Monday
22Jun

Welcome New Principals and Superintendents

SAI staff and administrative colleagues look forward to working with educational leaders in their recently assumed roles. New administrators have an opportunity to participate in SAI's Mentoring and Induction Program and are encouraged to enroll in the New Administrators Institute July 13 at the Sheraton West Des Moines or the New Superintendents Institute July 14 at the Scheman Building in Ames. Best wishes to these individuals as they embark on this stage of their educational leadership journey.

Monday
15Jun

Join SAI's Online Book Study Recently Noted by AASA — New Reading Begins

Want to share your thoughts on what you've read? Want to know what colleagues are thinking?

The initial discussion has begun, so grab the book, "Leading Change in Your School: How to Conquer Myths, Build Commitment, and Get Results" by Doug Reeves. Jump online anytime to join Troyce Fisher as she provides ideas to provoke your thinking.

Participate by creating an SAI member account. Choose a username and password, and you’ll receive an e-mail with a link to use for the login. Once you are logged in, you’ll be able to see the SAI Member Book Study link that’s in the right-hand column of the Web site. Post comments as you read along.

SAI's book study is featured in AASA's June issue of The School Administrator. Read more about what districts are doing around the country to hold their own book discussions, and what AASA said about SAI.

Thursday
04Jun

Register now for SAI's Annual Conference & Exhibits, Aug. 12 & 13, 2009

SAI's 34th Annual Conference will be held in Des Moines August 12 & 13, 2009. Register now to hear speakers Yong Zhao address Catching Up or Keeping the Lead: American Education in the Age of Globalization and Pedro Noguera on The Role of Leadership in Closing the Achievement Gap, and many others. The August 11 Pre-Conference will feature Teaming Up for the 21st Century with Scott McLeod from the Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education. Read about the outstanding lineup in the online conference brochure; a hard copy is also in the mail to members. Sign up today!

Wednesday
03Jun

Technology Boot Camp for Administrators

More than BASIC Training!
June 18-19 at the Scheman Bldg. in Ames
co-sponsored by SAI and CASTLE (Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education)

Blogs. Wikis. Podcasts. YouTube. RSS. Social bookmarking. And more…

You’ve probably heard of at least some of these. You’ve probably even encountered a few online. But do you know how to use them? Do you know how to create and share and collaborate and make these tools yours?

If you’re tired of not understanding the new technologies, if you’d like to feel more empowered in this digital world of ours, or if you just want to upgrade some existing skill sets, then we’ve got a workshop for you…

SAI and CASTLE are pleased to announce our first Technology Boot Camp for Administrators. It’s a day and a half designed to ramp up your skills with blogs, wikis, Twitter, YouTube, digital photography, Google Reader and RSS, Google Docs, Google Calendar, iGoogle, and more. We’ll cover as much as we can in the time that we have, but we’re going to take our time rather than rush. The emphasis will be on success and mastery.

Instructors: Scott McLeod & Jamie Fath with CASTLE
Schedule: June 18, 1 to 4 p.m., (we’ll also buy you dinner that night at Hickory Park);and June 19, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., (go home feeling powerful!)
What to bring: laptop with wireless capability, digital camera, webcam (if you have one)

The workshop is full; thank you all for your interest!

Thursday
14May

Use stimulus money to add School Administration Managers (SAMs)

President Obama and the federal government are providing stimulus money to state and local governments and school districts with established priorities of providing additional jobs with a quick turnaround. The expectation is that these new positions will show results in terms of success and support for local and state initiatives. School districts, and specifically school principals, are overwhelmed in today’s educational systems with additional responsibilities for student achievement, staff development and ongoing management issues within their buildings. With this as a rationale, school districts might want to consider adding School Administration Manager positions to some or all of their buildings using federal stimulus money. 

Learn more about the program

Additional information at SAMs Connect