Message from FADSS CEO Bill Montford |
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FADSS Regional Meetings Focus on
Connections & Camaraderie
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The FADSS Board made the difficult decision back in January to forego an in-person Spring Conference out of safety and travel concerns related to responsibly holding a large group meeting over 150 people. Recognizing that a virtual training can never replicate the connection and camaraderie of a face-to-face meeting, the FADSS Board concurrently asked FADSS staff to explore the possibility of regional meetings.
With that, I am pleased to announce that FADSS will be holding three regional face-to-face meetings across the state. These smaller gatherings will allow us to meet in a safe, socially distanced manner, and in most cases will make it possible for attendees to return home the same day. The agenda for these regional meetings will be somewhat structured, however the dialogue and conversation of each meeting will be driven by the needs and interest of the group as a whole. While the meetings are geared towards specific regions – all regional meetings are open to any Florida superintendent regardless of their district.
FADSS has a strong and effective Association because we have well informed Superintendents that truly have a desire to help one another. Our regional meetings will be of great benefit to all of us, especially new Superintendents. Our class of new superintendents is an impressive group and they’re eager to get to know the more tenured superintendents.
In addition, the FADSS Board has embraced the concept of opening some of our meetings to members of your leadership team. You are welcome to register one member of your team to attend these regional meetings with you. I encourage you to strongly consider attending one or all of these regional meetings.
FADSS Regional Meetings
Thank you to Bay County Superintendent Bill Husfelt who will host the first regional meeting set for Monday, April 12th from 9:00 a.m. — 2:00 p.m. CT. Superintendents from the Wakulla, Leon, and Gadsden district line west are scheduled for this first regional meeting. Again, any superintendent that chooses to register for this meeting is welcome to attend.
Two additional FADSS Regional Meetings are planned for:
Northeast|NEFEC|Mid-Central Florida — Marion County
Monday, April 26 from 10:00 a.m. — 2:00 p.m. EST
Lower-Central Florida|Heartland |South Florida — Osceola County
Monday, May 10 from 10:00 a.m. — 2:00 p.m. EST
Since these meetings are designed to be a one-day, drive-in/drive-out event, they will be targeted to the superintendents in those specific regions. However, any superintendent is welcome to attend one or more of the FADSS Regional Meetings. Registration information will go out the first of next week.
Stronger Together
I know this past year has challenged us on many fronts, and the inability to meet in person has lessened our connections with each other. However, I firmly believe that the strength of our Association is the trust and personal/professional admiration superintendents have for one another and the camaraderie, support and sharing of best practices. And that has never wavered!
Like you, I eagerly look forward to September 2021 when we can all meet together as a group. In the meantime, I am confident these regional meetings will provide the connectivity, camaraderie, and additional professional development and I look forward to seeing at the regional meetings.
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Superintendent Spotlight:
Up Close with Sarasota County Schools
Superintendent Dr. Brennan Asplen
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What led you to pursue being a public school superintendent?
During each stage of my career — from classroom teacher to Deputy Superintendent, I knew I wanted to utilize those unique viewpoints of my experience to lead a school district and provide the very best and most progressive opportunities for all students, faculties and staff.
Before being selected/appointed as Sarasota County Schools Superintendent, you had a distinguished career in public education at both St. Johns County and Seminole County School Districts serving in several positions from teacher to coach to assistant principal to name a few. Of all the positions you have held in public education – which has been the most rewarding and why?
Each position held unique aspects that I thoroughly enjoyed, however high school principalship was the most personally rewarding for me. To be part of the day-to-day student culture and atmosphere, preparing students to create a trajectory for their futures and being able to glimpse ‘the finished product’ of public education. I found incredible value in that.
What do you feel is the most pressing public education issue in your district?
Implementing strategies to close the achievement gap that exists between certain student subgroups is a challenge that I feel most districts experience and Sarasota County Schools is no different.
What do you feel is the most pressing issue facing public education as a whole?
In our current situation, adjusting to remote learning and concurrent instructional delivery in the classroom. As a result, we are faced with providing necessary opportunities for students to catch up from their academic losses due to the impact of the pandemic.
What is an innovative/impactful initiative in your school district that you are most proud of during your tenure as a superintendent?
Implementing the new process of instructing students online and face-to-face concurrently with fidelity, compassion and rigor.
What do you feel is/has been the most challenging aspect of continuing to provide quality education services to students in a COVID environment?
- Concurrent teaching and lack of substitutes has been most challenging.
- Delivering instruction while contact tracing and quarantining of teachers and students.
What are the most challenging barriers at this time in meeting the educational needs of students?
Providing a high-quality education while instructing students online and in person concurrently. Providing online learners with the proper services and resources during ever-changing daily circumstances.
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Road to the Superintendency
Before being selected/appointed as Sarasota County Schools Superintendent, Dr. Asplen had a distinguished career in public education at both St. Johns County and Seminole County School Districts serving as a teacher, coach, dean, assistant principal, principal, associate superintendent for human resources, and deputy superintendent for academic and student services.
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Assessment Hope Springs Eternal
By David Sikes, FADSS Associate Executive Officer
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This week marks the beginning of Florida’s spring assessment window. The mixture of students participating in brick and mortar and virtual instruction will make the administration of this year’s assessments particularly challenging for some districts. When you combine this challenge with the anxiety that normally accompanies these assessments compounded by the uncertainty of a school year unlike any other, it can feel overwhelming. It is at times like these that it can help to step back and adjust our perspective. Prepare the Wayback Machine Mr. Peabody.
By this time last year, Florida’s schools were closed and the announcement that they would remain closed for the remainder of the 2019-2020 school year was imminent. The 2020 assessments had already been canceled out of necessity. The black market for paper towels and disinfecting wipes was more lucrative than cryptocurrency. Our schools, students, teachers, and communities had been hurled into uncertainty and the future was cloudier than a Seattle winter day.
From a personal standpoint, I was working from home while trying to provide some type of instructional guidance for my son and daughter, who were then in kindergarten and third grade respectively. It was not going well to say the least. My kindergartner son, grizzled veteran of public education that he was at that time, made it clear that I was the worst teacher he ever had. My sophisticated third grade daughter preached to me daily that the virtual instruction she was receiving was an unacceptable alternative to the “real” school that she had become accustomed; however, this disappointment was offset by her elation over the fact that she no longer had to stress over the third grade ELA FSA. My daily internet search for a magic elixir that made children content and happy while transforming adults dealing with disgruntled children while working from a kitchen table into productive employees kept coming up with the same message – “Your search produced 0 results.” There was no joy in Muddville, normalcy had struck out.
What a difference a year makes. Today, over 80 percent of Florida’s 2.8 million students are attending school in-person on at least a part-time basis. The full complement of annual assessments will be administered over an extended assessment window. The angst of wondering when children will return to school has been replaced by concern over student performance and how assessment results will be used.
While assessments themselves are not without controversy, what they reflect this year should be. They represent a major step in our return to stability. This year’s assessment results may be an aberration compared to the successes students, schools, and districts have become accustomed to. But they are also a reflection of where we are and how far we need to go. As superintendents, you carry this burden for your entire district. The time, work, and effort that each of you has put in to prepare your students and teachers for success this school year should not be questioned, regardless of assessment results.
Life is undeniably not back to “normal,” but it resembles “normal” more so now than it has at any other time over the past year. I know this because paper towels are readily in stock every time I go to the grocery store. I know this because my daughter, now in the fourth grade, comes home daily stressing over having to sit for the two-hour ELA Writing Assessment. It is in these measures of normalcy that we find hope. Hope that the setbacks of the past year are temporary while the foundations we have laid for long-term success are permanent.
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5 things you should know about variants
The virus that causes COVID-19 is evolving, and it’s complicating our efforts to end the pandemic.
Source: Bill Gates | GatesNotes.com | March 31, 2021
The world has come a long way in the fight against COVID-19, but new variants of the virus could threaten progress we’ve made over the past year. Here are five things you should know if you want to understand how variants are (and aren’t) complicating the pandemic.
An American Imperative: A New Vision of Public Schools
Source: AASA | April 8, 2021
A Report from the Learning 2025: National Commission on Student-Centered, Equity-Focused Education was just released. Titled An American Imperative: A New Vision of Public Schools, the 33-page report identifies core components and corresponding essential areas of systemic school redesign. As leaders, teachers, and students work to realize this vision, all must play an active role in redesigning systems, re-engineering instruction, and co-authoring the learning journey.
It is intended to function as guardrails for specific change while also empowering districts and schools to tailor plans to the needs of their learners, educators, and communities. What makes this report stand out is its call to action comprised of recommendations coupled with specific action steps. Learning 2025: Student-Centered, Equity-Focused Education is an AASA initiative that calls for holistic redesign of the public school system by 2025. The initiative is grounded in the foundational work of the AASA Learning 2025 National Commission, comprised of thought leaders in education, business, community and philanthropy.
Activate Deep Learning and Lift from Loss
Ten Priorities to Activate Deep Learning and Lift from Loss
Source: www.NPDL.global | February 25, 2021
Transition is a massive challenge at this time. However, we must seize this unique moment to activate the students’ innate desire to connect and be curious through authentic deep learning experiences. Not only will this re-engage them in school but it will also accelerate the learning as motivation and engagement combine to lift them from learning loss. Schools and students will thrive when they embrace a unified purpose that focuses on equity, well-being and deep learning.
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FADSS Business Partner Webinars |
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Join FADSS Platinum Partner HMH for FREE Live District Planning Webinar Series |
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Addressing Equity and Access: Impact of Interrupted Schooling
Dr. Amanda Patterson and Garth Harries will discuss the key challenges and proven tactical solutions to help district leaders accelerate through recent learning loss to close longstanding instructional disparities.
The Effectiveness of Intervention within the Core Classroom Proven solutions that are flexible and scalable
Join Dr. Bonnie Cochran and Noelle Morris to discuss intervention and supplemental solutions that have been cited and proven to work and cited as “strongly effective” by What Works Clearinghouse.
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Lexia Learning Multilingual Learner Webinar Series |
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Join Lexia’s Senior Advisor and former Assistant Deputy Secretary at the US Department of Education José A. Viana for a two-part webinar series that will take a deep dive into the multilingual learning experience and provide educators with strategies to help Multilingual Learners quickly develop language and literacy acquisition skills.
Webinar Session 1: Florida’s Multilingual Learners in Our New Now
Join this discussion on the benefits of bilingualism, including how to nurture Florida’s multilingual students’ language learning with a culturally-responsive asset model of instruction in any learning environment – remote, hybrid or in-person.
Webinar Session 2: Essential Elements to Accelerate Achievement
for Multilingual Learners
Join José Viana for a panel discussion with regional EL leaders to discuss how they address and develop plans to accelerate achievement for Multilingual Learners. Listen and learn from colleagues who are ensuring language acquisition through equity and engagement in this challenging time.
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Three Sessions Remaining in FADSS Silver Partner
Renaissance Learning’s Virtual Event Series
April 13 | April 22 | April 29 | 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. EST
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What: Educational Literacy Summit – Prioritizing Proficiency and Growth for Every Reader
Why: Discover how to support greater literacy growth for every reader — across all grades and proficiency levels. Three Sessions remaining:
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Prioritizing Literacy Growth for English Learners (Tuesday, April 13)
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Prioritizing Literacy Growth for Middle and High School Learners (Thursday, April 22)
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Prioritizing Literacy Acquisition and Growth for Pre-K–3 Learners (Thursday, April 29)
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Thank you to all the FADSS 2021 Spring Conference Business Partners |
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Florida Association of District School Superintendents
208 South Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32301
850.577.5784
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