ACSA members were in Montana recently for a national conference of secondary school administrators.

The National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Region 7 Fall Conference was held Sept. 28-30 in Bozeman. For the past nine years, this conference has been facilitated by the California Middle Grades and Secondary Grade Council NASSP Liaison, Derrick Lawson.

Lawson, who is also a current NASSP board member, was joined by Christine Moore, ACSA Council of Middle Grades Education Leaders president; and Mary Gomes, ACSA’s Middle Grades and Secondary Education Council staff liaison who was representing ACSA’s executive director.

Each year the Fall Conference features structured networking activities and professional development designed to enable council officers and state executives in each of the nine western states to provide the latest in support for their site leaders in specific areas of focus.

The conference focus for this year was for each state to present and share resources and actions surrounding two critical issues in the current education paradigm:

Strengthening and supporting the principalship: Addressing the administrator pipeline crisis and providing support to new site administrators in leadership, mental health and collaboration.

Developing and elevating student voice and leadership: Promoting student voice on campuses and providing student programs for character, achievement, service and leadership.

Following the sharing of state resources and information, presenters shared information on topics crucial to education site leaders. Winston Y. Sakurai, executive officer, OCID Instructional Practices & Curriculum Review and state director of Adult Education in Hawaii, shared a presentation on the emerging impact of artificial intelligence.

Special presentations were also given from Montana State University on current critical equity issues. Jason Cummins, assistant professor at MSU, presented on Indigenous education for all K-12 students and Waded Cruzado, president of Montana State University, presented on leadership between K-12 and higher education.

The event wrapped up with a special panel with students from both Bozeman High School and Gallatin High School sharing the impact of their National Student Council chapter and National Honor Society chapter. The students made an outstanding case for why every school campus needs to empower and shape the next generation by providing these opportunities on campus.