I’ve met many superintendents who really want to streamline costs and administrative workflow specifically in the area of paperless board meetings. But at the end of the day, many of them tell me. You don’t understand. My board is not ready to go paperless. I feel your pain. And I’ve heard about many strategies that ...
Have any of the teachers in your school systems tried flipping their classrooms yet? Have you heard about it and what the advantages might be? As you know, new content is “typically” delivered to all students at the same time by their teacher. Some call this “sage on the stage”, presentations (with or without PowerPoint), ...
You may have begun to see funny-looking black and white squares (QR Codes) that look a bit like stamps stuck on advertisements in magazines. I really hadn’t paid attention (eyes rolled) because sometimes I get a bit wary when I hear about ANOTHER new techie thing. Who has time to keep up with all that? ...
Local school boards meet all around this country in governing our nation’s public schools. Who makes the agenda? In my home state of Georgia, the superintendent and board chair have the responsibility of creating the monthly agenda; each member of the board can additionally request that an item be placed on the agenda. What’s put ...
Is your head in the clouds? It should be. If you are a school administrator or a board member, you may have never heard or thought about “cloud” technology. I mentioned the word the other day in an e-mail and was surprised to hear back that it meant nothing to the recipients. I would respond ...
Planning for accreditation can be an incredibly busy time for any district. Our plates are all full, as the tired saying reminds us, but we needed to collaborate on this extremely important sign and seal of our district work. And as with all things in a school district, working with adults is an excellent opportunity ...
If you’re like me, you’ve attended your fair share of meetings (staff meetings, board meetings, cabinet meetings…you name it.) Most of these meetings have had an agenda but many agendas were just SKELETONS, or basic outlines of the topics that will be presented, discussed or acted upon. So as we’ve had access to technology tools, ...
At the eBOARDsolutions User Conference in March 2011, I co-presented with Dr. Valery Hall of the Forsyth County Public Schools in Georgia. In her role of assisting both the superintendent and the board of education, Valery is integrally involved in preparing the agendas for their board’s meetings. Thus, our session involved agenda preparation and effective ...
Over the last two decades I’ve worked with school systems (both administrators and teachers) helping them to more effectively use technology. In most of these cases, this has been in the service of a technology company such as Apple, Promethean or eBOARDsolutions. According to this Edupotia article “Shaping Tech for the Classroom” by Mark Prensky ...
Let’s face it. Not all board members are tech savvy. But more and more, it is so important that leadership can use technology to access important information (such as online meeting agendas, policies as well as news, registering for conferences…the list is endless). But what about the board members who’ve been led to the water ...
Over the last few years, I asked many people from school districts this question, “Are your board meetings and policies online?” And I’ve been pretty content to hear the answer has most often been “Yes, they are.” “Great!” I think (until I go look on their website). In most cases, I’m finding a few PDF files ...
School leaders remain committed to the success of their students, schools and communities. The commitment grows even as the pressures of diverse student populations, continued budget deficits and a persistent lean economy. Based on No Child Left Behind legislation, parents are increasingly aware of school choice options which place additional pressure on educational leaders for ...
Video of Keith Ellenburg- Technology Director, Putnam County Schools Once upon a time, a board member looked around after a board meeting at all of the packets of paper in the board room and exclaimed aloud, “I wonder how many trees we’ve killed this year. We should be using technology to go paperless! They did ...
It’s so important for public school boards of education to be “onboard” when it comes to modeling good governance. If a school board expects 21st century classrooms, they should model that practice too by using technology tools themselves. Using computers for paperless meetings is a “must do”—it’s not just about being green, either. Technology tools ...