Program

This presentation explores the various types of cooperative purchasing agreements available to school districts and public entities. Attendees will gain insights into the key differences, benefits, and considerations of these arrangements, empowering them to select the most effective strategies for leveraging collective buying power while ensuring compliance and meeting organizational needs.

Assuring your district’s future strength and stability is crucial for excelling in the present. Do you have the strategies, processes, and tools in place to drive financial strength, stability, and sustainability? Learn how one district is using data and analytics to create a culture where data is used to drive decisions that impact the financial condition of the district. 

Learning Objectives:
1.    Attendees will learn how one district implemented a comprehensive plan to maintain and build their financial strength and stability
2.    Attendees will discover tangible processes and systems that can be employed to use data to drive decisions
3.    Attendees will discuss which how these data driven strategies can be tailored to your own district’s set of unique challenges

Hear from your colleagues on how they have transformed their financial presentations from boring and snoring to a sensational knockout!  It’s easier than you think, and it will reap benefits greater than your expectations. Push out of your comfort zone and try a different slant to your approach. 

Hear from leaders of statewide education associations about the legislative and policy priorities they are working on this year. While there are many differences and specific areas of focus within each membership, there are also significant commonalities. Join us to learn more about how the “P Groups” work together to advocate for public education, and how we are using our common voice on the many funding, staffing, and other challenging facing public education.

In this presentation, Christin will provide an overview of evidence based, best practices for planning for security improvements and will provide an overview of the planning process, the lifecycle of the process, identification of the team that should be involved in planning, and provide actionable tasks that managers can use to assist in the creation and development of an integrated security program. Additionally, she will provide information on funding streams available to help cover the cost of security improvements. In this presentation, Christin will provide an overview of evidence based, best practices for planning for security improvements and will provide an overview of the planning process, the lifecycle of the process, identification of the team that should be involved in planning, and provide actionable tasks that managers can use to assist in the creation and development of an integrated security program. Additionally, she will provide information on funding streams available to help cover the cost of security improvements.
 

Learning Objectives:

After this presentation, attendees should be able to:

Understand the difference between safety and security and explain the intersection between safety and security

Understand and apply a systems based approach to planning for security, including prevention, mitigation, and response/recovery

Understand the life cycle of planning for security

Understand how to create a security plan, including the actions needed, the correct team members that should be involved in the decision making process, and the deliverables for each step in the process

Understand and identify funding streams available to implement security improvements

The Upper St. Clair School District developed the Building Operations Leadership Team (BOLT) to transform its facilities and operations culture from a reactive, siloed structure into a proactive, student-centered model. Launched in 2020, and winner of the 2024 PASBO School Operations Impact Award, BOLT brings together custodial, maintenance, security, and technology representatives at each school to improve communication, accountability, and efficiency. Attendees will learn how the district slashed workers' compensation claims and saved the district hundreds of thousands of dollars through BOLT's practices of enhanced workplace safety, operational effectiveness, and fiscal responsibility. A replicable model for other school districts, this session will explain how the BOLT practice is accomplished.

Brain imaging has allowed great insight into how our actions, thoughts and words effect our daily life.  Using that insight can make a significant difference in how you live each day and interact with others.  This presentation focuses on how you can be more productive by using your brain to choose your mood, stress, efficacy, view of others, and your self-image.  

Join PCCD staff for updates on school safety and security initiatives, including school security personnel requirements, assessment criteria, training standards, annual reporting, and threat assessment. We will also provide an overview and tips for working with school safety and security grant funding, as well as looking at upcoming projects on the horizon for the coming year.

Join this session for a PDE update on the Adequacy and Tax Equity components of the Ready to Learn Block Grant for the current fiscal year.

Join PCCD staff for updates on school safety and security initiatives, including school security personnel requirements, assessment criteria, training standards, annual reporting, and threat assessment. We will also provide an overview and tips for working with school safety and security grant funding, as well as looking at upcoming projects on the horizon for the coming year.

The Bureau of Special Education will share an overview of the major subsidies and funding from Federal and State sources including IDEA part B, School Based Access/Medical Assistance, State Special Education Subsidy, and Contingency funds. Presentation will also include how an LEA service delivery model can impact expenditures and potential cost saving measures.

Join us for an education policy conversation that tackles some of the short and long-term challenges facing public education from a variety of important perspectives. Panelists Representative Bryan Cutler, Minority Chairman, House Education Committee, Matthew Knittel, Executive Director, Independent Fiscal Office, and Jim Vaughan, Executive Director, Pennsylvania State Education Association will discuss the state’s financial picture and demographic trends along with issues facing LEAs across the commonwealth, including funding challenges and staffing shortages. Learn more about how we can overcome our current challenges and what the future of public education in Pennsylvania could look like from each unique lens.