May 2008

What a great response we had from Virginians at the NAFEPA conference in Washington, D.C. last month! We had about 18 participants and were able to go on Capitol Hill to meet with representatives for both of our Senators and two of our Representatives in the House. We shared with them some of the great things going on in Virginia schools as well as some concerns we have, based on the proposed federal budgets. For those of you unable to attend this year, I strongly encourage you to try to attend next spring. The dates are March 1-4, 2009 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.

The VAFEPA conference will be held October 27-29, 2008 at The Hotel Roanoke in Roanoke, Virginia. This year’s theme is Building Home & School Connections To Close The Achievement Gap. We have contracted with Dr. Leonard Sax and Dr. Paul Slocumb to provide a whole day of training on October 28, 2008. We also invited Leigh Manasevit back to provide additional information about NCLB as it begins its reauthorization process. Many of you have heard him at past conferences as well as participating in his workshop held in Washington, D.C. each spring. He always provides a very informative perspective on the law and what it really means to us as practitioners.

The Office of Program Administration and Accountability will be presenting information in breakout sessions on increasing graduation rates and the new proficiency standards for ESL in Virginia. They also plan to provide an update of the findings of their federal audit held this June. We look forward to their participation in our institute.

The Office of Program Administration and Accountability will provide a pre-institute session this year on the morning of October 27, 2008. This session will focus on Supplemental Educational Services. Information about this session will be provided in the registration materials to be distributed in early August, 2008.

We look forward to another great institute for administrators across Virginia.

For some of you, this school year will be coming to a close in a few weeks. Others may have almost a month left. I wish each of you a great closing and hope that you will be able to take some time during the summer months to relax. I know, from experience, that you have to make time for this because summer can be one of the busiest times for school administrators.

Several of you have kept in touch through the web site. I encourage you to continue to let us know your thoughts and suggestions as you visit this site. We try to keep it as up to date as possible and are always open to feedback.

Have a safe and happy summer!

Betsy Mierzwa
President

Previous messages:
November 2007
October 2007