Round Rock ISD Board of Trustees Secretary Suzi David joined 34 other school board members from across Texas in February at the third session of the Leadership Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) Class of 2017.
Selected by TASB, the group is participating in a yearlong education leadership study program. The trustees represent school districts of all sizes, with student populations of 1,000 to 159,000, and reflect a similar range of property wealth.
Meeting in Austin, the trustees began their session by hearing featured speaker Mark Elberfeld, president of the Gabriel Center for Servant-Leadership in Atlanta, Georgia. Elberfeld is a recognized authority on leadership training and focused on characteristics of leaders as servants. Other speakers included Kelly McDonald and Harvey Kronberg. McDonald spoke on critical interpretations from the census data and how they impact school decisions, and Kronberg addressed happenings from the 85th Legislature. The class also visited KIPP Austin and learned about one of the state’s largest charter schools.
Participants who complete all required elements of the study will graduate in 2017 by earning Master Trustee status. This is the highest designation recognized by TASB.
Other Leadership TASB sessions are scheduled for McAllen, April 20-22; and Forth Worth, June 22-24. Each session has a unique theme that builds on the previous session and features nationally recognized experts in the fields of leadership development and education. Teams also work throughout the year on extended learning assignments between meetings.
Created in 1993, Leadership TASB has more than 800 graduates to date. TASB is a voluntary, nonprofit association established in 1949 to serve local Texas school boards. School board members are the largest group of publicly elected officials in the state. The districts they represent serve more than 5.3 million public school students.
