Strengthening Leadership Strategies On Tap at NEA Summit
By Edward Graham
As educators all across the country work to tackle the most pressing issues facing public education today, a group of over 550 educational leaders convened this weekend to discuss solution-based and educator-led answers at the recent NEA East Leadership Summit held in Atlanta, Ga.
Educators from Arkansas to Louisiana to Maine eagerly came together to share ideas, sharpen their leadership skills, and learn what they can do to strengthen public education for both their students and fellow educators.
The NEA East Leadership Summit came on the heels of the NEA West Leadership Summit, held in Las Vegas, Nev., in mid-January. The 2014 Leadership Summits were both designed to provide unique leadership training for school and district leaders by pairing strategic planning and educator-led breakout sessions along regional concerns and ideas.
Breakout sessions at the summit focused on empowering teachers to lead their schools and districts through collaborative and transformative measures meant to strengthen the profession through a renewed focus on ground-up leadership.
Barbara Gray, an assistant principal from Tennessee, came to the summit to build her leadership skills and learn more about organizing and engaging educators within her school and district. She attended a session on how educators can develop strategic plans to transform low-performing schools for the better.
“The session I attended was about Great Public Schools (GPS) and the frameworks for improving schools for both students and teachers,” Gray says. “We talked about collaborating, delegating, and being advocates for public schools.”
Stephanie Bea, who serves as the at-large representative for education support professionals (ESPs) on the Tennessee Education Association’s board of directors, also attended the leadership summit to gain the skills she needed to further engage ESPs in Tennessee. Bea was concerned about the decrease in the number of ESPs within her local association after it merged with a neighboring association. Like Gray, she attended a session on GPS networking to learn the leadership skills necessary to engage her fellow ESP