The WVASA Summer Conference will be held at Glade Springs Resort in Daniels, WV, from Wednesday, June 19 to Friday, June 21, 2019. Our summer conference provides outstanding professional development and great opportunities for networking. The conference registration fee provides a complimentary membership to WVASA for the coming year, so this is an excellent opportunity for superintendents and county office staff to continue their membership in WVASA.
 
Plans for an exciting conference are well underway. Dr. Bill Daggett, Founder of the International Center for Leadership in Education, will present the opening keynote address of the conference. Other excellent sessions, featuring Dr. Steve Paine, State Superintendent of Schools and Noelle Ellerson Ng, Associate Executive Director for Policy & Advocacy for AASA are scheduled. A Showcase of Excellence, featuring exemplary practices and programs within West Virginia is also planned.
 
Please complete the attached registration form and return it to Susan Collins as soon as possible, but no later than June 1, 2019.
 
The Memorial Golf Tournament will be held on Tuesday, June 18, 2019.  More information regarding the golf tournament will be provided at a later date.
 
Lodging information for Glade Springs Resort is included in an attachment. Glade Springs offers a variety of lodging options ranging from The Inn, which is connected to the conference center to manor houses, villas and lodges. Glade Springs offers a wide range of activities should you wish to bring your family to the conference. You are encouraged to make your reservations as soon as possible in order to get your preferred lodging arrangement in place. The phone number for making your reservations is 877-814-7316.
 
I look forward to seeing you at the Summer Conference in June!
 
Blaine Hess
​

WVASA Members,
 
I hope that you have registered for our upcoming WVASA Legal & Current Issues Seminar which will be held at the Bridgeport Conference Center on January 24-25, 2019. If you have not registered please do so as soon as possible.  The deadline for registration is January 4, and those that register by the deadline will be provided with the latest WVASA shirt. The proceeds from our Winter and Summer Conferences fund the expenses of our association so it is important that we have a great turnout for these events.
 
I need your help with one of our seminar sessions. The session, Personnel Potpourri: Questions from the Field is designed to allow you to pose questions regarding personnel situations to the presenter, Jason Long, of Dinsmore Law Offices. Because personnel questions can require some research, I am asking that your questions be emailed to me no later than Wednesday, December 19.  This will allow me the opportunity to organize them and get the to Jason prior to Christmas Break. Jason will answer as many questions as possible within the time constraints of his session. 
 
Please email me your specific questions for the session at bhess@k12.wv.us
 
Thanks for your help in making this seminar a success.
 
Blaine Hess
 

​
Additional lodging is available at the Marriott, just across the interstate from the Wingate Inn. The link below will take you directly to their online reservation site:
 
https://www.marriott.com/meeting-event-hotels/group-corporate-travel/groupCorp.mi?resLinkData=WV%20Association%20of%20School%20Administrators%5Eckbcy%60ASAASAA%7CASAASAB%6094.00%60USD%60false%604%601/23/19%601/25/19%601/3/19&app=resvlink&stop_mobi=yes
 
If there are other administrators in your county office that are not yet WVASA members, but would benefit from our conference topics, this is a great time for them to attend a WVASA Conference and become members. A complimentary membership is included in the non-member registration fee.
 
See you in Bridgeport!

Members, 

​Below are the recommendations of the WVBE Finance and Funding Committee that will be presented to the West Virginia Board of Education for consideration at the Board’s December 12 meeting. 

​Thank you for your assistance in this endeavor.

1. Increase compensation/funding for Step 1 and Step 2. This should include an increase in the number of funded positions and increased compensation for professional educators and service personnel to meet the needs of WV students.
2. Provide adequate funding for Step 6a to adequately maintain school facilities.
3. Reestablish leave incentives for employees to reduce the need for substitutes and improve retention and recruitment rates. Increased funding for Steps 6b and Step 6c would alleviate some funding issues. This problem has progressively worsened as more employees enter the workforce without the ability to bank leave days and convert them for benefits such as pension credit or health care costs at retirement.
4. Increase the supply reimbursements above the current amount of $200 per professional educator. This funding has not changed for many years. The funding has not kept up with rising cost of materials and is inadequate for today’s classroom needs.
5. Increase county funding and flexibility to address the growing severity of our students’ physical and mental health needs. Increased funding would support response personnel and include but not be limited to additional mental health counselors, guidance counselors, social workers, nurses, physical therapists, occupational therapists, and psychologists.
6. Increase funding for career technical education (CTE) and alternative education. There is great demand in today’s economy for students that possess expertise in technical skills such as construction, plumbing, electrical, and computer-related technology. Additional funding for alternative education is needed for those students who have limitations that make it difficult for them to attend school during the traditional public-school day. 

Members,

I was asked to share this information with you. As you recall Joanna spoke at an earlier meeting.

- Susan 

Greetings!  In case you don’t know me already, I’m Joanna Burt-Kinderman, math instructional coach from Pocahontas County.  

WVU secondary math education professor Dr. Matthew Campbell and I are working together to secure funding for a project that will identify, support and leverage teams of master teachers in grades 6-12 math.  We have a small planning grant to do this work from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and will be applying this summer for major funding to support this state-wide initiative.  

As a research / practice partnership, we want to ensure that our proposal reflects the very best of research in teacher leadership AND the very best ideas from every corner of WV.  We know there is struggle in our state.  But we also know there are phenomenal pockets of success.  This project will focus on our leveraging strengths - our best math teachers and their best ideas for how we can all get better.  
 
We ask for your participation in a survey found at the following link: https://wvu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eA7zpFwPaKJmngp that serves to gather some initial ideas on mathematics teacher leadership from education stakeholders across the state. We need your help to reach as many math teachers, principals and administrators as we can.  We need a wide variety of perspectives - from teachers who need more support to teachers who could offer more to their colleagues.  We need principals and superintendents whose schools have certified math teachers and those who are struggling to keep certified math teachers.  

This proposal and project will be the best if your voices are included.  Please help us by participating in and distributing this survey as widely as possible via email and social media.  Together, we can grow a better future for WV, one math classroom at a time.

Sincerely, 

Joanna Burt-Kinderman, Pocahontas County Schools
jburtkinderman@k12.wv.us

Dr. Matthew Campbell, WVU
mpcampbell@mail.wvu.edu
​

WVASA Members,
 
It is now time for you to register and make lodging arrangements of our upcoming Winter Conference which will be held at the Bridgeport Conference Center on January 24 -25, 2019.
 
There are three attachments with this email to assist you in your planning:
 
Attachment 1: Our Winter Conference will be focused on Legal & Current Issues. The topics of the conference were selected based the results of an earlier survey of our membership.
 
Attachment 2: Registration for the conference. Deadline for registration is Friday, January 4, 2019. All conference registrants meeting the registration deadline will receive a WVASA shirt.
 
Attachment 3: Lodging information for the Wingate Inn. Please register ASAP and use the conference code provided to get the conference room rate.
 
Additional lodging is available at the Marriott, just across the interstate from the Wingate Inn. The link below will take you directly to their online reservation site:
 
https://www.marriott.com/meeting-event-hotels/group-corporate-travel/groupCorp.mi?resLinkData=WV%20Association%20of%20School%20Administrators%5Eckbcy%60ASAASAA%7CASAASAB%6094.00%60USD%60false%604%601/23/19%601/25/19%601/3/19&app=resvlink&stop_mobi=yes
 
If there are other administrators in your county office that are not yet WVASA members, but would benefit from our conference topics, this is a great time for them to attend a WVASA Conference and become members. A complimentary membership is included in the non-member registration fee.
 
See you in Bridgeport!

​Members, please be advised that our Leadership training for New and Aspiring Superintendents will be conducted at WVU Parkersburg, in Parkersburg WV on October 25, 2018.  Our membership meeting will follow on Friday October 26, 2018 at 10:00 a.m.
 
West Virginia University at Parkersburg
 
Address: 300 Campus Dr, Parkersburg, WV 26104
 
Holiday Inn Express and Suites Parkersburg East
10057 Emerson Avenue
Parkersburg WV  26104
304-916-7380
 
Room rate is $79.00 per night.  They have a block of 30 rooms for Wednesday, October 24 and a block of 30 for Thursday, October 25.   The block is under the name West Virginia Association of School Administrators.
 
The block of rooms will be held at the discounted rate until October 17 at 6:00 pm.

Please use the link below to register for the October and December Leadership sessions.  WVASA and WVDE will provide a certificate for those who attend each session. 
 
https://wvde.us/supertraining/
 
Finally, we are working to put together a collaborative platform within Office365 which will be shared at the October meeting so that we can share resources and
 
Dr. Kim Miller, Ohio County Superintendent, shared the following books as great learning resources:
 
Lessons from the Mouse - Dennis Snow
The Trust Factor - Combs, Edmonson, Harris
Most Likely to Succeed - Wagner, Dintersmith
What Schools Could Be - Dintersmith
The Innovator's Mindset - Couros
Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria – Tatum