ASBA 54th Annual Conference – December 15th and 16th

The conference began on Thursday the 15^th with the Annual Membership Business Meeting of the Az School Board Association (ASBA).  Because I am an Alternative Delegate to President Crandall who is the Delegate for the TUSD, I attended to learn a bit about what I must do if ever I need to sit in for President Crandall.  These meetings are very formal.  This year’s meeting included a vote for two amendments to the bylaws and three new members of the Board: President Elect, Treasurer, and Secretary.  The most controversial of the votes was the one for secretary, because a member not selected by the Nominating Committee, was nominated for Secretary by the floor and won. 

The two amendments passed without incident.

The Opening Ceremonies were followed with Award Presentations for the Jack Peterson Scholarship, Student Photography Contest and the AZ Teacher of Year.  It is exciting to hear about the successes achieved by the students who receive the awards.  They work very hard and are honored in a room full of School Board Members and Administrators from across the state.  Listening to the story shared by the Teacher of Year is very uplifting.  Kristie Martorelli, shared with us the gratitude she received from a immigrant parent of a student she taught 3 years ago.  He was now in 6^th grade.  As a Special Ed Reading Intervention Teacher, she worked with this student from 1^st to 3^rd grade.  It wasn’t the current success of the former students that caused the parent to call her, but rather her other child who is not in 1^st grade, and oddly not a student of Ms. Martorelli.  Ms. Martorelli appreciated the gratitude, but explained that she has not direct contact with the younger sibling, except to say hello in that hallways.  The mother went on to say that it is what she learned from Ms. Martorelli when her older child was in her class that assisted her when she was helping her young child.  Ms. Martorelli reminded us of how important it is for us to reach the parents of the students and he impact an parent with basic reading and writing skills can have on the success of their children.