Superintendents today are leading in uncharted waters — but one professional development event gives them the tools to keep navigating toward their goals.

The 2023 Superintendents’ Symposium will take place Jan. 25-27 in Monterey. The conference will bring together district and county office leaders who have been buffeted by numerous challenges in recent years.

“In the past few years, school superintendents have faced obstacles that were probably unimaginable to many of us before we experienced them,” said Dana Eaton, superintendent of Brentwood Union School District and chair of this year’s Superintendents’ Symposium planning committee. “School districts will never fully return to the pre-pandemic world and that presents many challenges and opportunities for all of us fortunate enough to be superintendents. As we continue to sail into unchartered waters, there is an oft used quote that says, ‘We can’t control the wind, but we can direct the sails.’”

Breakout sessions at the Symposium are grounded in topics superintendents are confronting right now: school safety, equity, curricular push-back, governance in changing times, staffing shortages and funding.

Eaton said the committee is excited to return to Monterey for this annual gathering of hundreds of school superintendents from throughout the state.

“Unless you are or have been a superintendent, it is impossible to fully grasp the challenges and opportunities that exist in the profession,” he said. “It is critical that superintendents take time to come together and learn from each other, build networks, hear from experts, have their perspective challenged and grow together. It is equally important that we come together to celebrate all that has been accomplished and take some time to smile and laugh.”