As a superintendent, the list of difficult issues you deal with is long and varied. But certainly, the most squeamish on that list is child exploitation. In all its forms, it sickens us. Sexual exploitation of a child tops that list. Join us on April 10, 1:00 central time for a frank discussion with two state/national experts: Stephen Woener, Executive Director of Children’s Advocacy Centers of TN, and Lt. Joe Laramie, Ret., former Program Manager for the National Criminal Justice Training Center.

During this 90-minute session we will:

1. Discuss the variety of online dangers for our students: local, national, and international

2. Discuss Erin’s Law

3. Learn what our obligations are

4. Discuss how we can best help, protect, and equip our students

5. Learn the legal implications for our students

6. Learn strategies for talking with both students and parents about this very difficult topic

7. Tailor your message to your local context

8. Take time for your questions

For a gut-check, navigate to the video here of their expert witness testimony before the House Education Instruction Committee and fast forward to 15:20.

Join TOSS General Counsel Chuck Cagle as he discusses the Disciplinary Hearing Authority process.  Topics addressed will include TCA 49-6-3401, board policies, the process of convening the DHA, accepting evidence at a DHA meeting, creating a record of the meeting, and the process to follow if an appeal is taken either to the Director of Schools or the Board of Education.  Mr. Cagle will share his experiences in assisting the operation of DHAs and ensuring that laws and constitutional rights are adhered to.

You will likely want to register multiple guests. Given how the registration system is set up, if after your initial registration you decide to add even more guests, you may be blocked. If that happens just contact barry@tosstn.com or trisha@tosstn.com, and they will add them for you.

Recently questions have arisen around purchasing cooperatives specifically, and bids and purchases generally. The Comptroller’s office is currently giving audit exceptions to some school districts that purchase capital / construction projects through purchasing cooperatives. Several architects and contractors are advocating for these purchases from purchasing cooperatives based on their own interpretations of TCA 12-3-1205. Why risk the embarrassment of a material audit exception?

Join TOSS General Counsel Chuck Cagle on February 20 at 9:00 Central for an examination of these topics. Please feel free to register any appropriate staff as your guest(s).

Prepare to be wowed by new TN research showing the degree of improvement in math shown by students appropriately exposed to Zearn….a program that all TN districts currently have. And best of all, the biggest impact is on those students for whom it is most difficult to move the needle. Do yourself a favor and invest 30 minutes of your time and include your curriculum and instruction staff as well.

A new, quasi-experimental research study shows consistent Zearn Math usage leads to transformative results for Tennessee K-8 students. Join a live briefing hosted by the Zearn team to explore the research study analyzing 2023 TCAP math performance growth.

Specifically, researchers found that:

• Students completing three or more grade-level lessons weekly on Zearn achieved a 7-point increase in TCAP math scores, with greater gains across student subgroups. 

• Zearn usage resulted in significant upward academic mobility: 64% of the lowest-scoring students advanced by one or more performance levels when using Zearn.

Hopefully, you are all blessedly ignorant of the process of reporting alleged educator misconduct.  Sadly, we know that isn’t universally true and becomes less so each year.

Join State Board of Education Deputy General Counsel P. Danielle Nellis to learn more about this difficult topic including how and when to report, investigation tips, and how a case proceeds once it is reported. Ms. Nellis will be joined by members of her team and prepared to answer your questions! Feel free to also register your HR Director or other appropriate personnel as your guest(s).  

Has your district recently received a charter school application or are you wondering how to prepare should an application come your way? Join us on Wednesday, November 29 from 1:30pm-3pm CST for a virtual training session with the State Board to learn everything you need to know to be prepared for a charter school application. The session is open to all districts regardless of whether you’ve received an application or have several open and operating charter schools. Directors of schools are encouraged to invite key staff and school board members to join as well. This is the first in a series of trainings conducted by State Board staff on quality authorizing and will cover the necessary steps to prepare for a quality application review. 

School Support Organizations are increasingly under scrutiny. Avoid the audit findings and the headlines by joining this SLI session conducted by TOSS General Counsel Chuck Cagle. Feel free to include principals and others as your guests. If you are fairly new and unsure if this session is for you, ask around. This session will be recorded, and superintendents will be able to access it through the TOSS website.

The Band’s Getting Back Together Again!

a.k.a

Superintendent Reunions

As announced at the Legislative Conference and stealing a long-standing West TN tradition, TOSS will also be hosting superintendent reunions in Middle and East TN this June. We are asking each of you to invite the former superintendents from your district to join you and the TOSS staff for fellowship and a very casual lunch (sponsored by TOSS platinum partner, Edmentum.) The agenda will be very loose with our main objective being simply camaraderie.  If there are situations in which it would be better for the invitation to come from TOSS, we are happy to handle that (though contact information would be very helpful). 

Register just as you would for any TOSS event and include any former superintendents as your guest(s).

PLEASE NOTE: There is also an opportunity to join a friendly golf game afterwards (thanks to TOSS platinum partner, American Fidelity) so please sign up yourself and guest if you wish. 

9:30 AM fellowship

10:00 AM Meeting

11:00 AM Lunch

1:00 PM Golf (optional)

The Band’s Getting Back Together Again!

a.k.a

Superintendent Reunions

As announced at the Legislative Conference and stealing a long-standing West TN tradition, TOSS will be hosting superintendent reunions in Middle and East TN this June. We are asking each of you to invite the former superintendents from your district to join you and the TOSS staff for fellowship and a very casual lunch (sponsored by TOSS platinum partner, ESG.) The agenda will be very loose with our main objective being simply camaraderie.  If there are situations in which it would be better for the invitation to come from TOSS, we are happy to handle that (though contact information would be very helpful). 

Register just as you would for any TOSS event and include any former superintendents as your guest(s).

The Band’s Getting Back Together Again!

a.k.a

Superintendent Reunions

2023 TOSS Legislative Update

The TOSS Government Relations Team will host in-depth discussions of the legislative session across the state. During these meetings we will do a deep dive into the legislation that passed this year, how it will impact you and your district, and what we are anticipating for the second session of the 113th General Assembly in 2024. The dates are May 15th (Middle), May 17th (West) and May 18th (East).

We hope to see you there!

This session will run from 10:00am – 2:00pm cst with lunch provided by TOSS Platinum Partner, StaffEZ!

2023 TOSS Legislative Update

The TOSS Government Relations Team will host in-depth discussions of the legislative session across the state. During these meetings we will do a deep dive into the legislation that passed this year, how it will impact you and your district, and what we are anticipating for the second session of the 113th General Assembly in 2024. The dates are May 15th (Middle), May 17th (West) and May 18th (East).

We hope to see you there!

This session will run from 10:00am – 2:00pm cst with lunch provided by TOSS Platinum Partner, Life Check Systems!

(a Capturing Kids’ Hearts TOSS Platinum Partner sponsored SLI event)

Capturing Kids' Hearts® Leadership Strategist, and former Colorado Superintendent, Mark Hatchell will explore the 6 Steps to Effective Leadership. Mark will provide research-driven behavioral data, share practical tips, and reflect on past experiences that will contribute to your leadership skills and behaviors. Enjoy lunch together and hear from your colleagues in Warren County Schools and Maryville City Schools share how they have used Leadership Blueprint® and the Flippen360 Leadership Profile® to grow leadership capacity in their districts.

Presenters:

Dr. Mark Hatchell, Leadership Strategist- Capturing Kids' Hearts®

Dr. Grant Swallows, Director-Warren County Schools

Candice Willmore, Director of Special Education-Warren County Schools

Amy Vagnier, Assistant Director-Maryville City Schools

For more information about Capturing Kids’ Hearts and Leadership Blueprint, visit CKH.org

The cell phone: a problem and a solution; a nuisance and a necessity; wreaks havoc and saves lives. As you have noticed, TOSS listserv chatter this year has prominently featured cell phone issues and concerns. Join us to hear what TOSS General Counsel Chuck Cagle has to say about cell phones in schools through the multiple lenses of law, policy, and reality. We will attempt to address as many of your questions as possible and to reference much of what you have shared on the listserv.

Join TOSS General Counsel, Chuck Cagle, for a discussion about Superintendent Employment Agreements.  From his experience in drafting and reviewing employment agreements, Cagle will discuss the must-haves, useful-to-haves, nice-to-haves, as well as the better-not-haves.  Just as you’d want, there will be plenty of time for Q&A. 

Who knew? ;) Principals actually do have an impact upon schools and individual students. But as it turns out, its far more than previously believed!

Dr. Jason Grissom, Vanderbilt University professor of public policy and education, has recently conducted a major review of 20 years of research for The Wallace Foundation which confirms principals are even more important for student achievement than anyone knew. Join this conversation with our good friend, Dr. Grissom, and learn WHICH skills and practices among principals are linked to positive outcomes for students. Discuss how you can leverage this newfound knowledge in improving your own district. Consider how this information might influence your principal pipeline, whether formal or informal.

The implications of this research are (not to be overly dramatic) a game changer.

Sure, teacher professional learning is a high priority. Everybody knows that, right? Annually, every TN district invests substantial financial resources and countless hours in its planning, design, and implementation. Is it worth it? Well, in a couple of words….absolutely, but….

 Join our old friend, Dr. Nate Schwartz with the Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University, in a conversation about what the field does and doesn’t know about this big investment of time and resources by your district. Though your professional learning pot is likely large, it’s certainly not bottomless. Spend wisely!

Feel free to include your professional learning director as your guest. And yes, CEO credit does apply (but not TASL).

Join a conversation with Bismark, ND Legacy High School Principal Tom Schmidt. Legacy High School is nationally recognized for its many innovations, especially its design, flexible schedule and the freedoms and responsibilities placed on students. Teacher satisfaction is very high as evidenced by staff stability and the number of requests to transfer in. While we will discuss many aspects of Legacy with Principal Schmidt, we will closely examine the philosophy behind, creation of, and adjustment to the flexible schedule. And as an added bonus, Tom is a pretty entertaining and interesting guy whose accent is nothing like most of ours! Feel free to include any secondary supervisors or high school principals you’d like to. Directors will receive CEO credit, however, this is a non-TASL event.  

To further pique your curiosity, check out the Legacy website: Legacy High School / Homepage (bismarckschools.org)

Invite your finance directors and anyone dealing with ESSER funding to join an upcoming SLI session with TDOE’s (and our good friends) Maryanne Durski and Eve Carney.  Maryanne will speak on TISA funding, and Eve will alert you to a number of ESSER deadlines coming up and what they MEAN FOR YOU. (These deadlines seem to be quite serious!) While it is still far too early to get specifics on how raises will be calculated under TISA, Maryanne will address the issue in broad terms.

If time permits, we will open up for a broader Q&A on TISA funding and ESSER in general. This is a terrific opportunity to hear from and speak to the best.