Making school board meetings matter
The school board that is serious about pursuing excellence for students must learn how to use its meeting time to get the job done. To aid boards in this effort, the Arkansas School Boards Association has scheduled Making Meetings Matter workshops at several sites throughout the state. The workshop will provide participants with the resources to evaluate the effectiveness of their board meetings and the knowledge and tools to conduct more productive school board meetings. Workshop topics include:

• Why School Board Meetings Matter
• Signs of a Successful Board Meeting
• Keys to Meeting Preparation
• The Main Event: Conducting a Successful School Board Meeting
• Evaluating Your School Board Meeting

Each workshop will be held from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m., and lunch will be provided. Board members will earn four training credit hours for attending. Space is limited at each site since the workshop is interactive, and enrollment confirmation will be based on a first-come, first-served basis. Click here for dates and locations (or click here for info in PDF format).

Law Seminar handouts
Two handouts from the 2010 Arkansas School Law Seminar are available online. Click here for the handout regarding sexual harassment in public schools. Click here for the handout on search and seizure.

ED Data Express new resource for education information
ED Data Express is a website designed to improve the public's ability to access and explore high-value state-level education data collected by the U.S. Dept. of Education. The site is designed to be interactive and to present the data in a clear, easy-to-use manner, with options to download information into Excel or manipulate the data within the website. The site currently includes data from EDFacts, Consolidated State Performance Reports (CSPR), State Accountability Workbooks, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), the College Board, and the Department's Budget Service office. Click here to access ED Data Express.

eBOARD web-based governance tool available
ASBA has partnered with eBOARDsolutions (EBS) – a technology subsidiary of the Georgia School Boards Association focused on technology solutions designed to promote excellence in board governance – to offer eBOARD, a comprehensive web-based board governance system.

ASBA will host two informational webinars to review the benefits of eBOARD; board members may earn one hour of training credit for attending one of these webinars:

• Wednesday, September 29, 2010, Noon - 1:00 p.m.; click here to register for this date
• Wednesday, October 27, 2010, Noon - 1:00 p.m.; click here to register for this date

2010 NSBA Southern Region Conference documentation
Arkansas school board members who wish to earn training credit for attendance at the July 2010 NSBA Southern Region Conference should complete and return this sheet after the conference.

Students earn ASBA Education Foundation scholarships
Five Arkansas high school seniors recently received $650 scholarships from the Arkansas School Boards Association Education Foundation. The scholarships are awarded to graduating high school seniors who are children of Arkansas school board members and who will attend Arkansas institutions of higher learning in the fall. The awards are based on a student’s academic record and leadership potential. One award was made in each of the four congressional districts and one at-large. This is the 17th consecutive year for the awards. Click here for more on this year's recipients.

Upcoming Training:

Making Meetings Matter
Various dates and locations

New Board Member Institute
October 20, 2010
DoubleTree Hotel
Little Rock, AR

ASBA Annual Conference
Dec. 8-10, 2010
Little Rock, AR