Back-to-School: Resources and Inspiration

 Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report: 2011-2021

CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report: 2011-2021 provides surveillance data from 2021, as well as 10-year trends from 2011 through 2021, on behaviors and experiences among high school students in the United States related to health and well-being.

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 Grieving Students and Transitions | The Coalition to Support Grieving Students

In all of the bustle of the year’s start, one group that can easily be overlooked is students who are grieving the loss of a parent, sibling, or other close family member or friend. Most education professionals would expect children with a recent loss to face some challenges in their academic focus. However, the ongoing experience of grief is often less recognized. This resource provides tips and guidelines on how educators can support grieving students entering the new year.

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 School Preparedness | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Schools’ core role is to educate students. However, they also meet the needs of students and families by providing meals, childcare, and physical and mental health services. When schools plan for emergencies, they can decrease the impact a short- or long-duration emergency will have on operations.

Learn what K-12 schools need to know

 Vaccination Information and Resources

To address the issue of declining student vaccination rates resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, these resources provide support educational leaders in understanding and providing direction about how schools and districts can address the problem of vaccination declines among students.

Getting Kindergarten Vaccination Back on Track

Addressing the Decline of Vaccination Rates of U.S. Students

  American Rescue Plan ESSER Funds

This blog post provides four questions to ask yourself while deciding how to spend any remaining ESSER funds and also recommends five types of investments to consider

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In a multi-series survey, AASA gathered responses from district leaders about how they're using American Rescue Plan (ARP) and other federal COVID-19 relief funding to address pandemic-related student learning recovery, challenges they're facing, and ongoing needs after funding runs out. In AASA’s final survey from July 2024 district leaders were asked to look back and comprehensively share how they prioritized investing these funds over the past three years.

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  Public Interest Privacy Center (PIPC)

The Public Interest Privacy Center equips stakeholders with the insights, training, and tools needed to cultivate effective, ethical, and equitable privacy safeguards for all children and students.

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  Title IX

The Superintendent's Guide to the 2024 Title IX Rules (AASA member login required)

On April 19, the U.S. The U.S. Department of Education released revisions to Title IX. The amended Title IX regulations, which will be effective on August 1, 2024, make several important changes to the processes K-12 schools use to address reports of sex-based discrimination, including harassment and retaliation, and to protections for LGBTQ+ students, employees, and parents. Use this guide to help your team prepare to comply with the new requirements and to prevent and address sex discrimination and harassment.

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 2024 National Summit on K-12 School Safety and Security

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) will host the 2024 National Summit on K-12 School Safety and Security on September 25 and 26. This two-day, virtual event brings together K-12 school leaders and practitioners to discuss and share actionable recommendations that enhance safe and supportive learning environments.

Register Here

 AASA School Safety and Crisis Planning Toolkit

The intent and design of this toolkit is to provide a checklist of necessary procedures before, during and after a crisis that is easily accessible by school leaders and designed specifically for school superintendents. Topics covered include physical safety, mental health and cybersecurity.

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 Back-to-School Checklist

Back-to-school season can be a time for K-12 school leaders and personnel to take stock of the policies, practices, and plans that can help create safe and supportive learning environments. While this checklist from SchoolSafety.gov is not comprehensive and each school has unique safety considerations, these actions may help K-12 communities in their preparations for a safe school year.

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 Cybersecurity

This episode of the Future-Driven Leader Podcast discusses the importance of developing robust cybersecurity plans, obtaining stakeholder buy-in, and the evolving role of AI in protecting school systems.

National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies

Information from the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Careers and Studies, a division of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, on building and enhancing cybersecurity programming within your school and district.

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In this article, Supt. Matthew Montgomery outlines five strategies for superintendents to build strong relationships with school boards. He emphasizes the importance of personal connections, consistent and respectful communication, and establishing a shared vision to align goals. Montgomery also advises leaning on leadership teams for support and embracing tension as a catalyst for growth. By following these strategies, superintendents can foster trust and navigate challenges effectively within their districts.

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"The ‘Care and Feeding’ of School Boards" by Rick Maloney and Bob Hughes (AASA member login required)

Nearing his retirement, a long-time, highly successful superintendent with whom one of us worked as a school board member explained how he was able to survive for so long in an often-fragile and risky political setting. He shared nine survival tips for new superintendents, which we’ve fleshed out here as school governance consultants. Each suggests what a new superintendent might tell the board, followed parenthetically by a more candid superintendent-to-superintendent translation.

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"Energizing the Disengaged Board Member" by Peg Portscheller

What happens if and when a board member appears to disengage? The disengagement may show up in one of many forms. The board member may begin missing meetings. The board member may show up for meetings but is not prepared to deal with the matters at hand. The board member may attend meetings and events but not actively participate in the current matters.

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"Social Media Guidance for Your Board" by Bob Butler

Many school board members exercise their First Amendment rights by being active users of social media, particularly Facebook and Twitter. Used well and with appropriate guidelines, social media can be a positive tool for engaging the community with the school district.

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 "From Compliance to Engagement: Richmond Public Schools' Journey to Reducing Absenteeism" by Jason Kamras

"Discover how Richmond Public Schools transformed their approach to attendance by focusing on engagement and relationship-building, leading to a significant reduction in chronic absenteeism and offering valuable insights for superintendents and school leaders."

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 "From Crisis to Connection: Tackling Chronic Absenteeism with Data-Driven Solutions and Community Support" by Heidi Sipe

"Chronic absenteeism – it’s a phrase that has become all too familiar to educators. Beyond the statistics, it represents a missed opportunity for countless students. As superintendents, we’ve seen firsthand the devastating impact it can have on a child’s academic journey and overall well-being."

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 Superintendent Research Briefing: District-Wide Strategies for Reducing Chronic Absenteeism

AASA and EAB hosted a superintendent research briefing webinar designed to help senior district leaders get smart quickly on the issue of chronic absenteeism and give them actionable strategies so they can get started addressing it.

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 Chronic Absenteeism feat. Leslie Torres-Rodriguez

The first step is to declare chronic absenteeism as the crisis that it is, says Leslie Torres-Rodriguez, superintendent of Hartford Public Schools in Hartford, Conn. She saw spikes in absenteeism at particular grade levels — kindergarten and 9th, for example — that called for a holistic approach.

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