WASB Connection Podcast

School boards govern their districts in partnership with a superintendent. Each person understanding their role is a key part of the team working effectively.  We talk to Mary Pfeiffer, Wisconsin Superintendent of the Year and superintendent of the Neenah Joint School District, about the challenges and opportunities faced by these leadership teams.  We talk about her background, common s...

Ravi Hutheesing is no stranger to change. As life threw him curve balls, he pivoted from rockstar to aviator to cultural diplomat. He believes children of the future will increasingly have to make pivots of their own, a message he's bringing as a keynote speaker at the 2022 Wisconsin State Education Convention. In this episode, we talk through Ravi's fascinating career and the role education can p...

School boards meet to conduct business. At the same time, these meetings are a chance for the public to weigh in. Balancing these aims isn't always easy during tumultuous times. The Wisconsin Association of School Boards in October held a three-part webinar series about managing challenging school board meetings.  This bonus episode is comprised of the second of those webinars, which addresse...

School boards are hardly unique in that candidates are often drawn from similar social and political networks. This can lead to a lack of school board member diversity across many characteristics, including race, gender, class and age.  This episode includes a discussion with researchers about how to recruit women to run for locally elected office. The insights they share are applicable to im...

Navigating conflict has always been part of school leadership. But what should we do when incivility runs rampant and compromise seems impossible? We talk with a longtime mediator and WASB consultant, Cheryl Stinski, and Waupaca School Board member Betty Manion. We'll talk about why conflict can be healthy as well as how to defuse it when it becomes counter-productive. We discuss timeless strategi...

With the help of the Wisconsin Association of School Business Officials, we assembled a group of experts in school finance to talk about federal COVID relief funds and preK-12 education. We discuss how this money can be spent as well as some best practices and mistakes to avoid.  We noted the DPI has assembled a summary of the funding for ESSER under each of the stimulus bills, including fisc...

We know good teachers and good principals help kids learn. We talk about how school board-superintendent teams can have the same effect. Retired superintendents and WASB consultants Dan Nerad and Fran Finco break down effective governance. We talk about the parts of effective governance and the mindsets that underlie it all.  They'll go into much more detail at the 2021 Summer Leadership Inst...

To understand culturally responsive teaching, we went to a school district that sees this practice as a core part of its mission.  Dr. Larry Ouimette is administrator of the Lac du Flambeau School District, a majority American Indian rural district in northern Wisconsin. In April he wrote a story in School Administrator magazine about the connection between cultural responsiveness and effecti...

Elmbrook Schools are in one of the most competitive education markets in the state, so communications that engage and build relationships with employees and families are critical.  The district led a popular State Education Convention session on engagement, and we sat down with Chris Thompson, the district's chief strategy officer, to talk about the ideas, events and approaches that work for...

Wisconsin school boards generally must select a president, vice president, treasurer and clerk from among their ranks. We talk about what each of these roles entails, including legal requirements and the extra duties enshrined in boards' policies and practices. For those who'd like to go deeper, the WASB will release a Board Officer Training Series this May. Keep an eye on our Online Events page f...

This episode is a conversation with Louise Wilson, state school nurse and health services consultant for the Wisconsin Department of Instruction. We discuss what we've learned about COVID, vaccine rollout and more. We also discuss plenty of resources to stay informed: COVID-19 activity by region and county COVID-19 statewide summary data COVID-19 Wisconsin cases CDC data tracker CDC guidance on pl...

Given the fast pace of news in Madison and Washington, D.C., this episode will be an update on education news at the state and federal levels. We discuss how the latest COVID-19 relief money is being given to schools, vaccines and more. As always, subscribe to the WASB Legislative Update blog for the latest information. Finally, please consider taking a brief survey to help us improve the podcast.

This episode features conversations with three of Wisconsin's teachers of the year.  Trisha Kilpin , Greendale School District , school social worker. Derrick Meyer , Amery High School, School District of Amery, agriscience and driver’s education teacher. Susan Richardson , Milwaukee German Immersion School, Milwaukee Public Schools, third grade teacher. Learn more about them, and the two oth...

As a virtual experience, the 100th Wisconsin State Education Convention , to be held Jan. 20-22, will be different from all those that have come before it. We wanted to give attendees an idea of what to expect, so this episode begins with a conversation with WASB Communications Director Sheri Krause. Next, the episode heads into a conversation with Anna Maria Chávez, executive director and CEO of...

Stress has always been part of being a board member. But the pandemic is requiring education leaders to make tough decisions that may prompt criticism from their community. This episode is a conversation with WASB consultants Louise Blankenheim and Cheryl Stinski, who are developing a 2021 State Education Convention breakout session on coping with stress. We talk about how stress affects us, how t...

This episode focuses on educational equity. It begins with an overview of the issue from Wisconsin Association of School Boards consultants Louise Blankenheim and Dan Nerad. They also talk about specific ways that boards and districts can create more equitable schools.  Starting at 18:25, we talk to Pa Lee Moua, who is diversity, equity and inclusion officer for Appleton Area School District....

A number of long-serving female superintendents are retiring. We caught up with three of them to talk about their path to leadership, their lessons learned and how others can follow in their footsteps.  Deb Kerr, School District of Brown Deer Michelle Langenfeld, Green Bay Area Public Schools Pam Yoder,  School District of Belleville

Title IX, the federal anti-sex discrimination law, is undergoing major changes that affect virtually every school district in the country. In this episode, we spoke with two WASB attorneys about the changes: Associate Executive Director and Staff Counsel Bob Butler and Staff Counsel Dan Mallin.  To learn more about the Title IX changes, visit our Hot Policy topics page on this subject.  ...

This episode features interviews with three school board members of color, in order: Marilyn Ruffin of Sun Prairie, Gloria Reyes of Madison and Tricia Zunker of Wausau. To learn more about Sun Prairie’s BEAM Awards, visit its Facebook page . More information about the book Reyes recommends, “We Want to Do More Than Survive: Abolitionist Teaching and the Pursuit of Educational Freedom,” is availabl...

New school board members often face a steep learning curve. This episode includes three conversations meant to help new members find their footing.  First, we talk with Bob Butler, WASB associate executive director and staff counsel, about the WASB New School Board Member Handbook . Then we talk with two veteran board members — Gary Vose of Kettle Moraine and Larry Dux of Pewaukee — who give...

This bonus episode comes to us from the Texas Association of School Boards. If you like education podcasts, check out TASB Talks wherever you listen or go to their website .  This episode is a conversation with Paul A. Johnson, a researcher who studies the connection between school boards and student achievement. We're sharing this now as a complement to an article about school board governan...

This episode features an interview with WASB consultant and 43-year education veteran Fran Finco. Learn more about him here . Learn more about the New Board Member Gathering webinars, which will be held the evenings of April 21, 22 and 23: https://www.wasb.org/meeting-and-events/2020-new-school-board-member-gatherings If you miss them live, look for the recording at our webinars page .  Fran...

Episode 4 of the WASB Connection Podcast focuses on how districts are addressing the teacher shortage by making their districts better places to work.  First, WASB members can learn more about the issue of teacher retention by downloading this presentation , given before last year's Fall Regional Meetings.  We'd also appreciate it if listeners could review our podcast on their favorite a...

This episode covers the 99th annual Wisconsin State Education Convention , held Jan. 22-24 in Milwaukee. Photos are now available online, including one of Southern Door County School District student Luke Bousley (featured at 9:23). A photo of Kettle Moraine High School student Peter Kopperud (featured at 10:50) is here .

This episode features conversations with two Wisconsin State Education Convention speakers.  The first is Dr. David Schuler, the 2018 Illinois and national Superintendent of the Year. We talked about his district's college, career and life readiness program, which will be the subject of a pre-convention workshop. Learn more here . We also spoke with Dr. Yong Zhao , the Thursday keynote speake...