Feb

A Higher Level of Leadership

Admin — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 13:00:00 -0600

I have recently returned from ASBO International’s Executive Leadership Forum. The intention of this forum is to bring together leaders in the school business management community to share hands-on experiences and show best practices that will enhance their school districts’ business practices.

It is a challenge to leave our school districts and attend professional development. It is also crucial to attend and focus on personal and professional development that expands our worlds and ultimately our districts.

Leadership is transferrable, regardless of industry. One of the interesting aspects of this year’s Executive Leadership Forum was learning about leadership training in another industry and having time to consider application in the education community. Most Fortune 500 companies and top functioning school districts place leadership as a critical component of success.

The Leadership Forum examined the Ritz-Carlton, a well-known luxury hotel, and its success. The industry turnover rate of employees is 60-85%. The Ritz-Carlton is experiencing turnover of 20%. The Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center faculty outlined their definition of an “authentic” leader and emphasized that having the right leadership in place is a critical tenet of their success. They stressed that their employees, whom they refer to as ladies and gentlemen, want to be led by authentic leaders who are dynamic, transparent, competent, and fair.

They outlined a systematic daily delivery of how the beliefs and values of Ritz-Carlton is discussed with their "ladies and gentlemen" and becomes their own motto. One of the school improvement processes we are working toward in our district is explicit instruction. This can be practiced by me as well. Students should not have to guess what the learning target of a lesson is, just as employees should not have to guess what I or other district leaders expect of them in their job performance.

One of the 12 Principles of Leadership of the Ritz-Carlton that I keep returning to is to "be authentic, accountable, and caring. We need to be on stage everyday." I take this to mean that regardless of what is on my mind, or happened on the drive to work, or the mood that I wake in, when I enter my district role, all that is left at the door. I can impact many outcomes of the day by my attitude.

I truly appreciate the opportunity to have attended the Leadership Forum. It is interesting to get outside of our state and network with other states' district leaders to see what they are doing, as well as share what is the practice in Michigan. We have a great thing going here in Michigan in MSBO.

Immeasurable learning opportunities can be found at MSBO. A detailed brochure is available on our website outlining the education offerings for our upcoming Annual Conference. You don't want to miss it! Registration will be open later this spring for MSBO’s Leadership Institute. Take advantage of the great programming MSBO offers and develop those skills that will help you become a dynamic, transparent, competent, and fair leader.

MSBO Update

Admin — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:00:00 -0600

MSBO Executive Director David Martell talks about staff preparation for MSBO’s 75th Annual Conference, the Oxford Foundation and state school aid as well as announces the conference registrant who is the February winner of a MSBO logo garment bag.

MSBO Board of Directors Candidates Announced

Admin — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 10:00:00 -0600

The MSBO Board of Directors recently received the Nominations Committee’s decision of five candidates for open Board of Director positions. There will also be one candidate for the open President-Elect position.

At a recent board meeting, Director Tom Goodwin announced that he was retiring from Grand Ledge Public Schools at the end of June 2013 and would need to resign from the Board. In an effort to utilize the normal elections process to fill the board vacancy that would be created, Goodwin will resign from the Board with an effective date immediately proceeding the closing general session at the annual conference in April, which is when new board members take office.

The election rules provide that of the three successful candidates in the election, the two candidates with the most votes will be elected to the three-year terms and the candidate with the third highest number of votes will be elected to the one-year term.

Candidate background information and statements of purpose have been posted on the MSBO website. We will be using the same electronic voting system that was used in recent years. This will allow all MBSO members to vote regardless of attendance at the Annual Meeting. Voting will begin Voting would begin on Monday, April 8 and end on Wednesday, April 17, at 5 p.m.

This year's candidates include:

For President-Elect 
One candidate for one position:
Daniel B. Romzek, CPA, CFO, Assistant Superintendent for Business, Rochester Community Schools

For Board of Directors There are five (5) candidates for three (3) positions. Two, 3-year terms and One, 1-year term:

Tom Armstrong, CFO, Director of Business Operations, Wexford-Missaukee ISD
Roger Auwers, CFO, Finance Director, Jackson County ISD
William Chatfield, CFD, Operations Director, Walled Lake Consolidated Schools
Stephen Goss, Assistant Superintendent, Vicksburg Community Schools
Tamera L. Powers, (Incumbent), CFO, Director of Finance & ESSA Human Resources, Kenowa Hills Public Schools

MSBO Annual Conference Online Registration Now Open!

Admin — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 09:00:00 -0600

Be sure to mark your calendars and save April 23-25, 2013 to attend MSBO’s 75th Annual Conference & Exhibit Show!

The MSBO Annual Conference & Exhibit Show is the most comprehensive and cost effective professional development opportunity for school business officials in Michigan. This conference is appropriate for all school business professionals in the areas of accounting, finance, payroll, pupil accounting, facilities, transportation, technology, and nutritional services.

This year’s highlights include five Pre-Conferences - Issues Facing the Business Manager, which will feature state budget director John Nixon. Other Pre-Conferences include Facilities, Food and Nutritional Services, Technology and Transportation. Our opening General Session features State Superintendent Michael Flanagan. Supt. Flanagan is a former business manager, MSBO President, and executive director of the Michigan School Administrators Association (MASA). We look forward to his straight forward and frank approach in addressing the "hot topics" facing education in Michigan.

Our Wednesday lunch keynote features Tom Flick, former NFL quarterback. He draws on his leadership experience and his extensive work in corporate America to connect with his audience. Understanding that people, not programs, help organizations change and grow, he provides actionable solutions that allow people to become peak performers both personally and professionally! You will also have two days to visit more than 350 vendors at the exhibit show as well as vote for your favorite themed booth.

Click here to see the conference brochure.

Click here to register online.

It is important that you register now so we can get an accurate count for meals and our clinic sessions. We are also assigning meeting rooms based on the number of people we expect to attend each session. If you registered as part of the Early Bird program, you still need to complete your registration by going online and telling us which clinics you plan on attending or faxing the registration form to the MSBO office.

We look forward to seeing you in Grand Rapids!

Landmines, Layoffs, Tenure and Teacher Evaluations – is your district prepared?

Admin — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 08:00:00 -0600

Layoffs, tenure and evaluations are a major legal issue this year. Protect yourself and your district by learning from MASB's all-star lineup at their 2013 labor relations conference!

Be sure to book your calendars for March 14 and 15, to attend this year’s conference appropriately titled Bargaining in a New World. Sessions will address all the critical issues local districts are facing, including:

The Developing Tenure Act
Evaluation and Layoff Legal Guidance
Concessionary Bargaining
The Affordable Care Act and Negotiating Health Insurance
Getting Relationships Right with your Union
Projecting Your Budget
MERC Decisions that Clarify the Recent Changes in Law
Right to Work and What It Means to Your District and Employees

Bargaining in a New World is also co-sponsored by MASA and MSBO, and will be held at the Henry Center in East Lansing. You can register for one or both days, but we suggest you don’t miss a minute of this important conference.

One or both of these days are well worth your time given the amount of important information packed into the agenda! If your district is in negotiations this year, consider sending a board member plus an administrator to this important conference.

To see the full agenda or to register go MASB.org and click on the Bargaining in a New World link on the front page. If you have questions, contact Angie Kanazeh at akanazeh@masb.org or call her at 517.327.5938.

Thursday, March 14 is intended as nuts and bolts information for new board members and/or administrators. The first session in the morning is Basic Negotiations – it covers the background on the law and practice of labor negotiations in schools. It is great information to help board members and administrators gain a common understanding of the law and get on the same page! The afternoon session on March 14 deals with grievance processing, from how to handling a hearing, to the basics of contract language to writing letters of understanding and last chance agreements. It is a day filled with good, practical information that will save you time and effort and help you “get it right.”

Friday, March 15 covers the topics listed above, presented by some of the best known and respected labor and school attorneys in Michigan: Lisa Swem and Martha Marcero of Thrun; Gary Collins from Collins and Blaha; Joe Urban and Barb Ruga from Clark Hill; and Eric Griggs and Brad Banasik from MASB. This represents a major opportunity to ask questions and hear the perspective from several attorneys from major firms representing schools!

In addition to the legal perspective, you’ll be hearing from Scott Fritz from SET SEG who will talk the most recent developments in the Affordable Care Act, and from a panel of experts that includes a June Pettyplace, a UniServ from the MEA, and Dave Hecker, the Executive Director of AFT Michigan, who will talk about developing relationships with your staff under the new law. Additionally, Bob Dwan from the Michigan School Business Officials will discuss and demonstrate how to do simple and easy to understand budget projections.

The Benefits of Online Training for Student Services

Admin — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 07:00:00 -0600

Ensuring the safety of students can often be challenging. Not only do you have to prevent physical hazards, like slippery hallways, science lab accidents, or peanut allergies, but students need help with mental and emotional stressors too, including teasing, intimidation, or the pressures of a rigorous academic schedule that can overwhelm a student.

Keeping track of the core training requirements schools must provide to their employees is often a challenging task. To help our members, MSBO and SET SEG worked together to develop the Guide to Compliance Training for Michigan School Employees. The guide is a tool to help schools identify the training requirements that must be provided to employees, whether that obligation is regulatory or legal. You can access the guide on MSBO’s website.

MSBO has also partnered with SET SEG, the Michigan Association of School Administrators (MASA) and the Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB) to bring you SafeSchools, the leading online training and compliance management system for school. SafeSchools training offers 125 online courses to help school districts efficiently deliver and document training for every district employee. Following are a few of the courses focusing on student-related issues.

Boundary Invasion
Bullying: Recognition & Response
Child Abuse: Identification & Intervention
Conflict Management: Student-to-Student
Dating Violence: Identification & Intervention
Disruptive Student Behavior
Homeless Students: Awareness & Understanding
Managing the Aftermath of Tragedy: Administrators
Managing the Aftermath of Tragedy: Staff
Online Safety: What Every Educator Needs to Know
Self-Injury & Cutting
Sports Supervision & Safety
Sexual Harassment: Student Issues & Response
Sexual Misconduct: Staff-to-Student
Steroids & PEDS in Athletics
Youth Suicide: Awareness & Prevention

If your district has SET SEG Property Casualty and Workers’ Compensation insurance, your district has FREE access to the SafeSchools training system. Non-SET SEG districts receive substantial discounts through our partnership.

You can also find information on compliance training at MSBO’s 75th Annual Conference. Download the brochure for details.

Contact Deneen Hansen for training opportunities at dhansen@msbo.org.

Passing it on … Google’s 2013 Doodle 4 Google Contest

Admin — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 06:00:00 -0600

Google’s 2013 Doodle 4 Google Contest gives students across the U.S. the chance to display their own Google doodle. K-12 students have the opportunity to win a $30,000 college scholarship from Google and a $50,000 technology grant for the scholarship winner’s school.

Google doodles are the fun versions of the Google logo that appear on the Google homepage throughout the year in celebration of special events and people. This year’s theme is “My Best Day Ever…” Students can submit doodles until March 22, 2013.

On May 1, 2013, the 50 state winning designs will be opened up for a public vote. State winners will be flown to New York City for a national awards ceremony on May 22, where the National Winner will be announced. The winning artist’s work will be displayed on the Google homepage for a day and the student will win a $30,000 college scholarship, along with a $50,000 technology grant for his or her school.

In addition, all of the state Winners will have their artwork on display at the American Museum of Natural History from May 22 to July 14. For more details, including full contest rules and entry forms go to google.com/doodle4google.

Accounting for the Non-Accountant – MSBO Certification Class

Admin — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 05:00:00 -0600

March 20, 2013 • 8:45 am-4:00 pm

Location: Middle Cities/NCA Building • 826 Municipal Way Lansing, MI 48917

A savvy business official will help you prepare a budget and teach you the accounting terminology to help you work more efficiently with your business office. Who should attend: board members, administrators, accounting specialists, and business office staff who are not directly involved with or are new to the financial reporting of a school district.

Learning outcomes include an overview of the following:

How educational accounting has evolved.
How to use the Department of Education’s accounting manual.
Various accounting conventions districts utilize.
Various accounting funds and their purposes.
Purpose of and accounting for inter fund receivable, payable and transfer transactions.
Purpose and uses of encumbrance accounting in implementing the district’s appropriation act.
Various budgeting options and accounting reports educational organizations utilize.
Purpose of the annual financial statement audit and strategies to maximize the benefits of the process.

Registration fee: $145 for MIEM Members or $205 for nonmembers

6 SCECHs (pending approval)

Use this class toward 6 elective credits for MSBO Certification.

Slate for 2012 Board Elections Set

Admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 13:00:00 -0600

The MSBO Board of Directors recently approved the Nominations Committee's slate of candidates for this year's board election. Candidate background information and statements of purpose are posted on the MSBO website. Visit the website or follow the links below.

MSBO will be using the same electronic voting system that was used in recent years. This will allow all MSBO members to vote regardless of attendance at the Annual Meeting. You will receive an email with voting instructions and further information including the specific dates of the election. Voting will be held mid-April.

I know it is a busy time of year and our work responsibilities are ever increasing. It is also important to take the time to get to know these candidates and vote. I hope everyone takes the time to review the candidate’s profiles and votes in the upcoming election. MSBO Board
members help set the policies and direction of your organization. It’s up to you to let your voice be heard by voting.

Congratulations to this year's candidates.

President-Elect

One candidate for one (1) position:

Mary A. Reynolds, CFO, Farmington Public Schools

Board of Directors

There are five (5) candidates for three (3) positions:

William Chatfield, CFD, Walled Lake Consolidated Schools
Mike Hagerty, CFO, Kent ISD
Mary Beth Rogers, CFO, Clarkston Community Schools
Daniel B. Romzek (Incumbent) CFO, Rochester Community Schools
Cheryl S. Wald (Incumbent) CFO, Howell Public Schools

Helpful Leadership Strategies

Admin — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:00:00 -0600

I recently took a new position in a new school district. After the euphoria and excitement associated with landing a new job wore off, a slight sense of panic and anxiety set in, with the sobering realization that this move meant stepping into a much larger district in a much larger community in a much larger region of the state. Gone was the comfort and familiarity of my eleven years at my former district in my hometown. Gone were the community connections and solid professional relationships I'd built over the years. Transition to the new district began immediately and I knew I needed some effective strategies to ensure a successful segue into my new duties. A friend of mine recommended a book on leadership transition called, "The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for Leaders at All Levels" by Michael Watkins. This insightful book has proven itself highly effective in just a few short weeks. Watkins' book identifies ten key strategies for leaders in transition. The book's focus is on transition for the new leader and those working with new leaders, but many of the strategies have applicability for all leaders. I am going to highlight the commonalities between two of the ten strategies.

One strategy outlined by Watkins is matching strategy to the situation. In diagnosing a problem or issue, it is important to tailor the strategy to be applied to align with the situation at hand. In a transitional leadership, the author suggests that the diagnosis process includes determining what kind of transition leadership is taking place – start-up, turnaround, realignment, or sustaining success – and understanding the history behind the issue to the best extent possible in order to apply remedy. Knowing the model to apply will help accelerate the new leader into his or her new position quickly. This concept also has applicability to the established leader, whereby knowing the type of situation at hand and its history is vital to addressing it successfully. The established leader can quickly access historical information as he/she already has a solid working knowledge of the organization.

Another strategy outlined by Watkins relates to maintaining balance. Balance between work and home is vital in the success of both new leaders and established leaders. For the new leader, Watkins states that “the life of a leader is always a balancing act, but never more so than during a transition. The uncertainty and ambiguity can be crippling.” As a leader in a new organization, I need to stay focused on vital issues and recognize and avoid pitfalls of several behaviors that will be difficult to escape from. Watkins identifies seven pitfalls new leaders fall into that include going off in all directions, failing “to establish solid boundaries defining what you are willing and not willing to do,” avoiding behaviors showing “rigidity and defensiveness”, isolationism, biased judgment, work avoidance, and going over the top. These are all helpful suggestions to keep me focused on priority issues in order to maintain balance in my new role. But isn’t this also true for the established leader? The long-time leader must stay focused on vital issues and avoid these pitfalls identified by Watkins in order to achieve and maintain success.

Watkins suggests that finding the right balance involves adopting and implementing the success strategies outlined in his book, enforcing personal disciplines, which he defines as “the regular routines that you enforce on yourself ruthlessly.” This includes establishing planning time, deferring commitments judiciously, setting aside time for the hard work, stepping back periodically to get a more global perspective, focusing on process, and checking in with one’s self. Balance also involves building and maintaining a solid set of personal support systems.

In my short time at my new district, I find that these and the other success strategies identified by Watkins in his book have significantly helped me stay focused on the vital issues in my new position, and have allowed me to achieve some early successes. The strategies carry much relevancy for established leaders and I will refer to these strategies over time, in order to build a successful leadership period.