IASB Convention 2024

No one expects to be the site of the next school shooting, and no one believes it could ever happen in their district. What happens when it does? Proactive preparation for such an unlikely event is essential. The journey beyond the event and the question of "Where do we go from here?" has become all too familiar for school districts. The Recovery Journey for Perry Schools offers key strategies and steps that schools can implement to navigate this difficult path. By the end of the session, participants will be able to identify proactive training and approaches to manage a tragedy, including recognizing key areas of support, implementing communication strategies, and adopting strategies to support social-emotional needs of students, staff, and the community.

Looking to raise the bar for your students? From supporting sustainable organizational systems to designing tools that support effective decision-making, school boards play an important role in leading continuous academic improvement. Hear from Ankeny Schools as they highlight key strategies and practices that the school board and district administration implemented to support continuous improvement opportunities and student performance outcomes. Attendees will learn about the importance of effective leadership in providing data, resources, and professional learning to inform effective decision-making. By the end of this session, participants will leave with practical ideas and actionable steps to strengthen core instruction in their own districts, ultimately leading to improved academic success for all students.

Across the state, districts have seen a sharp rise in mental illness, diverse philosophies regarding behavior among staff and community, and inequitable disciplinary practices that make this work more important than ever. During the 2019–2020 school year, College Community Schools set out on a year-long project to develop a consistent response to challenging behavior across the district. The product of this work was a matrix that clearly defines behavior incident types, outlines both required and optional ways to respond to behavior incidents, and establishes a common language districtwide. College Community Schools will not only walk you through how they launched their districtwide behavior prevention and response plan, but will demonstrate how this matrix has made a positive impact on student behavior after five years!