Leadership Matters September 2014

We’ll celebrate our 50 th with a great conference!

Angeles and his students were featured in the PBS documentary “The Hobart Shakespeareans.” He also is the author of the New York Times’ best -seller “Teach Like Your Hair’s on Fire.” In addition to that power-packed lineup, we have invited both gubernatorial candidates to appear. We also have an outstanding set of breakout sessions, special events such as the “Super” 5K run early Thursday morning, October 9, and the opportunity to network with colleagues from all over the state. We also have developed a special professional development strand for new superintendents. I’d like to urge you to reach out to new superintendents in your region and issue a personal invitation for them to join you at the Annual Conference. The superintendency is quite

When the planning for our 2014 Annual Conference began, we challenged ourselves to put together a truly special event. We wanted to celebrate IASA’s 50 th anniversary in the most fitting way possible – to offer our members a lineup of speakers worthy of a Golden Anniversary. As this issue of Leadership Matters details, I think we succeeded. I encourage you to read the feature stories in this edition about:

Message from the Executive Director Dr. Brent Clark

Hall Davidson , Senior Director of Global Learning Initiatives for Discovery Education. Davidson, who won an Emmy Award as the math version of Bill Nye the Science Guy on an educational TV show, will focus on education in the digital age, a curriculum shift that he says is one of the most important in the history of public education. Jon Gordon , author of “The Energy Bus,” which made the Wall Street Journal’s best-seller list. Gordon has served as consultant to a pretty diverse audience ranging from the Campbell Soup Company to the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons. He will talk about “The Power of Positive Leadership” and how to neutralize “energy vampires.”

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Headline Speakers

challenging even for veteran superintendents, but it can be especially daunting for brand

new superintendents. Vision 20/20 update The Vision 20/20

committees, our Statewide School Management Alliance partners and other endorsing

Hall Davidson

Jon Gordon

organizations are still tweaking some of the language for the final

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document, but we are inching closer to completing one of the most ambitious projects ever undertaken by IASA. I will be giving updates and answering questions as I travel around the state to attend region meetings in the next several weeks. The release needs to be strategically timed so that it receives the attention it

Suhail Farooqui

Rafe Esquith

Click here to register for the IASA Annual Conference

deserves. Before the release occurs, IASA members will be provided with a summary and talking points because success will depend on a grassroots effort at the local level. In creating a vision and a road map for the future of public education in Illinois, what we really are doing is making a promise to the more than 2 million children who depend on us to provide them the best possible educational opportunities. We are going to need everyone’s help in order to fulfill that promise.

 Suhail Farooqui , President and CEO of K12 Insight. Born and raised in India, Farooqui is a naturalized citizen who truly has a global view of public education in the United States. He is staunch defender of public schools who thinks the vocal minority have had center stage for too long.  Rafe Esquith , perhaps the most decorated teacher in America. Esquith teaches fifth grade at Hobart Elementary School in inner-city Los

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