creative Services, Pike Road, AL.

Address all editorial and advertising inquiries to: Alabama School Boards, Editor, P.O. Drawer 230488, Montgomery, AL 36123-0488. Phone: 334/277-9700 or e-mail [email protected].

our miSSioN:To develop excellent school board leaders through quality training, advocacy and services.

18

Correction:

14 SufficieNcy of fuNdiNg

Among many challenges that Alabama faces, the funding of K-12 public education is perhaps the most critical.

14

Birmingham800.444.6170

Montgomery888.241.3101

Dothan888.712.4900

Mobile800.478.3901

Huntsville800.805.6551

Thomasville855.523.3311

Now Serving Alabama’s Schools with 6 Blue Bird Locations

Contact one of our six Alabama locations for more information!

HUNTSVILLE

BIRMINGHAM

MONTGOMERY

DOTHAN

MOBILE

THOMASVILLE

Introducing Busworx Blue Bird, an extension of Truckworx Kenworth. With six authorized Blue Bird facilities state wide, we now offer parts delivery and mobile service to every school system in Alabama.

Proud new member of

the Alabama Association of School Boards!

ASBA ad.indd 1 1/24/2013 4:17:50 PM

4 Alabama School Boards • Spr ing 2013

Trends Research&DatesUP FRONT

Share your ideas, celebrate your students

The Alabama Association of School Boards has offi-cially opened requests for clinic proposals and for stu-dent performers who would like to entertain nearly 500 school board members at the annual AASB Convention. School boards that have great ideas, have instituted best practices for governance or have an innovative program they are proud of are urged to apply by April 30. Board members who don’t want to present a clinic session are

asked to volunteer to moderate a clinic session.

Students, often lauded for their performances, are asked to show off for school board members from across the state during the 2013 AASB Convention Dec. 4-7 at The Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham. To participate, call us at 800/562-0601 or email us at [email protected].

-Compiled by Denise L. Berkhalterand Nancy Johnson

By the Numbers78% The national gradua-tion rate is at its highest point since 1976, according to a study by the U.S. Education Department (http://goo.gl/fL9EC). In 2010, 3.1 million students across the nation left high school with diplomas, and 78 percent of those students gradu-ated on time. The 1975-76 academic year had a 75 percent on-time graduation rate. According to an Associated Press article, education officials attribute the steady growth in students finishing their high school education in four years to economic struggles that force intense competition for jobs. They also say there is more improvement to be made since more than a fifth of students are failing to graduate in four years. In Alabama, the graduation rate is 75 percent.

did you Know? Alabama offers a single diploma

Alabama now offers a single diploma for graduates. The change offi-cially began with this school year. The state had been grant-ing graduates two high school diploma options in Alabama, the Alabama High School Diploma and the Alabama Occupational Diploma, received by students with learn-ing disabilities who did not earn the regular diploma. The Alabama High School Diploma was available with no endorsement or with such endorsements as advanced aca-demic, advanced career and techni-cal, career and technical, and credit-based. In January, the Alabama State Board of Education approved the single diploma with multiple path-ways and course sequences to meet the academic and career interests of graduates.

“Having just one diploma won’t lock students into a one-size fits all educational program; however, students will have multiple options for gaining their diploma,” said Dr. Julie Hannah, director of the state Department of Education’s Office of Student Learning. The state board also approved a career-course requirement.

School systems retain the ability to locally offer diploma endorsements.


Torchbearer SchoolsAlabama recently

celebrated its 2012-2013 Torchbearer Schools, chosen based on test scores from the 2011-2012 school year. The Torchbearer Schools program started in 2004 as a way to identify schools in the state that show growth and success in the face of significant challenges. This year there are 20 honored schools, seven more than last year. The schools are:

Conecuh County: Evergreen Elementary School

Dallas County: Bruce K. Craig Elementary School

Jefferson County: Hillview Elementary School

Marion County: Phillips Elementary School

Mobile County: Anna F. Booth Elementary School; Calcedeaver Elementary School; Dixon Elementary School and Indian Springs Elementary School

Montgomery County: Highland Avenue Elementary School

Talladega County: Sycamore School

Bessemer City: Westhills Elementary School

Decatur: Frances Nungester Elementary School

Decatur: Woodmeade Elementary School and Morris Slingluff Elementary School

Florence: Harlan Elementary School and Weeden Elementary School

Selma: Cedar Park Elementary School; Sophia P. Kingston Elementary School; Edgewood Elementary School and Knox Elementary School

School Board members Participate in aaSB advocacy day at the State house

A trend that is catching on with Alabama’s school board members is using their voice to advocate for stu-dents and public education.

On Feb. 6, AASB coordinated Advocacy Day at the State House for local school board members, and there were 16 in attendance. The attendees were: Suzy Baker, Alabama School of Fine Arts; Durden Dean and Heather Sellers, Montgomery County; Pam Doyle and Terri Snipes, Muscle Shoals; Diane Keasler, Linda Robbins and Jimmy Upton, Satsuma; Kathy Landers, Talladega County; Randy McClung, Fort Payne; Jennie Robinson, Huntsville; Jimmy Rodgers, Covington County; Mike Shewbart, Franklin County; Connie Spears, Madison; Larry Teel, Elmore County; and Eugenia Upshaw, Russell County. Special guests included: Alabama State Board of Education member Tracy Roberts, Office of School Readiness Director Jan Hume, Rep. Elaine Beech and Department of

Children’s Affairs Commissioner and for-mer Washington County board member Jeana Ross.

During Advocacy Day, a variety of topics were addressed such as pre-kindergarten opportunities for the state’s 4-year-olds, sustainable raises for employees, innovation in schools and protecting schools from unfunded man-dates. The school board members visited with legislators about the local impact of issues on the agenda for this session.

“We got some really good feedback from the legislators we met with... on upcoming issues,” said AASB Vice President Pam Doyle. “Many of them realize school boards need to have more input in what goes on in their districts. I am really excited I was able to come.”

After a House committee meeting, AASB Director of Governmental Relations Lissa Tucker told the board members, “It’s incredibly inspiring when education leaders unite behind the needs of our students."

AAAA’s First ConferenceState Superintendent of Education Dr. Tommy Bice discusses Alabama’s strategic plan for education, Plan 2020, with nearly 75 attendees of the first Alabama Association of Administrative Assistants Conference. Administrative assistants whose work supports boards of education formed the association under AASB’s umbrella on Aug. 7, 2012.


ADAPTiNg ThE CALENDAR iMPORTANT fOR STuDENT SuCCESS

E D U C A T I O N & LEGISLATIONThomas Rains, Policy Director, A+ Education Partnership

chool calendars have been a prime conversation topic lately in educa-tion circles, both in Alabama and

nationally.

In December, five states joined with the National Center for Time and Learning and the Ford Foundation to expand and redesign their school days and years. Students in participating schools will gain the equivalent of more than 40 extra school days a year, allowing more time for subjects like the arts and giving teachers more time to collaborate. Not only can this lead to higher student achievement, but schools that participate will also be given implementation grants from the Ford Foundation to cover the cost of the changes.

Last spring in Alabama, as you may recall, the Legislature passed HB360, a bill officially — yet ironically — known as the “Flexible School Calendar Act of 2012.”

HB360 accomplished two main things:

First, the bill changed the requirement regarding the length of the school year. Previously, schools had to be in session for at least 180 full instructional days. HB360 changed this requirement to 180

days or “the hourly equivalent thereof.” By itself, this could have given schools an opportunity to develop innovative cal-endars that best meet the needs of local students.

Second, HB360 mandated that no school in Alabama begin prior to the “Monday two calendar weeks before Labor Day,” and no school could hold its last instructional day “later than the Friday immediately before Memorial Day.”

This put “bookends” on the school cal-endar for every Alabama system, regard-less of local concerns. The tourism indus-try has pushed for this policy in other states to create longer summers, which can lead to more revenue for vacation hot spots like resorts and amusement parks. [In Virginia, a similar law restricting local school calendars is commonly known as the “Kings Dominion Law,” after Kings Dominion amusement park near Richmond.]

HB360’s bookends effectively “squeeze” the school year so that it’s tough to fit in 180 instructional days and still maintain the same holidays, as school board members likely noticed when set-ting their calendars. Coupled with the change to an hourly equivalent of instruc-tional days, this gave systems an incentive

to shave a few days off of the 180-day school year and compensate by adding 10-20 minutes to each remaining day. As you know, the result is that some Alabama systems have 172, 175 or 178 instructional days this year.

HB360 will sunset before the end of the 2013-14 school year. Effectively, that means that while the school start date is mandated for 2013-14, there is no man-date for the end date of that school year.

Shaving a week or two off of the entire school year may seem like an innocent way to enjoy a bit more summer fun, but it hurts student learning when it adds up. Even though lost days are technically added back as minutes onto the remaining days, these short additions generally aren’t meaningful for students.

School districts in other states have been experimenting with time and school calen-dars to find the best way to serve students. As a result, there are plenty of examples of best practices for schools serious about using time effectively to raise the achieve-ment levels of their students.

Schools that have had the best results changing the instructional day tend to have lengthened the day by an hour or more, not just 10 or 20 minutes.

S

rains


One study of schools that reformed their school calendars to benefit student achievement found that some schools lengthened their school days to eight or nine hours — substantially longer than the average 6.5-hour day. A school in Newark, N.J., makes it clear that it hires teachers to work for a “professional day,” which it defines as eight hours and pays them competitive wages for it.

Another study asked teachers how many instructional hours it would take to teach standards-based curricula in lan-guage arts, civics, mathematics and sci-ence. For eighth grade, teachers said it would take 1,422 hours. In 12th grade, teachers said 1,128 hours. This doesn’t include other classes like art, music, for-eign languages, PE or recess. In Alabama, six hours of instructional time each day for 180 days (the minimum requirement) totals only 1,080 hours — and that has to include more than just four core subjects.

For anyone serious about closing the achievement gap, shortening the school year or day is a move in the wrong direc-tion. Less time in school is particularly harmful for the low-income students who make up 58 percent of Alabama’s public school students.

All students tend to lose math skills over the summer months. But, while middle-income students tend to maintain their reading abilities over the sum-mer, low-income students lose ground. This is the result

of fewer summer opportunities for low-income students. Middle-income children can go to camp, visit museums or take vacations when school is out, but low-income students often don’t have these same enrichment opportunities.

High-poverty schools that are beating the odds and performing at high lev-els tend to have expanded instructional time. Harvard professors Will Dobbie and Roland Fryer identified successful hab-its from highly effective charter schools, and increased instructional time was one of the most important factors — right along with other vital practices like fre-quent teacher feedback and data-driven instruction.

However, all of this comes with a caveat. Despite these benefits of increased time, it has to be accompanied by wise time management. Just adding hours or days won’t accomplish anything.

A recent study of high-performing, low-income schools in Ohio found that they

put an emphasis on smaller

details that could potentially waste time if not handled well. This includes:

• Ensuring students arrive on time each day;

• Organizing common planning periods for teachers of the same subjects or grades;

• Setting aside enough time early in the year to practice with students the types of behavior teachers want to see.

Details like this matter, and school lead-ers can make sure they are done right.

But, more broadly, schools shouldn’t ignore the big opportunities to use time more effectively to create an education system for 21st century students.

As education expert Michael Fullan explains, “Today’s schools were born in the early stages of the industrial era. That is why they were organized like an assem-bly line [grade 1, grade 2, grade 3, etc.]That is why they were based on standard-ized timetables governing each part of the day [complete with bells and whistles on the walls] and fixed, rigid curricula deliv-

ered by teachers whose job was first and foremost to maintain control, much like an assembly-line foreman.”

Today is different from the era Fullan describes, and Alabama’s schools need to reflect that.

Allowing schools the flex-ibility to create school cal-

endars that best meet the needs of today’s students, and encour-aging them to do that, is an important facet of ensuring overall suc-cess for today’s chil-dren in tomorrow’s world. n

Schools that have had the best results changing the instructional day tend to have lengthened the day by an hour or more, not just 10 or 20 minutes.


“A seat on the school board is a position of public trust. How you do the public’s business is as important as the business you do.”

hances are, if you have been to any amount of AASB training, you have heard this more than once. And the sentiment behind it applies to all public offices – whether elected or appointed.

It is the violation of public trust – and specifically that of school leaders – that is behind the hard feelings surrounding the Feb. 28 passage of the 2013 Alabama Accountability Act.

Legislators took a bill education leaders had requested and were going to the mat to support in the face of strong teacher union opposition and turned it into a tuition tax credit bill that these same education leaders vehemently oppose, enacting it in less than two hours. This violated the trust of the coalition working for the original bill’s passage. The total lack of transparency in passing what was a radical change in state policy was a violation of the public trust.

Reasonable people can, and do, disagree on whether the tuition tax credit bill is the most effective way to address the issue of poorly performing schools in the state. There is no disagreement that this poor performance needs to be addressed, but saying secrecy was needed to pass a bill that supposedly couldn’t have passed any other way is dis-agreeable in principle and somewhat disingenuous. A supermajority party can pass any bill it chooses, so why not let the public – which includes voting, taxpaying community school leaders charged with locally carrying out state education policy – comment on the legislation? Before it was morphed into the AAA, legislators amended the bill to require public hearings because they were concerned that school boards would pull a fast one on the public.

WhERE DO WE gO fROM hERE?

E x E C U T I v E D I R E C T O R’S PERSPECTIvEBy Sally howell

C

“Going forward, school leaders need to be more

engaged in advocacy at all levels of government and

with the public than we have ever been before. ”

howell


The most challenging question school leaders are asking about AAA has nothing to do with implementation of the act that was signed by the governor on March 14. The question they are asking: Where do we go from here?

The term “going to conference com-mittee” now elicits fear in battle-tested lobbyists, not just those in the education community. Veteran politicos confide to AASB their fears that bills they are work-ing on could be turned against them in the proverbial blink of an eye. However, we can’t let these fears paralyze us.

Progress and reform need the coopera-tion and collaboration of state lawmakers and education leaders. Maintaining relation-ships with lawmakers, and developing new ones, is imperative now more than ever. It is our job as advocates. More importantly, it is critical to the children we serve.

Going forward, school leaders need to be more engaged in advocacy at all levels of government and with the public than we have ever been before. We need to double our efforts. Part of that advo-cacy must include regular conversations regarding what you are doing to address student and school performance and what tools and resources you need to effectively do so.

There are many bills still making their way through the legislative process that school leaders must advocate for because they will directly impact school and student performance. The pending

legislation to clarify law on state interven-tion and proposed expansion of high-quality, state-funded pre-kindergarten are two essential, high-profile efforts. Flexible funding and retaining Alabama’s top notch college- and career-ready standards and protection from unfunded mandates are critical, too.

Respecting local boards’ and the state Board of Education’s authority to set edu-cation policy is paramount. School leaders have consistently been at the table and willing to address poor performance and will continue to do so.

Our first focus, though, is to fix the flaws in AAA. Curative legislation this session is essential. The act needs clarifi-cation on numerous points (too numer-ous here to list) to minimize its detrimen-tal impact on students and schools who are performing.

This focus, however, will not end with the legislative session in May. The real work will start this summer at board tables across the state. School leaders have asked for the flexibility from certain state laws and rules in order to innovate. We need to take full advantage of the opportunity that we have gained with the flexibility portion of the AAA. We need to use this tool to continue to nurture and create public schools that every parent and stu-

dent values.

The where we go to from here hasn’t changed. It is, and always has been, a quality education for every child. n

Out-of-the-box LEADERSHIPflexibility innovation leadership teamwork

Alabama Association of School Boards andAlabama Council of School Board Attorneys

Summer Conference 2013June 20-23

The Perdido Hotel, Orange BeachDetails & Registration

www.AlabamaSchoolBoards.org

ALABAMA ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL BOARDS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

June 20 Roles & Responsibilities Orientation 7:15 a.m. (registration opens) Training 8 a.m.-5:30 p.m.

June 21Effective Boards and Relationships Orientation 7:15 a.m. (registration opens) Training 8 a.m.-3:15 p.m.

Summer Conference Registration, 1 p.m.

Keynote by education technology expert Dr. Cynthia Temesi, Education 3.0 A Transformation Journey, 4:30 p.m.

June 22Keynote by Michael Cheney, CEO of Persogenics Leadership Teams: Who ARE These People? 8:15 a.m.

Optional bonus session Protecting Our Children in Cyberspace: Bullying and Social Media, 2:30-4 p.m.

June 23Keynote by AASB Executive Director Sally Howell 21st Century Leadership Challenges 8:30 a.m.

School systems showcase Trends, Tactics and Tools for the 21st Century, 9:10 a.m.

ALABAMA COUNCIL OF SCHOOL BOARD ATTORNEYS CONFERENCE

June 22

7:30 a.m. (registration opens) Training 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.

June 23 7:45 a.m. (registration opens) Training 8 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.


hese leadership development oppor-tunities give school board mem-bers a chance to bring bright ideas

and useful information home to their communities.

This training is crafted to meet the unique needs of school board governance teams and is a valuable source of ideas and strategies for advancing public education and overcoming state and national chal-lenges affecting school systems.

Training is practical, too. No one is born knowing how to be a good school board member or how to make complex deci-sions in regard to policies, superintendent evaluation, student learning, school fund-ing, legal matters and personnel changes. And, turnover brings newly elected and appointed school board members. They need help capitalizing on fresh perspec-tives, getting up to speed and understand-ing their role.

T

Developing excellent school board leaders through quality training is a key tenet of the Alabama Association of School Boards’ mission. AASB trains school board members in a variety of ways – from face-to-face conferences and leadership development events to webinars and a DVD library. The association is also developing online courses that will be taught soon through its School Board U portal.

Staff Report


Board members, to be effective, need to know how the educational system functions beyond the community in which they serve. Board members also grow when they engage in rich, priceless conversations with peers from all parts of the state who are dealing with similar chal-lenges in their communities.

For those reasons alone, continuing education for school board members is as important as continuing education for anyone else entrusted with the education and supervision of schoolchildren. That’s something the community should know. All school board members who participate in continuing education should share what they have learned with fellow board members and their communities and look for ways to involve the community in any resulting action. Without active community involvement, school boards cannot achieve the ultimate goal of success for all students.

Below are some helpful hints and ideas for school board members.

Tell what you’ve learnedBe proactive. Educate your community and reporters about existing

policies and law regarding school board training and your plans for participation in training well in advance of an event.

When you return, let the community — and fellow board members who didn’t attend — know which sessions you attended and how the new programs, ideas or products you learned about will help your school system. Instead of saying “I learned a lot,” include details like this:

“The school system, particularly in times like these, benefits from a well-trained, efficient and effective school board focused on what matters most – student success. As representatives of the community, we come from a variety of backgrounds, yet we must gain the knowledge, skills and vision necessary to work as a governance team. Our school system is not alone in its [goal/vision/pursuit of a solution/success]. At the confer-ence, I learned that school systems across the state have [best practices learned].”

Regularly sharing what you’ve learned with your community in this detailed way is vital. It’s also important to extend that sharing beyond board meetings. Because many people do not attend local school board meetings, you’ll find the most efficient way to transmit infor-mation collected from board development conferences to the public is through your school system’s website, blogs, social media, school newsletters and local media [newspaper, radio and television].

Spreading the good news about what you’ve learned offers many benefits, including:

• Laying the groundwork for a positive view of board activities; • Focusing media attention on school or school system issues; • Positioning you as knowledgeable on issues of importance to

your school community; and • Building support for your school system to invest in continu-

ing education — whether for the board, administration or teaching staff.

(Continued on page 12)

Make the most of your experience You can help your community

and news media understand why participation in board member development programs is essen-tial, how the school system ben-efits from what is learned, and why attendance at these programs is not only legitimate but a sound investment for the school system. You take your responsibilities as school board members seriously, so let your community know. Here’s how:

Before the conference• Know your policy and budget. Law requires

school systems to have a board training policy, to take orientation as new school board mem-bers, and to continue their training each year. A number of school systems include a line item in their budget for board training expenses.

• Make a public announcement at a board meeting that representatives from your school system will attend training. Indicate who will attend, the purpose and value of their participa-tion, and the approximate budgeted cost.

• If the school system has space set aside for board announcements on its webpage, indi-cate what aspects of board training are gov-erned by policy and law. Post a notice about board training expectations. Consider a men-tion on official school system social media pages.

• Answer factually and promptly any inquiries about the upcoming conference or training event. All inquiries should be channeled for response to one official spokesperson — usu-ally the board president, superintendent or system’s public information officer.

• Review the meeting program and determine which sessions, discussions and activities will directly benefit your school system. Prepare to explain your choices.

• Designate an attending representative to pres-ent a written or verbal summary report to the entire board following the conference.


Positive media coverage of board-related events helps create an environment in which constituents view your school board as a ben-eficial, crucial component of their children’s education. Your school system will pass initiatives more easily with an understanding and sup-portive public, and you’ll deal with problems more successfully if both sides are trusting and cooperative.

Pitch your storyIf you would like

your local news media to report on the useful strategies and programs you

discovered at a school board conference, you

will need to work with your board president and

the superintendent to pitch the idea to a reporter who covers the education

beat or an editor who assigns education stories. Start preparing while you’re still at the conference. For example, if your school system needs financial support or to improve student outcomes and you attend ses-sions on school finance and governing for student achievement, take comprehensive notes and gather all the handouts. Ask the speaker if he or she would be interested in talking to your local administrators and reporters about the program, and request his or her business card. Give the card to the superintendent to consider how or if a similar program might work in your community.

When you return from the conference, write a guest column for the newspaper, a social media post or email a letter to local reporters to explain the concepts and best practices you learned. Include contact information for the conference presenter(s). When reporters contact you for an interview, give them copies of the handouts.

Reporters often work under tight deadlines. You can help them quickly grasp your message by summarizing information in a concise form and preparing two or three sentences that boil your topic down into headline form.

For instance, you might say that the program you learned about “helped the school system find creative ways to fund science labs and supplies” or “to narrowly focus initiatives on improving student suc-cess in reading and writing” or “is similar to an existing program in the school system.”

Explain how training is cost-effective If the media raise questions about your school board spending

scarce funds to send board members to a training event, remind reporters about the value of continuing education. School board members are public servants – in a number of cases, unpaid – who wouldn’t normally receive such leadership development opportunities in the course of their daily lives.

The Alabama Legislature recognized this when it approved legisla-tion [effective March 1, 2009] that required boards of education to

During the conference• List specific questions you want answered

during the sessions. If the speakers don’t sat-isfy your needs, ask questions during or after the presentation. Take notes on each session.

• Collect materials to share with board mem-bers who did not attend, including handouts that have relevance to your school system, literature from exhibits on applicable educa-tion products and services, and other materials such as reports, studies or reprints.

• Get acquainted and talk informally with other attendees during breaks, receptions and other social events. You can gain a great deal by networking with colleagues from school sys-tems confronting the same challenges that you face.

• Consider sharing event photos [with the per-mission of those pictured with you], interest-ing quotes or great concepts on social media platforms such as Twitter during the event. [Always read what you’ve typed twice before tweeting or posting.]

• Speak up. AASB’s annual convention is a time for significant decisions that affect board members throughout the year. The Delegate Assembly sets AASB’s advocacy agenda, so it is important for school boards to send a del-egate and for delegates to actively participate. Through its resolution process, the Delegate Assembly takes ideas from member school systems and puts them to a vote to formulate AASB’s official positions on a myriad of issues that face local boards of education. These position statements guide the AASB staff in their efforts with the Alabama Legislature and state Board of Education throughout the year. Representation from local school boards across the state gives the association a firm sense of direction. Just as board members want to represent the voices in their commu-nities, convention participation by as many member school boards as possible is essential to making sure all voices are heard.


After the conference• At a board meeting, orally share the training

event’s highlights and your own observations and impressions. If you discovered that your school system is more successful than others in a given area of activity, point this out and compliment the staff and board.

• Be available for response to media inquiries and interview requests. Be prepared, informed and direct in your response about your training.

• Explain the benefits and return on invest-ment for participation in training. School gov-ernance is a huge and complex responsibility. Training school board members to be effective leaders and decision makers is an educational investment that benefits the entire community.

• Be positive and well-informed about the training event programming and its impor-tance to the local school system. School board members, chosen by the community to set policy for a complex school system, must have access to the best and most current informa-tion if they are to serve the students and com-munity effectively.

• Prepare a news release for distribution as soon as possible after your return. It should include the success of the conference, its over-all value to the school system and local com-munity, local school system representatives who attended, the education topics discussed, as well as hours earned toward satisfying the state training mandate and advancement in AASB’s School Board Member Academy. Include quotes by your attendees on how the conference related to your school board’s pro-grams and goals.

• Use school funds wisely. While this informa-tion may help you explain your conference expenses, board members also need to be careful about using school system funds to pay only for official, board-approved expenses while at a training event. Personal funds should pay for personal incidentals. n

have a local policy regard-ing school board member training and orientation.

The Legislature went a step further in 2012, when it passed Alabama’s School Board Governance Improvement Act. State law now mandates new school board members be oriented in certain subject areas at least once while serving as board members and that school board members continue their training every year. Each training year runs July 1–June 30. All school board members [effective July 1, 2013] are required to earn 6 hours of continuing education, which includes 2 hours of full-board, interactive training.

AASB conferences will count toward the individual hours. In addition, attending a regional or national school boards conference does count toward satisfying the state training requirement [up to 2 hours]. But even if that were not the case, attending a conference is a worthwhile expense. Explain to reporters and constituents why it’s important to learn about the latest instructional innovations and ways to provide a quality education with limited resources. Remind them that, as trustees of your school system’s budget, you have a great responsibility not only to be accountable, but to also be knowledge-able about academics, school finance, the board role, evaluating and hiring superintendents and so much more.

As taxpayers become familiar with the subjects covered at AASB’s training sessions, they tend to be more supportive of board members’ and superintendents’ attendance. Share the event agenda in advance with the media and let them know the topics that will be covered and why specific topics are important to your board. Then make sure to report back to them when you return, especially to share new ideas and strategies that you have learned.

By letting your community know the importance of conferences, keeping an eye on your expenses and paying for personal incidentals, board members will stay abreast of the best thinking on problem solving, avoid mistakes and oversights and be well-informed as well as fiscally responsible.

Information in this article was adapted from content in publications of AASB, the National School Boards Association and the Illinois Association of School Boards. n

Upcoming EventsFor details on AASB’s training events, visit www.AlabamaSchoolBoards.org and see the calendar on p. 17.


Sufficiency of Funding Among many challenges Alabama

faces, the funding of K-12 public

education is perhaps the most critical.

A fluctuating economy over the

past several years has resulted in the

Alabama Legislature’s funding of public

education in inconsistent fits and

starts — periods of proration and

inadequate funding for mandates

for which local school systems

are left wholly responsible.

o what is the current funding situ-ation for K-12 in Alabama? What can or should decision makers do

to address the problems that currently exist in the way that public K-12 educa-tion in the state is funded?

According to Rankings & Estimates: Rankings of the States 2011 and Estimates of School Statistics 2012, a report prepared by the National Education Association and released in December 2011, the U.S. average per-student expenditure in pub-lic elementary and secondary schools

for the 2010-11 school year was $10,770. In comparison, Alabama spent $8,820 per

student, or 81.9 percent of the national average, in the same year. Not only did 2010-11 see Alabama’s

per-student spending drop from $8,912 in 2009-2010, but the state’s standing in comparison to the national average of per-student spending also fell from 85.2 per-cent of a national average of $10,462 per student.

“Sufficient school funding, fairly distributed to dis-tricts to address concentrated poverty, is an essential precondition for the delivery of a high-quality educa-tion in the 50 states,” according to Is School Funding

S

by David granger


Fair?, the 2012 edition of the National Report Card on public school funding.

The report rated the 50 states on interrelated “fairness indicators” – funding level, funding distribution, state fiscal effort and public school coverage – and found “far too many states continue to deny public schools the essential resources they need to meet the needs of the nation’s 53 mil-

lion students and to boost academic achievement.”

“Most states continue to neglect growing student poverty by failing to direct resources to the students and schools most in need. In some states and regions, the shortfalls in school funding are reaching crisis levels,” said David G. Sciarra, Esq., execu-tive director of the Education Law Center (ELC) and co-author of the National Report Card with Dr. Bruce Baker of Rutgers University Graduate School of Education and Dr. Danielle Farrie, ELC research director.

“The success of any effort at the local, state and federal level to raise achievement, retain high quality teachers and improve low-performing schools absolutely hinges on a fair and equitable funding system,” said Dr. Farrie.

Alabama was among three states that reduced per-student funding to K-12 schools by more than 20 percent between the 2008 and 2013 fiscal years. Alabama’s 21.7 percent loss in state funding was the second highest decrease reported in the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities report: New School Year Brings More Cuts in State Funding for Schools.

Despite losing ground to national averages in the most recent years for which comparative statistics are available, Jim Williams, executive director of the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA), says Alabama’s funding for K-12 public education, as compared to other states, is better than it was in

the 1980s.

“When I came to Alabama 25 years ago, it was consistently in the bottom five [in per-student public school fund-ing nationally],” Williams said. “We’re better than that now, so we’ll rank between the lower 30s and upper 40s [Alabama ranked 41st in per-student expenditures for primary and second-ary education in 2010-2011]. Over the

last decade or so, revenues in the state were rising until we got to the recession. We had some real increases in revenues and the number of students didn’t go up. We didn’t have the increases in population like they had in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. So we gained the ability to fund some things. But that has all ended.”

In the 2008-09 fiscal year, Alabama saw receipts in its Education Trust Fund — which funds not only K-12 public schools, but also postsecondary schools and the state’s public universities and (minimally) some other state functions — decline precipitously, dropping to $5.68 billion from $6.41 billion in the previous fiscal year. Fiscal Year 2009-10 proved even worse, with receipts falling to $5.21 billion. ETF receipts have recovered somewhat [appro-priations for the current year are $5.42 billion], but the two-year decline totaled more than 18 percent and brought about a cycle of proration from which the state’s public schools are still strug-gling to recover.

With year-to-year state education funding dependent on tax revenues and, as such, subject to often unanticipated swings, many think it’s time to closely examine the way K-12 funding in Alabama works.

“Our current funding scheme has been in place for 15 years, and I think it’s time that we revisit the method of distribution of those state resources,” said Dr. Craig Pouncey, chief of staff for the Alabama Department of Education. “I think that’s part of the


Pouncey williams

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Source (Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama, 2013 PARCA Survey – Education and Economic Development, 1993 EDPA Survey)

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Too little/too much being spent on education in Alabama?1993

2013

State Funding in Alabama


state board’s desire for us to actually look in extensive detail at what our objectives are and how the funding has to meet those objectives. And we are hoping to do that over the next several months.”

Pouncey said he has had discussions with a firm that has done similar assessments for other states, but no contract has been negotiated or signed yet.

One recent change in how ETF funds are distributed has been the Budget Stability Act, also known as the Rolling Reserve Act, which uses a 15-year average to cap each year’s state school budget and places any surplus into a reserve account. While most agree that the concept of the Rolling Reserve Act is a good one, there are differing views on whether the same goal could have been accomplished in another way.

“Those [ETF] funds have to be budgeted because they are the most economically sensitive and fastest growing income the state has,” said Jim Williams. “In good years we do really well, but then those revenues are susceptible to when the economy catches a cold, they catch pneumonia. In the bad years, we’ve

tended to over-budget. The Rolling Reserve Act was an attempt to get at that feast or famine type financing which we should be able to avoid.

“I’m not sure that the way it’s structured now is the right way to do that. In fact, I think there’s a number of things that have come out that are kind of flaws in the way that it works. But, conceptually, I think we ought to control the way that we spend money so that we can guarantee that we’re able to provide raises in a timely way and increase programs in a timely way and yet maintain the limits of the best revenue streams that Alabama has to offer.”

Dr. Ira Harvey agrees. Harvey, a financial consultant who is often sought out by schools and school systems, says there was a plan drafted in the early 1990s that would have led to more accurate ETF appropriations and helped avoid sudden, dras-tic fluctuations. The plan never made it to the Legislature for consideration.

“The plan was to put together a group of economic experts who would meet quarterly in a public meeting and examine the state’s tax revenues so that the Legislature could make appropria-tions accordingly,” Harvey said. “That would have avoided both under- and over-budgeting.”

Harvey points to the current year’s ETF appropriation of $5.42 billion as an example.

“The decline that we experienced in the current fiscal year’s ETF appropriations from the past fiscal year [a $5.67 billion appropriation] is largely a result of the Budget Stability Act,” Harvey said.

But AASB supports the Rolling Reserve Act, seeing it as a way to responsibly cap education funding and pay back monies bor-rowed from the state’s Rainy Day Fund.

“By incorporating actual revenues from the most recently completed fiscal year, the 15-year ETF growth rate and a mecha-nism for capturing recent growth in the cap, a reasonable limit is placed on appropriating from the fund,” said Ken Roberts, AASB’s chief operating officer. “The Rolling Reserve Act allows for the timely payoff of any loans from the Rainy Day Fund, as well as the accumulation of funds during growth years in a sav-ings account that can be used to lower the possibility of prora-tion in future years. There is also a mechanism for redistributing

While experts agree that more stable funding of

public K-12 education is necessary regardless of the

stabilizing mechanism, state funding only goes so

far. The disparity in local funding is great in Alabama,

ranging from $200 to $5,000 per student.


2013APrIL 25 regional Training north Shelby County Instructional Services Center 3 academy hours

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excess balances in the savings account to entities funded by the ETF. It is important to note that the Legislature can still budget based on revenue projections, which may be below the cap. However, employing the cap reduces the likelihood of inflating the budget beyond a reasonably sustainable amount.”

While experts agree that more stable funding of public K-12 education is necessary regardless of the stabilizing mechanism, state funding only goes so far. The dispar-ity in local funding is great in Alabama, ranging from $200 to $5,000 per student, according to Pouncey. The Foundation Program, begun in fiscal year 1996 to “pro-vide an equitable, basic funding stream for public K-12 schools throughout the state,” has helped the poorer school systems.

And with the funding problems that already exist, the state’s teachers are seeking a significant pay raise in the 2013 Legislative Session. The possibility of a regular 2.5 percent raise has been discussed by some legislators. While most realize the need to adequately compensate teachers, they also express concern about the sustain-ability of any raise and the state’s education spending priorities.

“AASB supports an employee pay raise, especially since it has been five years since the last raise,” said Roberts. “However, it is critical that the amount of that raise be sustainable over time, not just for one year. The 2008 FY budget contained a 7 percent pay raise at a time when there was evidence there were significant problems emerging in the national and state economies. The lack of sustainability of that raise was a significant contributor to the multiple years of proration and use of almost $900 million in borrowed and saved funds that is still impact-ing budgets today.”

Officials do agree Alabama’s public education system has great needs. “There is no single facet of an educa-tional program that is more important than the other,” said Pouncey. In addition to sustaining a teacher raise if granted, Alabama would need to gain those funds we’ve lost over the last few years that need to go to things like textbooks, material supplies, technology, Other Current Expense and transportation,” Pouncey said.

David Granger is a freelance writer with more than 25 years of experience in media and public relations for higher education and government. he holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Auburn University. n


By Denise L. Berkhalter, APR

When the Alabama Legislature forced through an Alabama Accountability Act that diverts public dollars through tax credits to nonpublic schools, it left a trail of mass confusion and grave con-cern about the future of public educa-tion in Alabama.

ow this saga, which awaits develop-ment of implementation rules, turns out is not clear. What is certain is

that school boards must now tap into that resilience that has sustained public educa-tion through the best and worst of times and take stock of the existing and future value in their schools. The vast majority of Alabama’s schools provide a quality education for students. Even in schools persistently facing challenges, there are success stories that rarely get told.

To move forward, accept that the rules have changed and no longer assume school zones and mandatory attendance laws will force students through the schoolhouse doors.

Instead, offset competition for students and personnel with amplified public rela-tions, marketing and communication efforts to make your schools the schools of choice.

“Times have changed and school mar-keting is necessary. It is no longer an option,” warns Shane Haggerty, who has been president of the Ohio School Public Relations Association and is CEO of the Great Heights marketing and communica-tions agency.

“People have choices now with where they want to receive their education,” he said. “It’s not just parochial and private schools versus public schools. It’s also public schools versus online and charter schools.”

Competition among public schools has long existed, as well. A number of public schools, though many have application processes and limited seats, have special-ized programs – from magnet schools, career academies and international bacca-laureate programs to schools emphasizing fine arts, college preparation, science and mathematics. Then, there is the allure of schools with a reputation for excelling in a certain area such as special education or athletics.

And there is the toughest hurdle of all – public perception about public school quality, though research has shown charter schools and private schools don’t greatly outperform public schools.

With that said, where do schools begin in this battle to retain or grow their student population?

BEWARE Of ThE LiTTLE fOxES: Make your schools the schools of choice

h


Step 1: Start with Research

A 2012 Phi Delta Kappa Gallup Poll found 48 percent of respondents would grade their community’s public schools with an A or B but only 19 percent would give public schools in the nation those grades.

The good news in those numbers is that community schools can focus on growing that inherent community support by regu-larly painting an honest picture of each school’s successes and challenges.

“Doing it at the school level is easier than at the school district level,” says Rich Bagin, APR, executive director of the National School Public Relations Association. “Schools should do a self-assessment to identify areas where they need to get better and make some changes.”

Bagin says the NSPRA was ahead of its time in the early 1990s when it published the handbook Making/Marketing Your School the School of Choice. The introspective process recommended then still applies today, he says.

“The school needs to look at itself and define what that school really does stand for,” he says. “What is it parents are look-ing for in schools, and does your school match that?”

The NSPRA handbook raises the criti-cal questions of why do parents choose to send their children to certain schools and would a community define its schools as “the schools of choice.” It also looks at customer friendliness, staff involvement in marketing and communication and the questions parents frequently ask when they are choosing a school.

Bagin says informed school employees are an important part of the equation as well. “If they are asked in the grocery line if they teach at the school, they can hon-estly say, ‘Yes, and there are a lot of good things happening at the school that people sometimes don’t hear about it,’” he says.

Schools’ self-assessment should reveal public schools have a lot to promote. Schools are generally a major employer

in their communities. They underpin the local economy when buying goods and services and providing a new crop of workers for local businesses and indus-tries. They are often the source of com-munity pride, community resources and entertainment. They produce alumni who do great things or go on to sidestep major hurdles to live productive lives. Schools are uniquely positioned to directly impact the quality of their community’s and the nation’s citizenry.

Often public schools can tout the same accomplishments nonpublic schools brag about, whether it’s a college scholarship signing day or scholar bowl champions, Bagin said. Public schools just have to do a better job promoting those successes.

“There is a lot to communicate about. It just doesn’t happen on a regular basis,” Bagin said.

Evaluating doesn’t happen often enough, either. Schools should routinely measure and monitor the frequency of their communications, the quality of deliv-ery methods used to get messages out, exactly who receives messages and how much of a difference those messages make.

Delivery methods include board meet-ings, school functions, publications, web-

sites, blogs, social media, closed circuit or public access television, mass emails, mass phone calls and those notes sent home to parents to share important news and mes-sages. But none of it matters if the mes-sage doesn’t reach its intended audience. It may be fine to use signs near campus to alert voters of an upcoming tax referen-dum, but an old-fashioned phone call may be the best way to reach senior citizens and other taxpayers who aren’t dropping children off to school every week.

There are also a variety of marketing tools schools can use to self-promote.

“Create a brochure, video or upgrade your website. If you can’t do a video, fine. That’s not the end of the world. Get to know your community,” suggests Johonna Lockhart, marketing manager of the Houston (Texas) Independent School District.

“Marketing is a full range of things and can tie directly to a measurable result – public perception, enrollment, any bot-tom line,” Haggerty said. “Marketing can include advertising, social media, public relations and sales. Sell your individual school district and the benefits of public education.”

Step 2: Do a Great Job & Tell Everybody

Selling the benefits of public education should be a cinch. What could be more laudable than educating children or more


Often public schools

can tout the same

accomplishments nonpublic

schools brag about. Public

schools just have to do a

better job promoting those

successes.

Learn More• Making/Marketing Your School the School of Choice,

$39.95, www.nspra.org• 2012 PDK/gallup Poll, http://www.pdkpoll.org/• Multiple Choice: Charter School Performance in

16 States, http://credo.stanford.edu/reports/MuLTiPLE_ChOiCE_CREDO.pdf

• Are Private High Schools Better Academically Than Public High Schools? http://www.edline.com/uploads/pdf/PrivateSchoolsReport.pdf

• Communities Are Known by the Schools They Keep, http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/transforming_learning


noble than growing tomorrow’s leaders in a nation that invests tax dollars in pro-ducing an educated populace? Certainly sounds like an easy sell.

The marketing job is made that much harder, however, when a school system anywhere fails to take seriously its charge to produce graduates prepared for higher education, the workplace and citizenship. A ramification is critics’ blanket labeling of public education – even the excellent, high-performing school systems – with an undesirable reputation.

Lockhart wrote How to Market Your School: A Guide to Marketing, Communication and Public Relations for School Administrators when she realized schools were struggling with the marketing basics: great customer service, welcoming school environments, branded imagery and publications, an information-packed online presence, a willingness to tell the schools’ story, and solid relationships with the media and community.

Lockhart writes in her book that man-agement consultant Peter Drucker said, “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the prod-uct or service fits him and sells itself.”

A school that does a great job at educat-ing students and sharing successes with the community makes the arduous task of building local support doable.

Bagin says that support builds when schools create opportunities, such as night school for adults, which “make your school the community’s school, so they can firmly believe in it and are involved in it.”

Support also grows when communi-ties are wowed by their local schools’

achievements.

“Nothing beats a great public school,” says Nez Calhoun, APR, director of public information for Jefferson County Schools in Alabama. “A good school with parents talking about that school is the best and least expensive marketing tool going. We need to tell that to more people, training them, if necessary, how to talk about their schools and to see the stories there and repeat them.”

Lockhart encourages schools to get a solid grasp on how well they really are performing and, like Bagin, advises schools to analyze their strengths and weaknesses. They should tell everyone about the strengths and work diligently on the weaknesses, she says. She also says schools should research what the com-munity wants from its schools – whether it is graduates prepared for Ivy League colleges and universities or graduates pre-pared for jobs after high school or some-thing more.

“No amount of marketing – none – is going to do you any good if you don’t have a good product, something your community wants,” says Lockhart. “I’m not saying communities dictate what is taught in schools, but you have to have programs that are the kinds of things they are looking for.”

Step 3: Involve Parents & the Community

Haggerty says he works with a number of school systems and talks to them about opening their communities’ eyes.

“Get the community to see that if they are involved in this school and students are doing great things, there will be a posi-tive end result because it is a contribution to the community, economy and global world. It’s about what your school district can do for the greater good,” Haggerty says.

Bagin says the realities of inadequate funding make self-improvement in some areas hard for struggling schools. “There are changes that need budgets behind

them,” he says, “so they are difficult to do. But there are things schools can do.”

For example, Bagin says, schools should remain vigilant about facilities upkeep and student achievement, and they can embolden staff to be school ambassadors, build a corps of supportive parents, study the competition, and talk with parents of students who transfer out of or leave the school.

“Do an exit interview,” Bagin says. “If people are leaving for the same kinds of reasons, look at your school to see if the problem is real or perceived. If it’s per-ceived, it should be easily fixed with good information.”

Parents shopping around for schools are going to ask other parents for advice, Bagin says, so have your team of parents ready.

“These parents know what questions will be asked,” he says. “They can be a credible source of information. They can do tours, give testimonials and are will-ing to interact with prospective students, these students’ families and newcomers to the community.

“Most parents want to brag about their schools,” he adds. “It’s only natural to want to do that. We just have to give them some things to brag about. Doing a good job communicating with parents about their children makes it hard for them to find something bad to say about the school.”


Bagin says schools should liberate teach-ers who simply are waiting for permission and opportunities to share those golden moments that happen in their classrooms.

“Teachers have wonderful success sto-ries they would be willing to share. Give them a way to get the word out on a regu-lar basis. Encourage these ambassadors to talk about the great things they are doing and the accomplishments and achieve-ments of kids,” Bagin says.

Step 4: Be Creative & Courteous

Calhoun says she has a feeling budget woes that have ensnarled public education in recent years aren’t likely to be curbed soon. In Alabama, schools have lost more than $1 billion in state funding since 2008. Elementary and secondary education in the state stands to lose $11 million in federal funds, putting 150 jobs at risk, due to sequestration. Calhoun recommends schools search for creative, low-cost ways to market themselves.

“Use the freebies,” Calhoun says. “Nurturing flawless, good manners is another thing we should role model more. My best marketing tool is performance: under promise and over deliver, follow through, return phone calls promptly, smile, be polite and take initiative with the media. Don’t wait for the media to come to you.”

Put parents, community groups, organi-zations and businesses to work, too, says Betsy Nesbitt, mother of two boys and president of the Johnnie R. Carr Middle School Parent Teachers Association in Montgomery County.

“Let us come and help. Let us copy papers, decorate for the holidays, sort through lost and found for donations to charity, help the librarian get books ready for the shelves, prepare the teacher appreciation luncheon. We don’t want to disrupt anything. We understand there are times when we can’t be there, like when there is testing. But there should always be an opportunity in school during the regular day for parents to volunteer,” Nesbitt said.

She says parents know it makes a differ-ence to their children if they are actively involved in their schools and adds that parents are energized when superinten-dents, principals and teachers welcome that parent involvement as well.

“Sometimes parents and the princi-pals and the teachers are skeptical, but if the superintendent encourages schools to have PTAs, if the principal believes in PTA and wants it to succeed, if the prin-cipal doesn’t scowl at teachers who ask for help from the PTA, then you’re going to get the parental involvement because the parents feel welcome to the school,” Nesbitt says.

It costs nothing to open communica-tion with and doors to parents who want to help foster a positive reputation for the schools in their community. There is a cost, Nesbitt says, for shutting parents out.

“If you are not allowed to go into your child’s school or to communicate or just talk through concerns about your child with the teacher, you begin to wonder why and what is going on behind closed doors,” says Nesbitt, who has been a PTA member for 12 years. “An open school is a friendly school.”

Give parents and those in the com-munity jobs to do that make teachers and others in the school feel appreciated, Nesbitt suggests. That makes the com-munity feel wanted and needed and gain a sense of pride in their schools, she says.

“It takes a village to raise a child, but it takes a community to have a successful school, too,” says Nesbitt, who also touts the front-office staff at schools as the “gatekeepers.”

It is essential to have front-office per-sonnel who are pleasant and welcoming, knowledgeable about the day’s events and school procedures, adept at giving clear directions and committed to following school security policies, Nesbitt says.

“At every school I’ve been to in my community, the front office knows how to be great gatekeepers. Somebody always asks what I need help with. The front office knows what’s going on and wel-comes parents,” Nesbitt says. “It’s very important for the front office to be orga-nized, to acknowledge every person as quickly as possible when they come into the door, and to be well-rounded people who don’t tend to get flustered.”

Calhoun believes that taking care of the small things is a great way to help the big things fall into place. Treat parents and students with the greatest of customer care, she says. Present clean and neat facil-ities. Foster a warm and friendly learning and work environment. Don’t just teach good character to students but demand that every member of the staff and faculty model it on campus.

“I continue to be amazed about how unimportant some people think remem-bering names, pronunciation and spelling are in customer relations,” Calhoun said. “It’s the little foxes that get you.”

Denise Berkhalter is direc-tor of public relations for the Alabama Association of School Boards and is a mem-ber of the Alabama School Communicators Association and Council of School Board Association Communicators. You can reach her at info@

AlabamaSchoolBoards.org. n


Better School System Websites

eeping a vibrant and current website for your schools and school system has become more important than ever before. Information is all

over the Internet: information about your students, your teachers and your schools. Having control over your system’s information and messages is key to main-taining successful partnerships with parents and families in your school system.

Providing information that families of your students want access to establishes your schools’ and systems’ websites as the place to look for accurate information about your schools. If you don’t provide the informa-tion about your schools and school system, local media will most likely dig up their own information. So get out in front of the crowd and send your own message through your school and system websites.

Before you became a school board member, what kinds of questions did you have about your schools and school system? Chances are that your school community has those same questions. Where will they go to get their questions answered? Your schools’ and systems’ websites are a simple way to share answers to their questions.

Generally speaking, there are three groups looking at your school and school system websites: parents and families, the media and those evaluating your schools for placement of their child. Parents and families are looking for specific information about their child’s school that relates to the education of their child. The media is look-ing for data and other comparison information, including information that the state requires (e.g., financial docu-ments) in order to produce articles.

One of the most important uses a website provides is an opportunity to help parents and families and other members of your school community learn about the identity or “brand” of your school. Michael Piper of the National School Public Relations Association rec-ommends a website redesign every five years. NSPRA states, “Your website can be used as a critical marketing tool. It has the ability to facilitate incredibly positive per-ceptions about your district or organization.”

With the incredible pressure that public schools are facing on many fronts, a well-designed and informative website can minimize negative perceptions and improve relations among your school community.

Keep It Current and Make It Somebody’s Responsibility

The worst thing you can possibly do is keep outdated information on your website. It must be someone’s responsibility to keep the website current. If your system

K

By Trisha Powell Crain


does not have a communications director, or if that director serves the dual role of superintendent, find someone within your school system who has the knowledge and will devote the time to keep-ing your site current. Some information can be posted once and forgotten. Other information will need to be tended to on a more regular basis. When you fully understand how important the site is to your schools’ and systems’ image, you will find worth in paying that person to keep the site current.

Know What Should Go on the Website

Having an idea of what information you want to share with your community will help form the basis of how much attention needs to be paid to the site. The school or school system should deter-mine what information is appropriate for posting on the website and what can be legally posted. What information does the public want to know? Will students’ academic and athletic achievements be posted? Will announcements of upcoming athletic events go online? Will information about teachers’ accomplishments be posted? ? Don’t forget to flesh out privacy concerns, too.

In her article, “Got Web?”, Patricia Swann, writing for the American Association of School Administrators, suggests “schools need to determine what purpose the website plays in the overall public relations program. Is it simply to disseminate information, or is it to build support for school goals?” Knowing what you want to share through your website is key.

Share At Least What Parents and Families Want to Know

If you consider parents and families to be your primary audi-ence, here’s a list of things that will be most helpful to them:

• Access to online grades and attendance information; • Emergency notifications, weather and otherwise;• What to do if their child is struggling in school;• How parents can request special education, counseling, or

other services for their child;• Parent-teacher organization/association group contact infor-

mation;• Faculty names and maybe even a short bio [everybody likes to

know who their child’s teacher is, right?];• School administrators’ contact information, including princi-

pals and assistant principals;• Good news about students, faculties and awards;• Application requirements for magnet or academy programs;• Free/reduced lunch applications, menus and meal payment

details;• Bell schedules for schools;• Physical and mailing addresses and directions to the school/

central office;• Sports teams information – how to try out and when the

games are;• Student achievement information and results of state account-

ability requirements;• School safety information, including how to report incidents of

bullying and harassment;• Board members’ names, contact information and district,

where applicable;• Links to school sites from your system site, including which

schools feed into each other [school zones]; and• Registration information, how to enroll their child in your

school and school system. While you might think that some of these questions should be

asked in person, communication methods have changed such that many younger parents will first consult the Internet before reach-

ing out to the teacher or some person when seeking information. Providing the information to your parents directly through your school or school system website ensures that parents and families are receiving accurate information that best helps their child and your school community.

Your school or school system won’t regret taking the time to develop a meaningful website for your school community. The school and school system’s parent-teacher groups and maybe even high school students can be involved, as well.

As a board member, one of your many roles is to facilitate com-munication with your school community. Don’t wait for others to share your information. Take control of the message about your schools and your school system. A well-developed website is the simplest way to do just that.

Trisha Powell Crain is a lifelong resident of Alabama and has been a public education advocate for more than 10 years. She writes for the Alabama School Connection, a blog devoted to sharing information about K-12 education policy and decisions affecting the chil-dren of Alabama. She can be reached at [email protected]. n


Bynum’s Childrenby David granger

Q. where were you when you heard about the shooting of mr. Poland and the abduction of ethan?

I was in my office and just hap-pened to be on the phone with our county commission chair-

person, Mark Blankenship. Our office is right across from the courthouse, and I noticed several law enforcement vehicles leaving at a high rate of speed and people running from the courthouse. I said to Mark, ‘Something’s happening.’ Well, we got off the phone, and he called me right back and told me there was a guy on a bus with a gun. We did some checking and, finally, we got the word as we – me and my assistant superintendent, Lamar Brooks – were on our way down there that our bus driver had been shot and a student had been taken hostage. The whole time it was just like a bad dream.

Q. you chose to close schools in dale county after this happened. how long were the schools closed?

The incident happened on a Tuesday. We closed all of our schools through Friday. The

two schools in the north end of the county we reopened on Monday. The

schools on the south end – the ones that were closer to Midland City where this all happened – reopened on Tuesday, the day after we got Ethan back.

Q. what was your rationale for closing the schools?

We were in a state of shock. We were concerned for the Poland family. We felt we needed to be

there for them. We felt that we needed to be there for our student who was being held captive and for his family. We had to come up with a plan because we didn’t want to start back to school while he was still being held captive. We had to put our minds together and come up with a contingency plan on how we were going to approach the death of Mr. Poland, and how we were going to deal with the stu-dents on the bus that had witnessed this horrific event, as well as their families and our faculty and staff. On the Thursday after the shooting on Tuesday, we had, with the help of some local contacts, a crisis debriefing for the students and their families with a group of licensed counselors that came in through our local elementary school. They met with them for about two hours.

Also on Thursday, [state Superintendent of Education] Dr. Tommy Bice came

down and our county school leader-ship and a few others met with the crisis-debriefing team. They pointed us in a direction that we, as a school system, needed to go in with regard to counsel-ing for our faculty and staff. So the next morning we brought in our counselors and administrators from all the schools, and they were counseled on what to look for, things we could do and things to be aware of.

On Monday, we brought in our teach-ers and bus drivers and counseled them, listened to their needs, and told them some things they needed to look for in the future – both to see each other through this and to prevent something like this from happening again.

Q. what role did your school board play during this crisis?

Our board was fantastic. At the headquarters for law enforce-ment, we had a board mem-

ber there all the time. Many times, we had three or four of our five-member board there at the same time. They were there in a supportive role, not only for law enforcement, but they were at the schools also, participating in the debrief-ing and all of the other things we did

Donny Bynum was less than one month into his fifth year as superintendent of the Dale County Schools when shots rang out on Highway 231 in the small Dale County community of Midland City on the afternoon of Tuesday, Jan. 29. Jimmy Lee Dykes shot and killed Dale County bus driver Charles Poland, 66, in front of a bus full of children and took Ethan, a 5-year-old student, hostage. Dykes held Ethan in a bunker he had constructed on his property near where the shooting and abduction occurred for seven days until Feb. 4, when FBI SWAT agents set off an explosion in the bunker that killed Dykes and allowed the safe recovery of Ethan. It was a horrible, gut-wrenching seven days that few school superintendents could imagine, much less endure. Bynum endured, and he took time out recently to talk with Alabama School Boards about the incident.

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Ethan Gillman (right) and other children at Midland City Elementary School release balloons following a ceremony for Ethan’s safe return and to honor bus driver Chuck Poland. JAY HARE / DOTHAN EAGLE


to try to care for everyone – students, teachers, parents, drivers, staff – that were involved.

Q. one of the things that was frustrating for a lot of us who were watching this crisis play out through the news media was the lack of information coming out. were you kept up-to-date as far as everything that was going on?

Not necessarily. This was a very delicate situation in that the perpetrator had a television in

his bunker, and he knew what was going on through the media. So we had to be careful about what we said. Our folks did a fantastic job. This started out as a local story, then went statewide and, before long, it was the lead story nationally for a lot of people.

The national media were after a story. They were relentless in trying to find a story. It came to the point where we had to shut down our website because they were using it to find out where our teachers lived, and they were going to their homes. They went to my house, the associate superintendent’s house, the principal’s house. They eventually got my cell number.

Law enforcement had to be tight-lipped and we had to be tight-lipped, because we didn’t want to do anything that would hinder what was going on between the hostage negotiators and the captor.

Q. in the aftermath of this, have you made any changes as far as how buses operate in dale county?

We tell our folks to be vigilant because we have those individu-als that we are aware of, that we

perceive as being aggressive. But that’s not what happened in January. This was sort of like an insider attack in that this gentle-man befriended Mr. Poland, befriended him to the point of gaining his trust.

But what we do on buses now, we instruct our drivers not to have any con-versation while on the route. We com-municate with parents and others that if they want to have a conference they need to contact the school and set up an appropriate time for that. We’re just very leery of any contact with our drivers while they are on the bus routes now.

Q. where were you when you heard this ordeal was over, that ethan was safe and that mr. dykes had been killed?

I was at the site. Immediately previous to it all ending, our district attorney just made the

statement to me in passing, ‘Things are getting really nervous around here.’ It was maybe 10 minutes later that it all went down. There was a sense of appre-hension to start with because we didn’t know the outcome at the time. After about 10 minutes, we got the word that Ethan was OK, and it was just a sense of elation. What had started out so tragically ended as well as it possibly could have ended. It was just an unreal feeling. We were just so thankful that it ended with the safe release of Ethan.

We can’t say enough about how the different agencies that were involved to make this happen all performed out-standingly. And what really was over-whelming was the outpouring of public support we received from all over – par-ticularly in our own community, but also from all over. People were praying for us. They sent us and law enforcement com-fort items, food, whatever we needed was taken care of. It was unreal. It crossed all barriers. We had law enforcement agencies from Auburn, Montgomery, all over working little details of the case.

We had people bring in home-cooked meals, we had restaurants bring in food. There was a guy who was feeding the media that were covering the story. It was overwhelming.

Q. what lessons have you learned about yourself, your teachers, your board and your community from this episode?

I learned how blessed I am to have a loving and caring family, because my wife and my two

children supported me during this whole thing. And I’m also blessed to live in the community I live in. We have educators who went above and beyond. We have board members who went above and beyond, and the community was out-standing. I just feel so fortunate to be a part of a community that would reach out like ours did in a time of need. And not only our community, but our entire state.

David Granger is a freelance writer with more than 25 years of experience in media and public relations for higher education and government. he holds a bach-elor’s degree in journalism from Auburn University. n

A.A.

"What had started out so tragically ended as well as it possibly could have ended."

About Donny Bynum

Bynum began his fifth year as superinten-dent of Dale County Schools in January.

Education and Experience:

With three degrees from Troy University – a bachelor’s degree in physical education and master’s and A.A. degrees in school administration – Bynum has more than 20 years in public education in Alabama as a superintendent, elementary principal and assistant principal, teacher and coach and four years with the state Department of Education.

Family:

He is married to Paula, a retired educator, and has two children. His son, Jason, is an investigator with the Dale County Sheriff’s Department, and his daughter, Elizabeth, is working on a master’s in speech pathol-ogy in Huntsville. Jason and Elizabeth are graduates of Auburn University.

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early a decade ago, when school systems began forking over millions of dollars to purchase laptop computers for every student, these programs — often called one-to-one

or ubiquitous computing initiatives — were heralded as having the potential to close persistent technology gaps.

Today, however, some school systems that ushered in one-to-one laptop programs amid great fanfare have begun to scrap them because of budget cuts; mushrooming maintenance costs; and concerns about how students are using the computers.

Many school system leaders continue to believe that one-to-one programs are worth the expense and headaches. A recent survey of 364 leaders of large systems with one-to-one initiatives found that 33 percent believed the laptops were having a significant effect on student achievement and another 45 percent believed they were having a moderate effect. Of course, such self-reporting is prone to subjectivity. What does more objective research say about one-to-one initiatives?

The Encouraging NewsLet’s start with what we can say from careful research about the

benefits of these programs.

More engaged learners. A four-year study of 5,000 middle school students in Texas found that those engaged in laptop

immersion programs were less likely to have disciplinary prob-lems — but slightly more likely to be absent from school — than students in schools without laptops [Shapley et al., 2009].

Better technology skills. The Texas study also found that the technology skills of students in the laptop programs improved significantly — so much so that, after three years, low-income students in the laptop schools displayed the same levels of tech-nology proficiency as wealthier students in the control schools.

Cost efficiencies. Proponents of one-to-one programs also assert that such programs create savings in other areas, including reduced costs for textbooks, paper, assessments and paperwork, as well as a reduction in disciplinary actions [Greaves, Hayes, Wilson, Gielniak & Peterson, 2010].

The Discouraging NewsOverall, however, most large-scale evaluations have found

mixed or no results for one-to-one initiatives. After five years of implementation of the largest one-to-one initiative in the United States, Maine’s statewide program, evaluations found little effect on student achievement — with one exception, writing, where scores edged up 3.44 points [in a range of 80 points] in five years [Silvernail & Gritter, 2007]. The evaluators speculated that the reason other subjects have not shown measurable improvement

One-to-One Laptop Programs Are No Silver Bullet

By Bryan goodwin

n


could be that the state assessment does not measure the 21st cen-tury technology skills that laptop initiatives promote.

An evaluation of Michigan’s one-to-one laptop program found similarly mixed results. It examined eight matched pairs of schools and found higher achievement in four laptop schools, lower achievement in three, and no difference in the final pair [Lowther, Strahl, Inan & Bates, 2007].

The study of Texas middle school students referenced earlier found slightly higher student growth in mathematics but no higher growth in reading for students in laptop programs [Shapley et al., 2009]. And unlike in Maine, writing scores were actually lower [although not significantly so] for students in the laptop group; the researchers reasoned that students may have grown so accustomed to writing with computers that they had trouble adjusting to the pencil-and-paper format of the state test.

The Devil is in the DetailsCertainly, the anemic results for laptop programs should give

educators pause. However, like most interventions, the reality may be that one-to-one laptop programs are only as effective — or ineffective — as the schools that adopt them.

A study of one-to-one programs in five middle schools in west-ern Massachusetts, for example, found that one of these schools struggled so mightily with incorporating laptops into learning that even three years after implementation its students were not using technology any more than students in schools without laptops [Bebell & Kay, 2010]. These researchers attributed the poor implementation to lack of teacher knowledge and buy-in, concluding, “It is impossible to overstate the power of individual teachers in the success or failure of one-to-one computing.”

A recent study of 997 schools across the United States [Greaves, Hayes, Wilson, et al., 2010] identified nine factors that, if present, appear to contribute to higher levels of achievement in schools that have adopted one-to-one programs. The top three factors were:

1. Ensuring uniform integration of technology in every class.

2. Providing time for teacher learning and collaboration at least monthly.

3. Using technology daily for student online collaboration and cooperative learning.

It is perhaps no coincidence that these factors mirror key pre-dictors of effective schools and school systems in general. For example, ensuring uniform integration of technology in every class implies a system with a clearly articulated, systemwide approach to instruction — a key trait of high-performing systems [Marzano & Waters, 2009]. Similarly, teacher collaboration is an important school-level predictor of achievement [Marzano, 2003], and meaningful cooperative-learning experiences have been linked to higher achievement [Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001].

The Bottom LineRather than being a cure-all or silver bullet, one-to-one laptop

programs may simply amplify what’s already occurring — for bet-ter or worse — in classrooms, schools and systems. Jim Collins arrived at a similar conclusion about technology in the business world. “Technology alone,” he observed in Good to Great, “never holds the key to success.” However, “when used right, technology is an essential driver in accelerating forward momentum.”

The same thing could be said of one-to-one computing initia-tives in schools and school systems.

Bryan Goodwin is vice president of communications, McREL, Denver, Colorado; [email protected]. Reprinted with permission from the ASCD. n

HELPQ. what does the law say about having a gun

on school grounds?

a. The Gun Free School Zones Act is a federal law which prohibits any person from possessing a firearm in a

school zone. 18 u.S.C. §922(q).

Alabama state law has a number of statutes prohibiting the possession of firearms on school property. They include Ala. Code §13A-11-72, which prohibits possession of a deadly weapon with the intent to do bodily harm on public school property and Ala. Code §16-1-24.3(a), which requires the yearlong expulsion of any student who brings or possesses a firearm into any school build-ing, on school property, on a school bus or to a school function.

Moreover, the Alabama Administrative Code has a regulation that requires all school boards to adopt a uniform policy prohibit-ing all persons from possessing a deadly weapon on school prop-erty. AAC §290-3-1-.02(1)(b)2. This regulation does not carry the limitation that the person have intent to do bodily harm. Limited exceptions, such as possession by law enforcement, apply.

— Jayne Harrell Williams, AASB legal consultant


here is an old adage in Lean Six Sigma: “Use your head first; your wallet second.” This saying high-

lights one of the main benefits of the LSS tool set — often improvements can be made, efficiencies gained and more value delivered by working smarter than through making investments in new capital.

Lean Six Sigma is an approach to improve how to get things done through eliminating wasteful activities and reduc-ing process variation. The question is: how can this approach be used to make a significant difference in your school system?

In a recent assessment of process effi-ciency within a school system’s child nutrition program, the assessor observed what appeared to be high process varia-tions within the function of elemen-tary school kitchens. Some elementary schools were producing more than 21 meals per labor hour [MPLH]; other

elementary schools within the same sys-tem were only producing slightly more than 13. Across 12 elementary schools, there was almost a 50/50 split between those kitchens doing well and those doing poorly. Several excuses for this variation were voiced: “Our equipment is older;” “We have fewer children;” and “Our overall school system average is within the state’s preferred range.”

Initially, all data was reviewed to ensure no exceptions or special circumstances were causing this differential. Once this was confirmed, the witnessed variation was considered typical and repeating. Therefore, it would stand to reason that if this variation were reduced, efficiency improvements would occur.

To capture these improvements, a LSS tool was deployed to reduce variation through a five-step process: define, mea-sure, analyze, improve, and control.

Starting with Define To better understand this variation, a

team of kitchen managers was engaged and asked questions related to the variation — such as “What causes this difference?” and “What is driving this difference?” — until several possibilities were delineated. From the kitchen managers’ responses, a “thought map” was created. This “thought map” was reviewed, discussed and voted on to expose the top three potential causes of the variations.

Measuring the Process

The assessor then conducted detailed observations of the processes being used at both high and low MPLH kitchens. As a result, the team developed “process

HEADS FIRST, WALLETS SECONDImproving meals per labor hour for child nutrition programs

T


School BoardCovington CountyHometownRed LevelHow long have you been a board member? 12 years, elected in 2000 and starting my third term.Books at BedsideThe Bible and All In by Gene Chizik. InspirationIt inspires me to watch the dedication and hard work of teachers. They work after school. They work week-ends, and they work most of their summer. To see this motivates me to try to make a difference in the lives of children.Motto as a Board MemberDo what’s best for the children.Walter Mitty FantasyThat every child be given the chance to succeed.Greatest Accomplishment as a Board MemberBeing a member of a board that was responsible for keeping the 16th Section money where it should be to benefit the children.Pet Peeve as a Board MemberThe public doesn’t understand about funds being ear-marked. They can’t always be spent where they seem to be needed.Reason I Like Being an AASB MemberThere are endless ways to learn as adults and as chil-dren. I enjoy being exposed to new ideas. It’s been said, “if you keep doing the same things the same way, you keep getting the same results.” My EpitaphI told you I was sick! .... just kidding! “He loved his Lord. He loved his family. He loved the children.” n

AT THE TABLE

Jimmy Rogers

maps” detailing how each high MPLH kitchen performed in repeating duties. From these “process maps,” a checklist of best practices was developed. Then, all low-performing kitchens were reviewed against the checklist and variant practices were noted.

Analyzing the DataThe data now clearly revealed a common set of best practices

being used in high-performing kitchens that were missing in low-performing kitchens. These best practices were compared to the thought maps and a hypothesis was developed, stating that certain best practices drove high MPLH performance. It was further hypothesized that if these best practices were deployed in the low-performing kitchens, there would be an increase in the MPLH. Surprisingly, these practices had nothing to do with technology, new equipment or any other costly investment. The best practices were human in nature. The two primary best prac-tices identified were the need for improved cash management and labor management.

Making ImprovementsOne low-performing kitchen was selected as a test site for

deploying these primary best practices. The staff was trained on the new processes and kitchen equipment was organized for improved efficiency and flow through implementing the 5S tool [sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain]. Over the following weeks, a three MPLH increase was noted in the test kitchen.

Putting It Under ControlThe same best practices — now developed into formal, picto-

rial standard operating procedures combined with training and 5S — were then implemented into the day-to-day practices of all low-performing kitchens. Kitchen managers and child nutri-tion program central office staff performed weekly audits that included seven questions, all graded with either a one or zero, to indicate whether or not the requirement was present. The weekly audits spotlighted new opportunities for improvement and the scores were tracked and posted for all staff to see.

The end result of this project was that all elementary kitchens saw an efficiency improvement of three or more MPLH, raising the overall school system average to well above 19 MPLH. This was achieved without investment in new technologies, new equip-ment or other significant cash outlays. This increased efficiency was achieved with only the investment of the time and energy of

the kitchen managers working through a LSS improvement project.For more information, contact Dave Knowles of LeAn Frog Business Solutions: efficiency in education at 256-656-9072 or [email protected]. n

THE

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THE

TEAM

a strategic partner of...

eBOARD’s superhero team of software tools can help your system demonstrate accountability and transparency with the ulitmate goal of achieving organizational excellence. Streamline and align the work of your strategic plans, policies, paperless meeting agendas, assessments and evaluations!

Find out more about these unique web-based software tools by visiting our website at www.eboardsolutions.com

Alabama Association of School Boards

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To learn more about becoming a Professional Sustaining Member of the Alabama Association of School Boards and to enjoy special opportunities, services and valuable information, contact us at 800/562-0601 or [email protected].

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