AASA, The School Superintendents Association

We have Instagram.

And so we're at all the major conferences, ASCD, AASA.

We are the only anti-racism.

vendor in the vendor hall every year.

My name is Ann McMullen, and I am really thrilled to be the panel moderator today and to invite you all to learn from the wonderful lineup of panelists that we have today.

My role with CoSN is that I serve as the project director for their Empowered Superintendent initiative, which we do in partnership with AASA, the School Superintendent Association.

I do wanna let you all know that participation in these ed leader panels does qualify for, uh, CETL, CoSN's Continuing Education Technology Leadership recertification.

So you are welcome to use your participation today if you are in the process of renewing your CETL certification, and we encourage you to check that out also on home.edweb.net/cosn-cetl-recertification.

I appreciate it.

Wanna just begin to wrap it up.

If you are not currently a member of AASA or CoSN, please feel free to check out the membership options for AASA, the School Superintendents Association.

It is at aasa.org/membership.

We're here today to talk about E-Rate, so let's use our internet-powered web platform to host a webinar conversation about the importance of E-Rate.

Again, I am Noelle Ellerson Ng with AASA, the School Superintendents Association.

Very pleased to be moderating today's panel as convened by EdWeb, Keeping Schools and Libraries Connected: Why E-Rate Matters.

Before we get to the meat of our conversation, I just want to do a little bit of housekeeping.

Anybody who benefits from the E-Rate, they're in this coalition.

Joseph "Joey" Wender is executive director of Shelby, the School, Health, Library, and Broadband Coalition, a coalition that advocates more broadly on all universal service fund programs, but is understandably deeply involved in helping to lead our important advocacy on protecting and preserving this program.

Dr. Latanya M. Goffney is AASA president and currently serves as superintendent of Aldine Independent School Districts in Texas.

Megan Sutherland is deputy library director for Prince George's County Memorial Library System.

The second thing is to stay curious and to be humble enough to surround yourself with amazing people, both within the schools, within the community, within the state and country.

Organizations like the Cook Center, AASA, or here, MASA, our Minnesota State Organization, are just resources that help us get better each and every day.

And also to really think about the impact that we have with each and every decision.

As I said, as a superintendent, oftentimes, once we get past the strategy part and the innovation, we also recognize that, again, we deal with the really, really good and the really, really most difficult.

Once a former middle school teacher, she spearheaded a food recovery program for Broward County Schools and then expanded that program across the state of Florida.

Tara Thomas is a senior government affairs manager at the School Superintendents Association, also known as AASA, where she monitors, analyzes, and advocates on federal, legislative, and regulatory issues impacting public education.

Our final guest is Nadia Davis, a senior federal policy analyst at the School Nutrition Association, where she works on federal policy and advocacy related to school nutrition and meal programs.

Thank you all so much for being here.

Hi.

Thank you for having me.

Tara Thomas with AASA, the School Superintendents Association.

As part of my role on the advocacy team, I cover school nutrition, and so we look at it from the national lens.

We are so happy to have you joining us this morning, this afternoon, this evening, depending on what part of the world you are in today.

But we are thrilled to have you with us as we begin to launch season nine of this Cozen AASA Ed Leader Panel Series.

So thank you all for joining us today.

Our focus today is going to be on leading and sustaining technology innovations in today's school district settings.

I

want to tell you just briefly a little bit about this Empowered Superintendents Initiative.

This came about because COSEN, which is an organization that has historically been geared towards chief technology officers or technology support folks, Recognizing that technology initiatives cannot happen in school districts without superintendent leadership and support, AASA and COSEN came together to create this empowered superintendent initiative so that we can provide the superintendents with current and relevant information that fits their role in the school district, along with other school leaders.

And I will be sharing some resources from the Empowered Superintendents Initiative that are open to all as we get towards the end.