President Vailas to discuss partnerships at April 26 school-superintendents forum

Superintendents from each of the 56 K-12 school districts in eastern Idaho will convene at Idaho State University from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 26 to discuss a wide variety of issues during the Eastern Idaho Superintendents’ Forum.

State legislators, representatives of the Governor’s Office and the Idaho State Board of Education, as well as ISU officials, will join the superintendents from Regions 4 (Twin Falls), 5 (Pocatello) and 6 (Idaho Falls) school districts.

Following opening remarks at 9 a.m., ISU President Arthur C. Vailas, PhD, will address the forum on the topic “University–School District Partnerships: Expectations and Opportunities” at 9:30 a.m. in the Little Wood River Room.

The forum is sponsored by the ISU College of Education’s Intermountain Center for Educational Effectiveness and Department of Educational Leadership. Eastern Idaho Superintendents’ Forums are held in the spring after each session of the Idaho Legislature and in the fall in the early part of the school year.

“Our spring forum focuses on how decisions made this year by the Legislature will affect public schools and state budget issues, and how State Board of Education initiatives will affect the school districts,” said E.E. “Gene” Davis, EdD, director of the ICEE. “But we will also cover a lot of other topics, examining the issues that make it a challenge to be a superintendent in this day and age.”

    Some of those “other topics” include high school redesign, improving instructional practices, the availability of teachers, competitive funding for teachers and the use of education enhancement funds.

    For more information on the forum, contact the ICEE at (208) 282-3202.