We have a wide variety of breakout sessions scheduled for the Annual Texas Charter Schools Conference on October 28th– 30th in San Antonio, each with assigned Commissioner Credit hours. Here is another sampling of the many innovative professional development opportunities available:
- Come and Get Your Prior Written Notice: What You Need to Know on Special Education, 504 and OCR Caselaw Update and “State of the State” - In this session presented by Chris Schulz and Allen Keller of Schulman, Lopez, Hoffer & Adelstein, LLP, participants will learn how to effectively and efficiently handle the increasing number of complaints and cases related to special education brought against charter schools, including identifying and implementing effective case management practices, as well as learning to successfully navigate the sensitive issues underlying special education, 504 and OCR complaints. Credit - 60 minutes, School Law.
- SB 11 - Ensuring Compliance with New State Safety and Security Standards for Charter Schools– Tom Kelley, TCOLE Training Coordinator, School Safety Specialist, Texas School Safety Center (TSSC). SB 11 requires open-enrollment charter schools to adopt and implement a multi-hazard emergency operations plan for use in the school's facilities, establish a school safety and security committee, develop a model safety and security audit procedure, and require their governing board to determine specific content and curriculum of the school's healthy relationships education with the advice of the local health advisory council. Tom Kelley, school safety specialist with TSSC (the agency charged with monitoring charter compliance related to SB11) will provide a comprehensive overview of SB 11 requirements, discuss deadlines for implementation, and resources that are available to assist schools in implementing these requirements. Credit - 60 minutes, School Health and Safety
Special Bonus Note!!! - After his presentation on Tuesday, Mr. Kelley has agreed to stay after and make himself available to talk with individual charter leaders as long as needed to answer specific questions and discuss TSSC resources available to charter schools to help effectively implement SB11 requirements.
- HB3 School Board Goals and Early Education Reading and Math Plans – Kara Belew, JD, CPA; Senior Policy Advisor, Center for Education Innovation, Texas Public Policy Foundation and A.J. Crabill, Deputy Commissioner of Governance, Texas Education Agency will discuss the impact of HB3 on charter schools. HB3 requires school boards to adopt early education reading and math plans and monitor progress. In addition, school boards must adopt college and career goals. In this session Kara and A.J. will explain HB3’s school board goal requirements, provide examples of SMART goals, and progress monitoring tools available to schools. Credit – 60 minutes, School Law
All of the breakout sessions will provide Commissioner Credit hours, so if you need a 15 hour annual update as a charter officer or 5 or 10 hours as a campus administrator, you’re covered!
Charter governance board members, don’t forget that we have a special training just for governance board members on Tuesday that will allow returning board members to receive their required 6-hour annual update all one day, all in one sitting. In addition to some familiar topics such as updates on school finance, accountability for public funds, health and safety and academic accountability to provide three of the required six hours of credit, we have three new one-hour sessions that we’re really excited about – created based on your feedback – including, 86th Legislature Update, Best Practices for CEO Evaluation and Advocacy Tools for Charter Governance Board Members.
Questions about the conference breakout sessions? Contact Dr. Bruce Marchand, TCSA Director of Training. Registration questions? You can email our conference staff or call 1-855-389-8723.
See you in San Antonio!
