IASB Convention 2024

Facing change, challenges, and uncertainty can make it difficult to stay positive. In the opening general session, Keynoter Sarita Mabin will empower you to handle tough conversations while preserving positive relationships. But how do we maintain positivity and focus for ourselves? Join Sarita after her keynote for an exclusive deep dive into strategies for recharging, resetting, and rekindling your passion for board work during challenging times. She will share her three P's for staying positive and guide you in using 'resiliency resources' to bounce back. Don’t miss this opportunity to connect with Sarita!

"What do you want your school community to say about your board in two years?” This legacy question motivated the board-superintendent team at Albia Schools to develop collective board goals and operating principles with an emphasis on relationships, trust, and respect. Join members of Albia’s governance team as they share their journey while providing opportunities for reflection and discussion on how your district can leverage your governance roles to make a positive and significant difference.

Join Simbli for an insightful breakout session focused on enhancing leadership and operational efficiency within your governance team and organization. Whether you're looking to refine your strategic planning process, strengthen policy implementation, enhance your board meetings, or streamline superintendent evaluations, this session offers invaluable insights. Simbli, developed by the Georgia School Board Association and offered as a service through IASB, will share tips and insights for how you can use your Simbli modules to increase effectiveness and efficiency at your board table!

The research on board governance is clear: highly effective board teams can and do make a significant and positive difference for the students they serve. What does that mean for school board leadership? How can board presidents and vice presidents foster board team relationships to chart a strong course for the district and succeed in both calm and choppy waters? Join two board presidents who will lead an interactive conversation with participants focused on sharing insights and strategies to cultivate unity, overcome challenges and navigate the complexities of school board governance.

When the governance team at Adel-DeSoto-Minburn Schools realized their plan for school improvement was broken and leading to stagnation, they threw it out! Instead, they embraced “The 4 Disciplines of Execution,” a process designed by Franklin Covey to create breakthrough results. During this session, learn how ADM Schools reset their leadership’s focus on student improvement and leveraged 4DX to achieve real progress on their ‘wildly important’ student learning goals.

How do school boards and superintendents effectively collaborate to set and achieve a shared goal? In this presentation, Maquoketa Schools will showcase their board's collaborative journey in setting a joint goal with the superintendent. Join this board-superintendent team as they detail their process to develop, implement, and sustain their joint goals throughout board meetings. Participants will gain insights into utilizing the 8 Characteristics of an Effective Board, maintaining a focus on the goal through regular updates, and fostering a strong commitment between the board and superintendent toward achieving shared objectives.

School leaders sift through enormous amounts of data to create and analyze reports that are concise, specific, and pertinent to the district’s governance goals, but then what? What role should the data you look at play in making informed, well rounded decisions? In this session, hear how Davenport Schools, Clear Lake Schools, and Garner-Hayfield-Ventura Schools work with Frontline Education to identify data reports that will help their board teams set and monitor goals, why that data is important to communicate, and how using that data can make difficult decisions easier. Come learn how you can use data to help tell your story!

Join Keynoter Donna Beegle at 2 p.m. to explore actionable strategies to break poverty barriers for our students! Donna will dive deeper by introducing case studies of schools improving educational success. Board members and leaders will explore the five key strategies included in her "Opportunity Community Schools" model based on research and proven to increase attendance, improve grades and school completion, and engage students and families who live in the crisis of poverty. Throughout this deep dive, Donna will share how this model can provide a structure for increasing community partnerships.

Is it time to update your district's strategic plan? In this session, Western Dubuque Schools will explore the essential elements they used in updating their strategic plan (Plan on a Page). Join this Superintendent board-president team as they emphasize the importance of high-level support from board leadership and showcase the organic, collaborative nature of the planning process. Participants will gain insights into effective stakeholder engagement, data-driven decision-making, and fostering a unified vision for school improvement.

Need help streamlining and strengthening the superintendent evaluation in your district? Look no further! This interactive session will include processes and tools to ensure the superintendent performance review process is ongoing, practical, and aligned with district priorities. Plus, you'll hear from a second-year superintendent and board team members who used these tools during their first year together, which helped to provide a strong board-team partnership from the start. Join this interactive discussion and network with colleagues to discuss advantages of whole board participation in evaluations and learn benefits of conducting several mid-year progress check ins rather than just one annual summary evaluation.