Over 70 superintendents and their staff members were thoroughly engaged in a one-day leadership academy on equity and personalized learning hosted by new VASS Associate Partner Education Elements and co-sponsored by VASS.  During the equity segment of the program, Education Elements' excellent facilitators challenged the audience to do some deep introspective thinking about their roles as leaders and their impact on others. Participants found the exercises and small group discussions to be particularly powerful in terms of what they learned about their behaviors in promoting equity in their divisions.

Electric school buses will soon be on the roads in Virginia safely carrying children and reducing emissions as Dominion Energy moves forward with the nation’s largest electric school bus deployment. Phase one will bring 50 electric school buses to 16 localities within Dominion Energy’s Virginia service area by the end of 2020. In December, the company selected Thomas Built Buses as the vendor for the 50 buses for phase one of the project.

VASS members are invited to attend a Social-Emotional Learning Symposium in NY on May 29^th by VASS Associate Partner rethinkED.  The symposium is free and it is hosted by David Adams, the Urban Assembly's Director of Social-Emotional Learning.   David is this year's VASS Annual Spring Conference Keynote Speaker who gave an outstanding presentation at the VASS-rethinkED workshop this fall in Hampton on “From Implementation to Impact: Developing Systems and Structures to Organize Your District around Social-Emotional Academic Development”.  

VASS and VASBO kicked off the new year by hosting the State and Local Business & Legislative Advocates Annual Conference in Richmond, VA. Current Governor Ralph Northam was one of the conference headliners. He emphasized the importance of increasing teacher pay, expanding funding for counselors in an effort to decrease their student ratio from 450 students to 250 students, and additional funding to support “At Risk” students. He also discussed the importance of renovating and building school facilities. He said innovation, STEM, broadband, and technology help support school structures. 

It is no secret that America’s schools face great challenges, including a shortage of high-quality teachers and an ever-growing achievement gap in many underserved communities. 

This issue has been recognized for decades, tracing back to the pivotal date in 1983 when President Ronald Reagan’s National Commission on Excellence in Education disseminated “A Nation at Risk,” a seminal report that has shaped reform efforts to the present day.

Hampton City Schools Superintendent and VASS Past President Jeffery Smith was recently selected by AASA as one of four finalists to compete in the National Superintendent of the Year competition.  The distinction of National of Superintendent of the Year honors school system leaders throughout the country who are making a positive difference in the lives of the students they serve. 

Jeffery will compete with three other superintendents for the national honor which will be announced at the AASA National Conference on Education in San Diego, February 13-15.   

Dr. Jeffery O. Smith, Superintendent of Hampton City Schools, was named Virginia’s Superintendent of the Year at the Virginia Association of School Superintendents (VASS) Annual Awards Luncheon today  in Roanoke.  He was selected by the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Presidents of the Virginia Board of Education, the Virginia Education Association, the Virginia Parent and Teacher Association, the Virginia School Boards Association, the Virginia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the Virginia Association of Elementary School Principals, and the Virginia Association of Secondary School Principals, and the President-elect of the Virginia Association of School Superintendents.

VASS worked with Strategic Value Media to create the guide, a web portal to a large network of vendors that supply goods and services to educators. The guide, which highlights companies that are VASS Business Members, is designed to help school division leaders make efficient and fully informed purchasing decisions.