Join us for the 2023 Conference on Educational Leadership, being held at the Embassy Suites Charlotte Concord in Concord, NC. NCASA’s Annual Conference on Educational Leadership is designed for district and school leaders and presents a one-of-a-kind opportunity to engage with your peers and learn from other districts from across the state.
Keynote Speaker Dr. Bill Daggett will kick off the 2023 CEL with “Preparing Students for Their Future—NOT our Past.”
Friday Keynote Speaker Derek W. Black will present “Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education and the Assault on American Democracy.”
Location:
COUNTDOWN TO OUR EVENT!
Why You Should Attend!
NCASA is proud to have Whova support this year’s event. In order to view event information and receive regular communications on the app, YOU MUST BE A REGISTERED ATTENDEE.
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AGENDA
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
REGISTRATION
VENUE
EXHIBITORS
PARTNERS & SPONSORS
AGENDA
For a printable version of the 2023 Conference on Educational Leadership agenda, click HERE.
Mar 22
Mar 23
Mar 24
Mar 22
| TIME | EVENT | SPEAKER(S) |
|---|---|---|
| 12:00 – 1:30 p.m. | NCASA Board of Directors Meeting & Luncheon | |
| 4:00 – 5:30 p.m. | Early Registration | |
| 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. | NCSSA Board of Directors Meeting & Dinner | |
| 7:30 – 9:00 p.m. | Welcome Reception |
Mar 23
| TIME | EVENT | SPEAKER(S) |
|---|---|---|
| 7:30 – 8:30 a.m. | Registration & Continental Breakfast | |
| 8:30 – 10:15 a.m. | WELCOME & GENERAL SESSION: KEYNOTE – “Preparing Students for Their Future – NOT Our Past” | Dr. Bill Daggett |
| 10:15 – 10:45 a.m. | BREAK & NETWORKING | |
| 10:45 – 11:45 a.m. | BREAKOUT SESSION 1 | |
| Understanding School Finance In North Carolina | Lauren Fox, Senior Director of Policy and Research, Public School Forum of NC | |
| The Modern AP: Cultivating Instructional Leadership Among Assistant Principals | Principals Dr. John McDaris and Dr. Katelyn Davis, Henderson County Public Schools | |
| From Trauma To Triumph! | Dr. Valerie O’Kelley, BT & HR Services Director; Ms. Heather Halbert, EC Teacher; and Ms. MaShonda Surratt, Assistant Principal, Cleveland County Schools | |
| Building Staff Capacity For Mental Health And Wellness | Chris Tuft, Principal, Asheboro City Schools | |
| 11:55 – 12:55 a.m. | BREAKOUT SESSION 2 | |
| Taking Family Engagement Beyond The School Walls | Stacy Cauley, Director of Elementary Education; Beverly Kee, Director of Federal Programs; and Lorene Bell, Principal, Lenoir County Public Schools | |
| Going From “At My Old School…” To Redesigning A Future School | Seydric Williams, Area Superintendent, Wake County Public School System and Jill Thompson, Partner, Design and Implementation Team, Education Elements | |
| Access And Engagement: Pitt County’s Path To Closing Reading Gaps | Kimberly Lucas, English Language Arts Specialist, Pitt County Schools and Whitney Noel, Curricular Solutions Architect, Newsela | |
| Recruit Your Future Workforce In Your Classrooms | Dr. Bennett Jones, Director, North Carolina Teaching Fellows Program | |
| 10:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. | State Superintendent’s Quarterly Meeting | |
| 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. | Leadership Alliance Lunch & Awards Ceremony | |
| 2:00 – 4:15 p.m. | NCPAPA Session: Advocating For A Better Principal Compensation Plan | Dr. Shirley Prince, NCPAPA Executive Director; Catherine Truitt, NC Superintendent of Public Instruction, NCDPI; Tabari Wallace, Special Advisor, Principal Engagement, NCDPI; Dr. Patrick Greene, 2022 Wells Fargo NC Principal of the Year and Principal, Greene County Schools; and Katherine Joyce, Executive Director, NCASA |
| 2:00 – 3:00 p.m. | BREAKOUT SESSION 3 | |
| High Focus Emerges from Great Leadership | Casey Rimmer, Director of Innovation and EdTech; and Dr. Lesley Eason, Senior Consultant and Coach, Franklin Covey | |
| Leveraging Instructional Leadership For District Improvement | Dr. Windy Dorsey Carr, Executive Director of School Transformation; Andrew Davis, Director of Curriculum & Instruction; and Amanda Graham, Principal, Public Schools of Robeson County | |
| Independent Learners: Helping Students Take Charge Of Their Education | Dr. Marcie Beard, Executive Director, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools; and Stephanie Kelso, District Cambridge Coordinator | |
| The State Of The Superintendency In NC: Pathways, Positionalities, And Professional Experiences | Dr. Heidi Von Dohlen, Assistant Professor and Program Director, Western Carolina University; Dr. Kerry Robinson, Associate Professor, UNC-Wilmington; and Dr. Charles Steve Bingham, Professor, High Point University | |
| 3:10 – 4:10 p.m. | BREAKOUT SESSION 4 | |
| School Cybersecurity: 5 Tips for Post COVID-19 K-12 Operations | Dr. David Blattner, Chief Technology Officer, Rowan-Salisbury Schools and Rich Gay, Chief Information Security Officer, PowerSchool | |
| How To Win $50 Million To Build A New School! | Dr. Eric Cunningham, Superintendent, Halifax County Schools; Dennis R. Hilton, PE, Consulting Structural Engineer, School Planning Section, N.C. Department of Public Instruction; Van Denton, Director of Communications, NC Education Lottery; and Ashley Dennis, Vice President, Moseley Architects | |
| The BEAM Team: Shining Light On District Behavioral Supports | Tracy Barnes, District Behavior Support and Student Intervention Coordinator; Dr. Leondus Farrow, Assistant Superintendent of Student Support Services & Operations; Christy Grant, Executive Director of EC & Student Support Services; and Gladys Branch, District EC Specialist, Nash County Public Schools | |
| Sustaining Human Capital | Dr. Yvette Smith Mason, Assistant Superintendent Human Resources and Professional Development; and Mrs. Felicia Brown, Director of Human Resources and Professional Development, Wayne County Public Schools | |
| 4:15 – 5:30 p.m. | President’s Circle Reception |
Mar 24
| TIME | EVENT | SPEAKER(S) |
|---|---|---|
| 7:15 – 8:45 a.m. | Continental Breakfast & NCASA Legislative Update | Katherine Joyce, NCASA Executive Director; and Elizabeth Yelverton, NCASA Legal Affairs & Policy Manager |
| BREAKFAST KEYNOTE: Update On The State Health Plan & Retirement System | Dale Folwell, NC Treasurer | |
| 8:45 – 9:15 a.m. | BREAK & NETWORKING | |
| 9:15 – 10:30 a.m. | GENERAL SESSION: KEYNOTE – “Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education And The Assault On American Democracy” | Derek W. Black |
| 10:35 – 11:35 a.m. | BREAKOUT SESSION 5 | |
| Pathways to Excellence for Teaching Professionals Update | Dr. Van Dempsey, PEPSC Chair & Dean of UNC-Wilmington School of Education | |
| A Framework For Change: Applying Improvement Science For School And District Change | Dr. Travis Lewis, Assistant Professor; and Dr. Karen Jones, Associate Professor, East Carolina University | |
| Closing Student Learning Gaps Through Effective Data-Driven Planning And Instruction | Rebekka Powers, Chief Accountability Officer; Derrick Jackson, Executive Director of Elementary Instruction; and Cristi Bostic, Executive Director of High School Instruction, Gaston County Schools | |
| Show Me The Money! | Heather Walston, Principal; Rachel Whitfield, Principal and Stacy Cauley, Director of Elementary Education, Lenoir County Public Schools | |
| 11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m. | BREAKOUT SESSION 6 | |
| DPI Hot Topics Update | Andrew Smith Assistant State Superintendent, Office of Innovation; Sneha Shah-Coltrane, Director, Office of Advanced Learning & Gifted Education; and Amy Rhyne, Director, Office of Early Learning, NC Department of Public Instruction | |
| Lights, Camera, Excellence! – Dynamic Leadership Teams For The Future | Dr. Ethan Lenker, Superintendent; Marieka Harrison, Principal; and Kim Harris, Principal, Pitt County Schools | |
| Virtual Schools Network: Enhancing, Connecting, And Supporting NC’s Virtual School Educators | Jaclyn Stevens, Research Scholar, VSN Design Lead; Emmy Coleman, Senior Research Scholar; and Dr. Lashaundon Perkins, NCVirtual School Support Consultant, VSN Design Lead, Friday Institute for Educational Innovation | |
| An Insightful Dive Into Federal Funding, Innovation, & Sustainability | Allie Evans, ESSER Program Administrator; Erin Lewis, ESSER Program Administrator; Dr. Damesha Smith, ESSER Program Administrator; and Dylan McNeilly, ESSER Program Administrator, NC Department of Public Instruction, Office of Federal Programs | |
| 12:45 p.m. | Conference Concludes |
KEYNOTE SPEAKERS
Keynote Speaker – Day 1
Preparing Students for Their Future—NOT Our Past
The COVID pandemic alongside the drive for social justice have consumed education leaders, teachers, students, and communities nationwide. Couple that with the accelerating impact of advancing technologies and the changing values and aspirations of young people and you will find is a tipping point in both the need for, and opportunity to address, meaningful change in and around the U.S. education system.
Dr. Daggett will lay out how the nation’s most rapidly improving schools have created a culture that is first, supportive of change and second, able to make the necessary fundamental shifts in how instruction is organized and delivered and how learners are assessed.
Keynote Speaker – Day 2
Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education And The Assault On American Democracy
Public education as we know it is in trouble. Derek W. Black, a legal scholar and tenacious advocate, shows how major democratic and constitutional developments are intimately linked to the expansion of public education throughout American history. Schoolhouse Burning is grounded in pathbreaking, original research into how the nation, in its infancy, built itself around public education and, following the Civil War, enshrined education as a constitutional right that forever changed the trajectory of our democracy. Public education, alongside the right to vote, was the cornerstone of the recovery of the war-torn nation. Today’s current schooling trends — the declining commitment to properly fund public education and the well-financed political agenda to expand vouchers and charter schools — present a major assault on the democratic norms that public education represents and risk undermining one of the unique accomplishments of American society.
NOTE: All attendees of Derek Black’s session will receive his book: Schoolhouse Burning: Public Education &
The Assault on American Democracy
Breakfast Keynote Speaker
Update On The State Health Plan & Retirement System
A new company was recently selected to administer the State Health Plan for school personnel, state employees, and retirees. Join NC Treasurer Dale Folwell as he outlines what the changes will mean for our state’s educators, while also presenting the latest on what’s happening with the Teachers and State Employees’ Retirement System, which Treasurer Folwell also oversees for North Carolina.
REGISTRATION
REGISTRATION RATES
CONFERENCE PRICES:
SPECIAL GROUP RATE FOR 10 OR MORE IS $229
Cancellations must be received by February 15, 2023 to be refunded.
Registrations are transferable within your LEA.
For additional questions or concerns, please contact Karen Owens.
VENUE
EVENT LODGING
Embassy Suites by Hilton Charlotte Concord Golf Resort & Spa
5400 John Q. Hammons Dr., NW Concord, NC 28027
Rate: $189/night while rooms are available.
Special Rate expires 2/19/23
Courtyard Charlotte Concord
7201 Scott Padgett Parkway Concord, NC 28027
Rate: $159/night while rooms are available.
Special Rate expires 3/8/23
EXHIBITORS
EDUCATION MARKETPLACE
NCASA welcomes these exhibitors to this year’s event!
Contact Karen Owens at kowens@ncasa.net for Exhibitor/Sponsorship inquiries.
PARTNERS & SPONSORS
NCASA appreciates the support our corporate partners and sponsors have provided for this event!
NCASA’s corporate partners’ generous support provides funding for our mission.
Their investments help us to serve and advocate for the public school leadership community in our state.
To view an entire list of our corporate partners, click HERE.
NCASA also thanks these additional sponsors for supporting this event:
Exhibition Marketplace Directory Sponsor
NASCAR Hall of Fame
Welcome Reception Sponsor
First Financial Group of America
NCASA Legislative Update Sponsor
BSI Solutions, INC.
Keynote Sponsor – Dr. Bill Daggett
North Carolina School Superintendents’ Association
Keynote Sponsor – Derek W. Black
Quantum Resource Professionals
Continental Breakfast Sponsor
Children’s Cancer Partners of the Carolinas
Event Tote Bags & Awards Sponsor
North Carolina Education Lottery
Mobile App Sponsor
Academic Tutoring & Test Prep
Refreshment Sponsor – Day 1
Branching Minds
Name Badge Sponsor
SchoolMint
