California hosts NASSP Region 7 conference, welcomes principals from nine states
October 21, 2019
National Association of Secondary School Principals Region 7 (representing the states of Alaska, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington) held its fall conference Oct. 6-7 at ACSA’s offices in Sacramento.
State executives and coordinators, and presidents of councils attended this joint business and professional development event, which was organized by Derrick Lawson, NASSP state coordinator and Region 7 lead coordinator for NASSP.
Each state reported on the status of major initiatives and shared resources in four areas: alternative credentialing, Social Emotional Learning/trauma-informed education, school safety for LGBTQ students, and special education/equity in staffing.
“Within your district, you can feel like you’re the only one working on an issue. It’s nice to know other states are working on the same issues,” said Mark Anderson, principal at Pasadena USD who was at the conference. “It’s important to be together to learn from each other and lift up each state, as well.”
NASSP Executive Director JoAnn Bartoletti was in attendance and met with ACSA Executive Director Wes Smith as part of an ongoing conversation on how the two organizations can work together to support school leaders.
“NASSP is meeting with state association executive directors to understand what the state associations are trying to accomplish, what their challenges are, and so forth, so we can continue to build a more constructive relationship between state and national associations,” Bartoletti said. “We need to do a better job of articulating to school leaders how affiliating with both associations advances their career, their leadership, and our collective advocacy for the field of school leadership.”
“Together NASSP and the state associations can deliver that powerful and consistent message to all levels of policymaking.”–JoAnn Bartoletti, Executive Director, NASSP
NASSP staffers at the meeting were able to hear directly from school leaders on the policy challenges they face in different social and demographic contexts.
Bartoletti said school leaders told “very powerful and painful” stories about their struggles to serve special needs students without promised funding from the state and federal government.
“One principal shared he has just one staff member to support nine medically fragile students,” she said. “We hear stories like this throughout the country. And the condition is simply unsustainable. Together NASSP and the state associations can deliver that powerful and consistent message to all levels of policymaking.”
Secondary school principals from across the West visited ACSA’s Sacramento offices for the NASSP fall Region 7 conference. Pictured front center are JoAnn Bartoletti, NASSP Executive Director, and Derrick Lawson, NASSP state coordinator for California.
