This is a message to the members of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA) from Charlie Kyte, Executive Director.
The video and audio podcast are each about 6 minutes long. Give the video about 45 seconds to load after you click on it. The video and podcast can also be accessed on the MASA website (www.mnasa.org) by clicking on Charlie's BLOG in the shortcut menu.
On the Road with Charlie- Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 from MASA on Vimeo.
JULY SUMMER DAYS….SWEET CORN AND BBQ:
The sweet corn is great this year. We are enjoying BLT’s with tomatoes from our small garden and fresh cucumbers. The BBQ has seen quite a bit of action lately as well. In spite of a few storms, the weather has been great and I’m reminded that the State Fair is just around the corner.
NEXT WEEK (AUGUST 2-6) IS VERY BUSY:
On Tuesday, August 3rd I’ll be at the Education Minnesota Presidents Workshop at St. Ben’s where a small group of us will provide a couple of breakout sessions on how to improve the relationships between administrators and union leaders.
On Wednesday over 200 of you will be at the MDE Summer Superintendents Workshop at the Northland Inn. MASA does the logistics for this event. In addition we will be holding the quarterly meeting of the MSDLAF Fund on that day.
On Thursday and Friday, August 5 & 6 MSBA has their Summer Seminar. During the Seminar we hold several meetings with smaller groups of our members.
LETTER BEING SENT TO MEMBERS:
We have a letter going out to members at the end of the week. It will contain the list of the MASA Committee assignments for 2010-11 and also a brochure introducing the MASA Professional Assistance Team (PAT).
STATE POLITICS & AUGUST 10TH PRIMARY ELECTION:
Dianne and I are receiving mailings from various candidates non-stop as they vie for a win in the primary election which will be held on August 10th. Once the primary passes there will probably be a short pause as the winning candidates catch their breath. Then the real race for the Governorship and the legislative seats will really get underway. Prepare for all kinds of promises, a lot of ‘huffing and puffing’ and a rash of attack ads that will fly in every direction.
With all the state House and Senate seats, the 8 US congressional seats and the Governors office in play, there is much at stake for the future of our state. We have some very rough budgetary times ahead and we can only hope that whoever is elected will get this large problem straightened out over as short a time as possible.
FEDERAL ESEA RE-AUTHORIZATION MOVING AHEAD:
We believe that the first public draft of the re-authorization of NCLB-ESEA will made available in Congress at the end of August. Thus the chance to try to influence the process will heighten in September.
To this end, MASA will bring six members of the Federal Advocacy Committee to Washington, DC in late September to work with both our elected representatives and also with the congressional staff.
MASA WORKING ON PRINCIPAL’S ASSESSMENT PROCESS AND POSSIBLE REVISIONS TO THE TENURE LAW:
MASA is cooperating with MASSP and MESPA to develop a process for Districts to use to assess the work of Principals. As we concentrate more on educator quality and student success it is important to provide our principals with respectful and honest evaluations.
We plan to have this statewide process available by this coming December.
Comments