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TASBO Visit

By Claire Hertz posted 04-14-2014 23:26

  

Well you know what they say, everything is big in Texas, and TASBO is no exception.  In February, Angie Peterman, Executive Director of Oregon ASBO and I traveled to Austin to experience their Annual Conference.  When we arrived to the airport, there were beautifully painted guitars everywhere.  It set the tone of what we had in store for us for the rest of our visit.  Austin is a cultural center with beautiful artwork and live music playing in the local venue any night of the week.

I come from the Portland, Oregon area, and we have signs telling us to “Keep Portland Weird.”  Well Austin is a sister city with signage to remind us to “Keep Austin weird”.  If you’ve ever seen the TV show Portlandia, you know what I’m talking about!

 

 The new TASBO Executive Director, Tracy Ginsburg opened the general session.  The TASBO conference theme was an empowering message for SBO’s and the students we serve:



It was a special occasion for the organization, and they produced a video entitled A Legacy of Supporting Texas Schools covering the life of the organization.

John Musso, Executive Director of ASBO International joined the stage to lead a distinctive celebration for former TASBO Executive Director Gwen Santiago who recently retired after 16 years of service.  Past presidents, board members, and dignitaries filled the stage as they honored Gwen with a video of congratulatory messages from colleagues across the country.  Gwen was full of smiles and overcome with emotion as she watched the presentation. 


She joined everyone on stage, and John presented her gifts with a travel theme.  It was a touching event that I imagine Gwen will remember for years to come.

 After the general session, we headed down to the extensive Vendor hall for a cupcake reception for Gwen.  This is where the big in Texas comes in…there were hundreds of vendors for TASBO members to meet.  We saw some mutual strategic partners for ASBO and TASBO including AXA. Chrisopher Zingaro presented the TASBO Commitment to Excellence Award to an extraordinary Latina, Becky Estrada of Lackland ISD.  

 

In Becky’s acceptance speech, she told a moving story of her parents who had 5th and 9th grade educations.  They valued education.  Becky and all of her siblings went to a university and are now working in education.  Becky asked her mother and sister to join her on stage to introduce them to TASBO and join in the celebration. 

 

It warmed my heart to see so many Hispanic men and women in powerful leadership roles at TASBO.  In Oregon, we have a lot to learn from our peers to the south of us.  We struggle to have minority leaders and teachers.  We only have a handful of minority superintendents, while our state is heading to a minority majority in the next 20 years.  Our students deserve to see themselves in our leaders. 

While at TASBO, I got to see some of our new ASBO Management Techniques committee members, Jonathan and Gloria Bey.  Jonathan is on the TASBO board.  They taught me the difference between the longhorn symbol and the Hawaiian hang loose symbol.  I hope to see them continue volunteering, and possibly grow into leadership roles for ASBO International.

   

There was a vast array of professional development programming for TASBO members.  I was very impressed of the offerings for the beginning SBO and the more experienced.  I attended a school funding session.  I am interested in understanding how other states fund schools as I was appointed by our governor to a 12 member legislative task force on school funding.  I found the primary differences between Texas and Oregon is the lack of sales tax in Oregon, and Texas funding is calculated by Average Daily Attendance vs. Oregon’s method of using Average Daily Membership.  In Oregon, funding is allocated for every day a student is enrolled in school.  If they are out sick, we still receive funding.  After 10 days absence, the students are withdrawn from school, and funding stops.  If students return to school, they are re-enrolled and the funding continues.

Texans do have fun in their down time.  We had a night of casinos and line dancing.   

TASBO does an exceptional job of honoring members who use best practices.  The TASBO PEP award goes to a whole team and not just an individual.  This year’s honors went to Edgewood ISD.   The whole team came up on stage to be honored. 

 

In another general session, TASBO had the most inspiring speaker Coronel Ahern Retired USMC.   His story included going to the airport to send his son, a newly graduated military officer, to his first tour of duty in Afghanistan.  In the last few minutes before boarding the plane, his son asked him to summarize all that leadership stuff he had been telling him as he grew up.  This is what the Coronel told him.  He spoke about the 3 C’s of leadership:

Competence:  do you strive to know your job and keep learning?

Courage:  do you make the right decision even if it costs you personally?

Compassion: do you care as much about the team as you do yourself?

 And most importantly, he spoke to him about humility.  I have heard Coronel Ahern twice now, and I could listen to him again.  He is an exceptional leader.

 TASBO board posed for a picture at the oldest hotel in Austin, the Driskill.  The TASBO board and special guests had cocktails in the beautiful mezzanine level surrounded by the Cattle Baron and Lyndon B. Johnson suites.  The stained glass, antique lighting, marble and painted mural ceilings were extraordinary.    At dinner, President Deborah Ottmers passed the gavel to President Elect Kelly Penny. 

Tracy Ginsberg had arranged for an intriguing dinner speaker, former Texas state representative and now a Google Fiber executive, Mark Strama.   He described the fiber project in Austin, and it was music to my ears to hear that Portland, Oregon was on a short list for a possible future site.  He also described a fascinating project Google Loon – balloon powered internet for everyone: 

  

        “What is project loon?  Many of us think of the Internet as a global community. But two-thirds of the world’s population does not yet have Internet access. Project Loon is a network of balloons traveling on the edge of space, designed to connect people in rural and remote areas, help fill coverage gaps, and bring people back online after disasters.”

I can see the potential for improving internet connectivity in remote schools.  Some of our Alaska ASBO peers have very sketchy service.  What a gift this could be!

My visit to TASBO was a rich experience.  It is an example of networking and an opportunity to learn from one another whenever ASBO peers get together.  We count on one another when we are working on something new, and when we are having trouble staying a float.  TASBO is a very strong organization, and I took back many examples to share with other states.  A huge thank you from me to TASBO members for their hospitality.


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