This past weekend, March 15-17, I went to New Orleans to attend the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development 63rd Annual Conference entitled "Reinventing Schools: Courageous Leadership for Positive Change."  For me, the operative words in the title of this conference that drove my participation was "Courageous Leadership."

My fellow Governing Board members tasked me to attend study sessions led by national educational experts.  During this time, I expanded my knowledge on the importance of re-thinking how we supervise and deliver instruction and curriculum.  More importantly, I spent time with courageous leaders (teachers, principals, superintendents, and other governing board members) from across the country talking and sharing personal stories about leadership of change that needs to happen to reinvent our schools to become 21st century learning environments.

I choose to attend conference study sessions that painted a governance mosaic with titles such as: The Effective Superintendent - School Board Relationship, Advocacy for Educators: Mobilizing the Masses, Leadership Behaviors that Promote Rigor, Equity, and Access, Gateway to Excellence: A Teacher Union - Administration - School Board Partnership, and School Restructuring Initiatives, just to name a few.

The theme that permeated every study session was the understanding that next to high-performing teachers, successful leadership is the key to increased academic achievement and higher graduation rates.

From talking with the many Governing Board members, Superintendents, Assistant Superintendents, and Principals attending these study sessions, I learned to feel empathy for the thoughts and feelings of these courageous leaders striving to make a difference in their respected communities for education valued through high academic standards and expectations.  With all the difficulties in education today, their optimism was infectious.

I learned that as a School Board member, I must move beyond the notion that I exist to represent my constituency and incorporate into my thinking my role as an ambassador for the district and the type leadership style or philosophy I want to model for everyone associated with the school district.  Without understanding the informal leadership possiblities that a Governing Board member shares with the rest of district leadership is to be an incomplete Board member.

With this in mind, I will lead study sessions, during our next three board meetings, discussing what it means to be a Governing Board member in relationship to its three roles as a district ambassador, a transformational leader, and elected representative.  I am looking forward to putting into practice some of the things that I learned from courageous leadership that is reinventing how we think about defining our 21st century learning environments.

Warm Regards,

Charles Otterman

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