USA Conference (02-02-09)

This week, I had the pleasure to attend the United School Administrators Annual Conference, held at the Century II convention center in Wichita. This was my first time at USA, and I was impressed by both the size of the event, and the quality of the presentations I attended.

First, this was by far the largest gathering of school administrators in the state. USA is the umbrella organization for all other administrator associations, including the Kansas Association of Elementary School and Secondary School Principals, (KAESP and KASSP), the Kansas Association of Special Education Administrators (KASEA) and something called “KASA,” though I never did find out the actual name of the association (Kansas Association of School Administrators, perhaps?).

Basically, everyone was there. Principals, superintendents, board presidents and board representatives, directors of special education cooperatives and Curriculum Specialists. Plus, let’s not overlook the army of assistants: assistant principals, assistant superintendents, assistant directors, campus support personnel, assistant transportation directors and even a food service administrator or two. It was huge.

One walk through the vendors’ display was enough to alert me that “No Toto, I don’t think we are in Kansas anymore!” The booths and tables seemed to go on forever, and I was especially impressed with the half dozen full sized school busses pulled inside the arena for our inspection.

It really made me think about administration. In our small setting, the chain of command is short and sweet. We have two principals, two directors (one for food service and one for transportation), one superintendent, and our school board. I have sometimes said (with tongue in cheek) that when it comes to decisions, there’s me, the superintendent, and then God. A streamlined bureaucracy if there ever was one.

But big school districts have a virtual army of administrators in the form of principals, directors, specialists, assistants, and support personnel. In many ways, this was a big district conference. Certainly, Wichita and the Kansas City area school districts were well represented.

Interestingly enough, there was no food provided at this shin-dig. I have never been to conference that didn’t have at least one “banquet”. I guess there were just too many of us to feed.

But other than that, the conference was excellent. I attended sessions on developing professional learning communities, character education, brain compatible learning, and a special four-hour session hosted by Apple Computer on Pod casting (more of that in a future column!) I had the chance to meet the superintendent of Wakeeney and we talked about our shared interest in creating learning communities by possibly joining our small staffs. The character education sessions, led by the principal of Buhler grade school and other Buhler staff was excellent, and I am excited to share what I learned about the “Character Counts” program. Finally, I met two teachers from McPherson High School who led an exciting group participation workshop modeling brain compatible learning. Not only did this last session reinforce and remind me all that I learned at the KAESP convention in November, but I learned that these two teachers are also certified to give workshops. McPherson is only a short ways away, and I would be excited to get these guys out to our district.

The highlight of the conference came with the address given by Bernie Saggau, the retired Executive Director of the Iowa High School Athletic Association. This guy had seen it all and pretty much done it all in his fifty plus years of public service. He not only ran the Iowa Athletic Association, he was a teacher, coach, and a long time ref, including a Division I college ref in both Football and Basketball.

His speech was electrifying, filled with humorous anecdotes, and inspirational stories. He told a story of a guy he knows who goes sailing on a lake behind his house. One day, Mr. Saggau was fishing off the shore, when the neighbor came down to the water and began preparing his sail boat. He called over to the neighbor, “Which way is the wind blowing today?”

The man replied, “Bernie, Bernie, Bernie. I do not control the wind. I only adjust the sails.”

His parting words of wisdom to the ballroom full of administrators was just that: no matter which way the wind blows, remember to adjust the sails.

It was probably the best definition of leadership I have ever heard. I am grateful to USD 281 for sending me to this tremendous opportunity to learn, to meet new colleagues, and to hear a great man give great advice. In more ways than one, I am proud to be part of the USA.