Key to Advocacy Success is Building Trust with Your Community!

by Kirk Miller, SAM Executive Director

This week a great question was raised by principals in the Eastern region MAEMSP asking, “how can principals get their advocacy voice heard?”  This may be on the mind of all educators and administrators as we are thinking about the upcoming 2019 Legislative Session.  So, here are some thoughts about effective advocacy for educators to contemplate.

A tiered system will work best for getting educator voices heard – think … Universal, Targeted, and Comprehensive as the tiers (similar to the systemic design of MTSS, MBI and even the Montana ESSA plan).

Universal – All schools

• Develop and tell ‘your story’ for educating students in your school, including the value your school brings to the community.  You can use the template of GREAT 2018 (released by MT-PEC at MCEL 2018) to tailor this info for your school.

• Develop a strategy to tell ‘your story’ widely in your community and include legislators in that distribution. Consider the strategic approach developed and promoted by Jamie Vollmer in “The Great Conversation” found at https://www.jamievollmer.com/.

• Building trust with your community, for what you do and provide for students, is the single most significant element for helping create a culture of support for schools.

Targeted – Schools who realize the importance of advocating for educating our students as critical to future success

• Invite your community to visit your schools so they can see the outstanding atmosphere that you provide for student learning and student well-being. 

• Work with the school district leadership and formally invite all legislators (Senators and Representatives) to attend an event(s) at your school.  Make them feel welcome when they are there so they can feel

  the great culture established.

• Build a relationship with the legislators who serve your school so they feel welcome and will want to seek your advice on education related issues.

Comprehensive – Schools who believe strongly in insuring legislators learn about the value of their school to the community and the children served

• Work with your school district leadership to formally invite the legislators that represent your school to a formal tour of your school.  Show them (use the, tell ‘your story’ as a guide) your successes and challenges first hand, as well as your goals for the future of your school.  Let them know how their support can help.

• Sign up for the SAMLN19 so that you can participate deeply during the 2019 legislative session.  See the article in this Bulletin to sign up to help SAM work with legislators to help them learn about the issues important to the future success of schools all across the state.

I hope you will contemplate these ideas when developing your advocacy strategies for the 2018-19 school year.  We are here at SAM to assist you with building trust with your community leading to a culture of support for your schools!

Three Affiliates Have Now Opened Nominations/Applications for Awards!

 by Pat Audet, SAM Associate Director

MAEMSP 

• Adrian Langstaff Award
• Friends of Education Award
• Aspiring Principal Scholarship Award
• NAESP Conference Incentive Scholarship Award
• Appreciation Award
• National Distinguished Principal Award
  • You can read more about each award plus nominate or apply by clicking 2019 MAEMSP AWARDS.  Nominations/applications are due by December 14. These awards will be announced on January 28 at the conference.
  • If you are a current MAEMSP member and you are planning on retiring at the end of this year, please contact MAEMSP Past President, Lance Boyd at [email protected] or give him a quick call at 406-268-7232. The MAEMSP Board of Directors would like to honor retirees at the Montana Principals Conference on January 28 in Helena.

MASSP

• Future Administrators Scholarship
• Community Partner
• Principal of the Year
• Conference Incentive Award
  • You can read more about each award plus nominate or apply by clicking 2019 MASSP AWARDS. Nominations/applications are due by December 14. These awards will be announced on January 28 at the conference.
  • If you are a current MASSP member and you are planning on retiring at the end of this year, MASSP Vice President, Justin Helvik, needs to hear from you soon!  Please contact Justin at [email protected] or give him a quick call at 406-285-3224. The MASSP Board of Directors would like to honor retirees at the Montana Principals Conference on January 28 in Helena.

MCASE

• Special Education Director
• Special Education Teacher
• Regular Education Teacher
  • You can read more about the awards plus nominate or apply by clicking 2019 MCASE AWARDS. Nominations/applications are due by January 11, 2019.
  • These awards will be announced at the MCEC Conference February 20-22, 2019 in Helena.
  • To read more about the MCEC Conference on February 20-22, 2019, please click MCEC CONFERENCE 2019. 

Call for the SAM Legislative Network 2019

Calling all SAM Members to Join the SAM Legislative Network 2019 (SAMLN19)!

Are you interested in helping SAM promote our Advocacy Priorities in the 2019 Legislative Session?  How about joining the team of SAM members who are committed to communicating effectively about SAM legislative issues/bills and collecting input from your colleagues in your region to let your legislators know about appropriate stances on issues/bills during the session?  Click HERE to see the description and responsibilities of the SAMLN19.  We need you to help with this important part of advocating for the students served in our schools! 

For a SAM member to join the SAMLN19 click HERE!

Please sign up to so we can insure that education leaders’ voice is clearly heard in the 2019 Legislative session. 

Once you sign up, the SAMLN19 will be formed and we will train together to make this a pleasant experience for you using the tools SAM is creating to communicate effectively during the Legislative session.

Kirk

 The Importance of Cyber Security

The Consortium for School Networking (CoSN) is pleased to continue to support the work of current and aspiring superintendents and district leadership teams in leading all aspects of digital learning transformations.  Last month CoSN shared information on Student Data Privacy with SAM members. 

This month we focus on the importance of cybersecurity.  It seems that today there is not a week that passes without a news story related to some sort of breach in security for one organization or another.  As school districts rely more and more on digital tools for data records, instruction and many other facets of school or district operations, it is incumbent upon school leaders to understand the issues around cybersecurity and take appropriate actions to prevent any sort of breach.  

CoSN is pleased to help school leaders understand the urgency for assuring that school systems are secure by providing a list of the top five reasons why school leaders must make cybersecurity a priority.  you are encouraged to read this one-page document at

CoSN has partnered with edWeb to provide a series of monthly webinars on topics essential for leading digital transformations.  School superintendents serve as panelists on each webinar and share their stories and expertise.  The focus of the November 12, 2018 webinar (3:00 pm MST) is on cybersecurity and features Steve Bradshaw, Superintendent at Columbia Falls Schools as one of the presenters.  Learn more and register for this free webinar at 

supers20181112/

If your school or district would like more information about joining CoSN or getting more involved with CoSN, please contact Brian Calvary, CAE, CoSN Director of Membership and Chapters, at  [email protected].