CENTER NEWS

SUMMER LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE IS COMING!!!

Mark June 27 and 28 on your calendars and plan to join us at the beautiful Heritage Conference Center in Southbury for the annual CAS Summer Leadership Institute! This year’s theme will be “21st Century Learning: Integrating Social-Emotional and Academic Learning,” a continuation of our previous two-year initiative dealing with social-emotional learning supports for our students. School administrators are encouraged to attend with teams so that this can serve as the inaugural stage of SEL planning for the 2019-20 school year.

Our Thursday keynoter will be Dr. Debbie Silver, a highly-acclaimed presenter who has spent 30 years as a teacher, staff developer and college professor. She is best known as the author of several books on social-emotional development, most notably, “Fall Down 7 Times, Get Up 8: Teaching Kids to Succeed” and “Teaching Kids to Thrive: Essential Skills for Success.” Debbie will examine practical approaches to building resilience in our students as a key to their social-emotional well-being.

Following Debbie’s presentation will be a series of breakout sessions featuring Connecticut practitioners who will share their work in the area of social-emotional development. On Friday morning, Patrick Flynn and Diane Dugas will once again assist school leaders and their teams in developing a road map for supporting the social-emotional health of students.

Stay tuned for registration materials and a complete schedule of events coming your way later this spring.

BUZZ FROM THE MIDDLE LEVEL BOARD

A quick update from the small but mighty team of middle level administrators who help steer the work of the association each year…

The board is currently working with the New England League of Middle Schools (NELMS) to host a day-long workshop in November 2019 titled “Building Your Schedule Around Your Program.” NELMS has twice sponsored this workshop to sell-out crowds in Massachusetts, attesting to the value of offering a similar workshop in Connecticut.

Following the rave reviews of last year’s “Women in Leadership Conference,” the board is in the early planning stages of a second conference in 2019. This event, for educators, administrators, & student leaders, promises to bring together many model and aspiring leaders for a day of inspiration and encouragement. More to come!

UPCOMING PROFESSIONAL LEARNING

STILL TIME TO REGISTER FOR SPECIAL ED WORKSHOPS

The CLI is hosting two March workshops on special education issues and there is still time to register. “504 Plans and IEPs: Getting Them Right for Success” is coming up on March 12th and the registration deadline is tomorrow. Participants will learn the proper format and language for developing and validating 504 plans and IEPs. “Effective PPT Structure” on March 21st will offer a blueprint for structuring PPTs to maximize the time and talent present in the room. Both workshops will be presented by special education guru Stephen Proffitt from SERC. Sign up now!

LEGAL WORKSHOP ON TRANSGENDER STUDENTS' RIGHTS

On April 3rd, attorneys from Pullman and Comley LLC will conduct a morning workshop on translating the law of transgender students into practical application. Presenters will review the current status of federal and Connecticut laws as they apply to students who identify themselves as transgender and will help participants learn how to apply those legal requirements in the school setting. The presentation will feature questions and answers pertaining to the steps school personnel must take to ensure that they are in compliance with regulations concerning school records, the use of bathrooms and locker rooms, participation in sports and other extracurricular activities, and disagreements between students and their parents regarding gender identification. Click here to register.

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