Welcome to 2018!
SAIS President Dr. Kirk Walker to Retire June 2019
SAIS President Dr. Kirk Walker has announced his plans to retire from his position effective June 30, 2019. Reflecting on his tenure, Dr. Walker commented: “It has been an honor to represent SAIS and a joy to work with our wonderful staff and with the hundreds of talented and dedicated educators in our schools. Ours is a community committed to people, to learning, and to the future. And in our remaining months together, we will continue to work toward our shared mission and toward enhancing our support of quality education.” 
 
Dr. Byron Hulsey, chair of the SAIS Board of Trustees, stated: “Kirk has provided exemplary leadership for SAIS, and we will miss his wisdom, thoughtfulness, and deep understanding of our member schools. On Kirk's watch, SAIS has grown stronger and even more responsive to the challenges and opportunities we face in schools. And while we'll miss Kirk acutely, we're eager  – from a position of strength –  to launch an open, national search for his successor. Our goal is to serve member schools and advance the SAIS mission through a thoughtful, deliberate search with Kirk at the helm through the transition.”
 
A search committee has been formed and details will be shared with the membership once the process has been finalized.
Stephen P. Robinson Collaboration Grant Report: St. Andrew's School, Savannah, GA
In the upcoming issues of SAIS HeadLines, reports from the 2017 Stephen P. Robinson SAIS Collaboration Grant recipients will be published. These reports detail the programs funded by the grants.

By Dr. Kelley Waldon, Head of School
Through some process I cannot quite recall, about three years ago, I emerged from a cocoon of school-focused efforts to connect with some creative enterprises and industries in the Savannah community. Specifically, I remember reading about the opening of a creative space for innovators, gamers, and makers in Savannah, The Guild Hall, and reaching out to the founder, an entrepreneur named Clegg Ivey, about the project. Through others in the creative and technology communities of Savannah, Yvonne Jouffrault and Kevin Lawver, I realized the growth and creative progress in our community was being done by industries and individuals far removed from my traditional notions of what defines success in school. This was coupled by the beginning of a conversation with a leader in our local public school system, Peter Ulrich, then principal of a magnet program in Savannah. He, too, was working to empower his teachers to be change agents within their classrooms to transform a school and wrestling with how best to achieve this outcome.
Crafting an Effective School Board
By Christina Mimms, SAIS
A school’s relationship with its board requires careful management by the head of school. While the rules about school governance are clear, the board plays an important role in the financial well-being of the school as well as fund-raising, strategic planning, and visioning. 
SAIS Featured School: St. Peter's Episcopal School
By combining programs like language immersion and outdoor education with traditional curricula in arts and sciences, St. Peter’s Episcopal School has emerged as an innovation leader in Chattanooga, TN. “We offer our families the very best educational programs while keeping the warmth and inclusive atmosphere that people associate with St. Peter’s,” says Head of School Meredith Ruffner. “Balance is the key to our future.”

Announcing the 2018 SAIS Leadership Retreat: April 23-24, Louisville, KY
Pushing Our Horizons: How Do We Tackle the Big, Hairy Challenges of the Next 20 Years?
An opportunity for leaders to sharpen their skills in today’s evolving educational landscape that will go beyond “why” and focus on “how” change can best be accomplished in a setting that is often change-resistant.
Led by  Grant Lichtman , an internationally-recognized K-12 transformation thought leader, attendees will work together as they imagine futures that may look very different from the past and build a capacity and comfort with ongoing change. Participants will examine what it means to shift schools from being teaching organizations to learning organizations, which traditions are important to preserve, and which traditions hamper this shift to a long-term growth mindset. Register NOW at sais.org/LR .
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My 3 Words for 2018
Educator and blogger Jennifer Hogan starts the new year with solid goals. 
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