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District describes large professional-development day for teachers and 1,600 education support professionals
Summary
Alicia Mitchel told the board a districtwide professional-development kickoff (theme: "educators limitless impact") aligned sessions to school success plans and Elevate 28 goals and used in-house presenters to save costs; Laurie Adams reported about 1,600 education support professionals attended a separate PD day with keynotes and breakouts on wellness, behavior and tech.
Alicia Mitchel told trustees the district's Oct. 24 professional-development day emphasized choice, school-aligned strands and in-house presenters, and that materials and session recordings are available on a Google site for teachers.
"Our theme this year... was 'educators limitless impact,'" Mitchel said, describing a districtwide kickoff and multiple breakout strands tied to school success plans and Elevate 28 goals. Mitchel emphasized using district coordinators, directors and staff as presenters to reduce costs and increase internal capacity.
Mitchel said principals were the drivers for school goals and preregistration ensured teachers attended sessions aligned to school improvement needs; she encouraged trustees to review the Google site for session resources.
Laurie Adams presented the district's education support professional (ESP) development for classified staff, reporting roughly 1,600 ESPs attended multiple sessions at Westfield High School. General sessions included keynote Joe Tate, in-house legal counsel Heidi Alder on workplace professionalism, and a speaker on managing student behavior. Adams said breakout sessions focused on stress management, financial planning, student behavior and Blue Zones wellness and received strong positive survey feedback.
Board members and the superintendent praised the planning teams and encouraged staff to continue refining the program. No board action was taken; presenters said they will continue to expand offerings based on attendee suggestions for more technology and mental-health training.
