LM Jan 2020

Message From the Executive Director LeadershipMatters to Highlight NewFeature: Members On theMove

Dr. Brent Clark

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and had the opportunity to spend time with family and friends and recharge your batteries. Being a superintendent is an important and demanding job, so it’s critical to take advantage of the time off. Every year at IASA, we try to improve the services we offer to members and examine new ways we can support school leaders. In this column, I want to share with you two new initiatives IASA will launch next month in Leadership Matters . The first will be a new feature called, “Members on the Move.” According to AASA’s 2018–19 Superintendent Salary & Benefits Study, less than 15 percent of superintendents have been in their current position more than 10 years. More than half fall between one to five years. Clearly, the demands of the job result in a lot of professional movement. The new feature in the magazine will be another way to apprise members of who is leaving and where they’re going. If you’re changing jobs, were hired as a new superintendent or are retiring, be sure to contact Misti Murphy, our membership assistant, at 217–753–2213 or mmurphy@iasaedu.org so we can keep our records up to date. The second feature we plan to launch next month in Leadership Matters will be highlighting the tremendous work superintendents do to improve public education as a whole. We have so many talented leaders in this state

who are committed to improving the profession that it’s important IASA recognizes the work of members who have done extra activities to help education. Each month, we plan to highlight someone who wrote a book, hosted a podcast, provided professional development, presented at a conference or created a product or service and/or provides services. We are open to suggestions so don’t hesitate to contact us if you know of someone we should feature. Lastly, I want to bring to your attention a recent podcast we published about a series of workshops planned for February and March titled, “Get Prepared: Leveraging the Power of EBF to Plan and Communicate.” The podcast is a follow up to an article we published in Leadership Matters last month about getting prepared for the upcoming debate about property taxes in Illinois. The podcast features IASA Field Services Director Ralph Grimm and Gary Tipsord, superintendent of LeRoy CUSD #2. It’s an insightful conversation and details why it’s important for superintendents to understand how EBF can be used to detail what it costs to provide students with a high-quality education. The workshops will also focus on helping superintendents use EBF to build a narrative about their districts regarding student performance and staffing levels, as well as help superintendents speak confidently and factually about the impact any property tax freeze would have on your district. Thank you again for all you do, and I hope you have a successful new year.

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LM January 2020