Julie James of Lovejoy ISD was among a group of school board members gathering in Austin November 20-21 to focus on their roles as advocates for public schools with state and national policymakers. Trustees, who met for the second of five training sessions of Leadership TASB, began their activities by touring the state Capitol and participating in in-depth advocacy training.

(Austin) – Julie James of Lovejoy ISD was among a group of school board members gathering in Corpus Christi February 11-13 to learn the latest on 21^st century challenges to leadership and how those trends have implications for educators. Session theme for this, the third of five training sessions of Leadership TASB (LTASB), was “Where Leadership Happens through Becoming an Advocate for All.”

Trustees began activities Thursday by continuing their book study of The Relentless Search for Better Ways by Paul Bearden and touring campuses at West Oso Independent School District, a district that has made significant progress in moving from low performing status to high performing on state accountability measures. Thursday’s keynote speaker was Lisa Ramirez, Ed.D., national director of migrant education for the U.S. Department of Education. In her presentation, When Was the Last Time you Checked Your Filter, Ramirez urged school board members to focus on the most important natural resource in education – the human resource by first defining the personal principles that drive all decision making.

At Friday’s LTASB session, Simon T. Bailey, founder, The Brilliance Institute, Inc. and author of Release Your Brilliance, identified what makes one “brilliant” and inspired board members to use those qualities to increase success in every area. He also challenged the board members to recommit to their schools and to their communities. Friday also included a tour of Agua Dulce ISD, a small, rural school district that was academically recognized, with a very different student population group from their counterparts in West Oso ISD. Activities ended Saturday with the presentation of findings by the school board members on group research on education accountability measures and how Texas compares with other states on national measures.

Selected by TASB, the group of 36 trustees is participating in a year-long education leadership study program. The Leadership TASB class of 2010 represents Texas school districts of all sizes, with student populations of 275 to 62,000, and reflects the range of property wealth. Participants who complete all required elements of the study will graduate next year with a unique graduation designation recognized by TASB.

Each session has a specific theme that builds on the previous session and features state and nationally recognized experts in the fields of leadership development and education. Teams also work on extended learning assignments between meetings throughout the year. Created in 1993, Leadership TASB has almost 550 graduates to date.

TASB is a voluntary, nonprofit association established in 1949 to serve local Texas school districts. School board members are the largest group of publicly elected officials in the state. The districts they represent serve approximately 4.7 million public school students.