The Boardroom Premiere

welcome to the boardroom your exclusive pass into the heart of transparency within the New Jersey school boards Association I'm thrilled as you joined us on this journey as we dive deep into the core values of our association peeling back the layers of our principles decisions and visions that guide us today we're going to talk about professional learning and we're doing so with the a of transparency and at New Jersey school boards Association transparency isn't just a buzzword it's a fundamental core value and the board boardroom is your opportunity to experience that with us so today I am joined with by Marsha LaVine our director of professional learning Marsha it's great to have you on the show thanks for having me good to have you so can you begin just for our listeners and our viewers talk a little bit about what you do and why what you do relates to the work we do well I am intricate in the planning of a lot of our conferences and workshop um and by that I mean I take the time to analyze what board members may need what's happening up the street at the State House what's happening locally figure out how we as an association can support the board members in their learning and their process and their Pathways um I take that and then I design a day or I design the conference the workshop so that as they are going through that day they it's seamless hopefully abely it's seamless for them um you do an outstanding job you're thank you thank you um with Workshop we work I work closely with the team that's on down on the exhibit floor with my team upstairs on the third and fourth floor to try to connect the two to create a workshop experience so from the moment you walk in you're you're almost in a space that takes over for you um so that is that is my job and how it relates back is that um it goes to the counties it goes It goes to Field Services is I have to work closely with all of the staff members um it works with mandated training um I spend time with staff understanding what their strengths and weaknesses are and try to help them to take what they do and improve it as they're presenting at conferences and things like that so nice that's so let's get a little personal okay um you and I have talked about Simon synak and the why right so so why do you do what you do um it's it's funny because you actually texted that to me um because this has been playing for a little while but um you texted that to me and I had to really think about why I do what I do um and it we lost power last night so I had a lot of time to think um for me from a young age I wanted to be a part of giving back to the community in which I lived um and that meant doing something in public service so finding a job that was based in public service um that could ALS so uh allow me to eat food was very important it was a good thing yeah and my journey actually took me through quite a few different places um where I was I did do nonprofit I worked for you know an animal shelter and spent time there so I could need food um and then I did work for corporate and I didn't like that either because it felt like I was selling my soul so being here allows me to to fulfill that piece of Public Service um and an important piece of Public Service service because it's a part of the educational system which is the most valuable important part of our society children yeah most important yes as we would both agree I I did notice your mug and I no I noce yours so but one of our teams is in the posting not yours yeah thanks that in mine is a true Eagles man um we might not be there long but we are there this week we see um so I I just wanted to start just for our viewers our listeners um if you can explain or talk a little bit about the new requirements um previously Board of Education members in the state of New Jersey had a year to complete their first year their mandatory training for gov one talk to us a little bit about that change because that's not the way it is anymore it is not it is not okay talk us a little about yes and many of them took that full year to complete their training um this year uh starting in February of 2023 they passed some new regulations the new board members now have to complete within 90 days of being seated so that means that starting um this week because a lot of them were sworn in in rate work so they have that time they have a little grace period um so from this week until uh mid-march they have to complete governance one um and that means either doing it through our self-paced program through the orientation weekends that we offer which are two or attending one of our mandated training um govern one days which is a an all day program um they have to why did they why did they make this change I mean if you know if I'm a board member you know I have a year to complete the training um but now I have 90 days so do do you know can you talk a little bit about the rationale as to why that change was made yes there was um complaints made to the to the SEC about board members who were seated for long periods of time not having the basic knowledge that they needed to get through the budgeting process to get through um you know making decisions about Staffing to make decisions in governance um so some there was there was those complaints filed with the SEC and so then they they went and took a look at the RS reorganized them a little bit and compacted it so that so that the new members at least are going to get through this orientation and get the foundational information they need so that they can process through that first year because that first year is tough it's a hard transition yeah but I guess the training is even more important for that first year as well is it is good point it is because it provides a lot to help support them as you transition onto that team learning that you're a member of the team learning that you have you know one of five one of seven one of nine um that you're a part of that and and so it's not just the regulations that you have to learn it's learning how to navigate that space that you're now in and also understanding your role as a board member as it relates to the community so we we deal with all of that within that orientation interesting and just u a reminder to the viewers if you have a question you can call in you can put it into the chat uh we're going to continue to have a conversation here but we'd love to hear from you any question you have related to the association or in particular related to professional learning at the New Jersey Schoolboard Association um so let's go back to our questions because I am interested and I'm sure our viewers want to hear more um does the 90day requirement um is that specific for first year board members or does that apply to others the 90 days is specific to your first term um as a board member now that being said it does extend a little bit if you have previously served um but have been off the board for more than three years they're going to ask you to retake goves 2 three and four so if you've um if you were on the board saying 2015 and then you left in 2018 but now you're back you have to start all over again with governance one so the 90day now applies to you ah gotcha okay okay so which board members need training in general say I've been on the board this is my second year I'm going to my second year on the board okay if you're headed into your second year you're going to take governance two which is school Finance so while we touch on school finance and governance one you get a very foundational introduction to school Finance um the financial aspect of of any school as you know is quite complicated so then we take all of governance too and just spend time talking about that loading in negotiations and things like that so there's gov two for your second year gov three in your third year so if you're in your first term you're taking something each year of that first term and then you run for the board again you then have to take the school law in that first year of that second term so okay so in this scenario say I was on the board I was off for a year or two now back back on the board um what do I do then you would take governance four yeah as long as you had completed one two and three see these are the intricacies that get sent to us all the time um and a lot of the Bas a lot of board members send us different questions so my team and I end up answering a lot of very specifics about the um each board member because sometimes it's very specific to the board member so if you were on the board in your first two years and you did one and two but for some reason you had to leave and then you came back you would still have to take three and then you would take four after that now you mentioned the business administrator um raises the question of you know how do I access you know the training module how do I sign up how do I get access to it yes all registrations for mandated training have to go through your through your business administrator or through the central office and so they will register you for the training that you need um once they register you you will receive a confirmation email from NBA's call center in there depending on what you've registered for so you could have registered for um say the self-pace course so if you've registered for that you're going to get a link that will take you to our learning management system um you won't even know you've changed platforms but you'll click on that and you'll be in and then suddenly there's a dashboard that gives you all the courses you have um if you've registered for a live virtual version of the of the course which is the ones that run at night in our 90 minutes or run during the day if it's the full day and it runs all day um again you'll get the link to the website where that is listed um and then if you get if you're going through the weekend you'll just get information from us about you mentioned the timing um so can you walk us through the different trainings so each governance module and how long each takes and and it may be different different based on if you do the weekend or if you can walk us through so that our viewers have a comprehensive understanding of each sure so governance one is the one that's offered in the most different ways and as a board member you should really make a decision based on what your learning style is and what best supports the way you're going to take in information but also what's going to support your life um so so you're differentiating we differentiate the way we we educate the adults we do it with adults as much as we do with children so um the weekend is a Friday to Sunday so you're going to dedicate the whole Friday Saturday Sunday with us with Saturday being extremely intensive um I try to put breaks in it but there's not many to noville there's yeah you give them cookies I give them milk and cookies and pretzels because you know Philly um so the weekend uh we offer those there's only two of them and there's only 200 seats for those two weekends total 100 100 it maxes out at 100 per week okay so register now yeah well January's closed so only February's open so only the February is open at this point and one of the main questions we get is if I can't make it Friday night can I still go no you need to be there Friday Saturday Sunday we will hold you in a weight list if you can't make something on a Friday on the Friday night's part but um we really want those hundred seats going to people that are going to be there for all three days um you do have to be there for all of Saturday all of Sunday all of um Friday night is a little different because there's legislatively required pieces to each training right and so if you're not at those then the training doesn't count so you could have gone to the weekend and if you're if you miss one of those you now haven't fulfilled your mandate training the the weekend offers a unique component right a little bit different than the online um talk to us a little bit about the role of the group leader um you know in a time where we need more mentors more coaches um you know I often get questions from board members as I'm sure you do as well do you have a mentorship program do you have talk to us about the role of the group leader for those weekends because I think that's such a valuable aspect of the weekend yeah it really does change it changes the whole way orientation is done because the group leaders are um recently either recently off the board or on the board board members who um help take how do you select these leaders they apply for the website there's actually a spot on our website where you can go in and you can fill out an application to become a board to become a group leader as well as do other things throughout the association you can volunteer to be more active in the association um to be a group leader there's there's different things on there that we look for um but then we also run a training that happens in the spring where we kind of talk about education adult learning Concepts how it works right um but the group leader role is to take what's happening in what we call the big room so when the staff comes in and the staff is presenting on ethics or presenting on open public meetings or governance um student achievement those are the main topics that we're talking about they'll present present on that and then what we do is after that you go into a smaller small group of 10 and there's a group leader in there that helps you to kind of break that down and relate it back to what it's like this is what I find so fascinating because here's an opportunity for our board members to ask questions in a comfortable environment um without fear of being judged um being comfortable to ask a question you're you're not surrounded by your board or your superintendent or your District leaders right but rather you're an environment where you can ask a question uh without being embarrassed or you know without fear of being retaliated against um and you're hearing from you know someone who's considered a master at the field yes and a lot of times the Dynamics in those little room in the smaller rooms changes very differently um depending on the makeup of each group so we attempt to mix up the the small groups demographically throughout the state but what happened happens organically is that there's just such a mixture um last year Irene lefave the the immediate past president had people that were 20 and people that were 70 in her group that were firsttime board members the dynamic of that room was was fascinating to they cultivate such strong relationships they do they it continues it continues on and a lot of emails I mean there are people who have worked here who you know who their group leader was when they were it's a great mentorship model we do have a question um from the online chat Jennifer is asking um you know she was just sworn in for her third term this week um she took gov four Workshop you know is that okay and we were actually G to get into this L on anyway so this is a perfect question um yes Jenifer that's fine um the SEC doesn't allow for a lot of leeway in your governance training but because we won governance at Workshop in October that is the furthest out you're able to take a training so yes governance four at Workshop in October will count toward 2024 trainings absolutely awesome quick question about um I can imagine some board members who get nervous about being reported yes non-compliant at what point in the calendar year do you report those board members as non-compliant the non-compliance happens um it depends I'm I'm going to I'm going to give the informous legal response it depends Carl appreciate Carl will appreciate that our general counsel um it it genuinely depends because um njsba tries to work very closely with the SEC um in supporting them in their role in this process too and understanding that you know they have capacity and and and and a lot happening over there too so we report anywhere from January through March okay um somewhere in that time frame the list gets sent over um and it varies depending on honestly how how many people are on the list um the list the list um sounds scary I don't want to be on that list no nobody and we really try to focus on trying to keep them off the list we want to have the list be the smallest it can be sounds scary um which is partially why nsba offers um trainings every month except for July and August um and sometimes in September depending on return times and what the calendars look like but we really do try to give um board members other than the self-paced which is open 24 hours a day seven days a week starting usually in February throughout the whole calendar year we try to offer some version of each training for them so that we can keep the list really small now you mentioned the SEC uh can you talk a little bit about that just for um our viewers who may be even out of state you know what do the SEC what does it do in relation to this work um the the the commission is um they are a group that's at it's based in the department of y um and they it's their job to impose the regulations we really just track all the trainings that's what njba does we provide them and we track them and then we give that over to to the commission to to implement any kind of punishment and I hate using that word but any kind of sanction that may come down the RO um so their role is to have to ensure that all the board members who are elected officials and required to take these trainings get the trainings done and that school ethic commission is a governing body that exists outside of us is for our viewers to understand and um and that's important an important distinction to have um that checks and balance but um so yeah you don't want to be on that list you don't want to be on that list and and honestly nsba has does everything we can to ensure that our data is is is accurate um and we work with board members who reach out to us when if there's any kind of glitches or questions or comments or concerns you email into call center or you email into PL and we kind of take a look at it and try to fix it if there is we have a question from our vice president of resolutions legislation shant L Jackson and that question is um you what other opportunities um do you recommend for uh new board members to become more effective and maybe outside of let's think beyond the go one training yes they should um I would highly recommend attending your county meetings on a regular basis um the topics that are offered there I mean that's where it's bad but that's where I got my start was in the counties so I always go back to that World um there they're offered throughout the year um it's at least five a year that you can attend and it's really close um and now with the the ability to attend other counties through the through your computers you can go throughout the whole state so I highly recommend attending that because you can can just hear conversations that will help influence questions that you may want to ask um whenever possible attending conferences that are open to you that you're able to do um if you're able to make that work with your work schedule but Workshop is one of the number one things that I I I say you have to get to Isaac Stern a um violinist American violinist um once said and I love this because I use this a lot that music happens between the notes right so um and that's the same thing when you think about attending a meeting right what occurs between the meetings you know then opportunity um to forge new relationships reconnect with others the learning I think is just Limitless in Sharing opportunities and that's one of the reasons why we launched our connection platform so um we have three strategic priorities at the association um and those are content connection advocate vacy and related to connection uh we launched a portal um in which members can share information ubiquitously right log on um say a board member from you know Bergen County or Sussex County has you know hey I'd love to see a new board member orientation agenda and then a board member from Atlanta County Cumberland county is opts on hey here's our agenda here's so that sharing of information and best practices really provides and strengthens the value of engagement as well as raises the bar for our performance in board governance I believe strongly um and I know Kurt revich was very instrumental in bringing that uh platform to us so um so anyway I I went off topic there a littleit you did no connections absolutely relates back to I mean Community Learning a huge move opportunity for new board members um to get involved and share ideas well it's also a way to get mentoring going I mean that's the biggest piece of the counties is the mentoring that happen when we talked about the mentoring with but and and the connections is related to that so if you're in connections you're going to start to make those yeah in the county meetings I'll address this because you brought it up I thought it was a great recommendation from our um our question the county meetings have their own leadership so um you know while we're connected in terms of being you know associate kind of parent organization we don't have governance over that that County meeting has leadership of their own um and they determine their agendas and to incredible County meetings where they have topics that are so relevant uh to the board member you know we are I believe living in a time where we have the most politicalization and polarization at the local board level than ever before um so I think you know being able to talk to others outside of your local Board of Education to share ideas and that sense of universality um that you know we're not in this you know you're not alone you're not on an island um and to that point New Jersey school boards Association is also here to help in any way we can um and a lot of that help is in at our professional learning level and also we have field service representatives and what that means is you have an employee of New Jersey school boards Association that can come in that can work with your board of education uh that can provide ethics training uh we do strategic planning we do um in some cases superintendent searches CSA searches uh but they're there to guide you to look at your goals uh to reflect to evaluate your progress um so if you haven't reached out to your field service representative that's another um Avenue for uh learning and I think that would help with new board members as well um but in addition I was thinking also you have other conferences we right so you have other yeah can you talk a little bit about that because I think new board members may want to take advantage of this as well yes we are um in the process of planning a Women's Conference that'll happen in April um and uh I'm working closely with Lauren quvo um our lead director of I don't even know her whole title because different director you know it yes yeah go ahead strategic development there you go so but but talk to me about that women in leadership conference who is the target for that conference um you know and and how if I'm if I'm listening in how can I attend um everybody is a target for that conference because it's a the idea is the um is is understanding your dual role that you may have and so if you're a board member you have a dual role because you're a Community member you're a board member you're a parent you have a job all of those different hats that you wear um so the concept is is balance um and inclusion of of all voices at the table so that you're making sure that everybody's being heard um we will be releasing the registration link soon it's not up yet but it'll be out there soon um and you will have to work through your ba to get registered for that but the concept is that we're we're helping everyone find their voice find their empowerment find balance in what they're doing um it is focused on on women in leadership and so there's a lot of women that are going to be speaking it's mostly female women you leers you mentioned board members but and the reason why I asked this question about the target audience is it's not just board it's not just board members so you mentioned you have to register through your ba what if I'm you know I want to attend and I'm not on a board of education what would I do there is a there'll be a separate link that you can click on um to register so there's a non-member link and a member link okay so anybody so you can share it I mean if as our members are going through this if you have somebody who is not a board member that want you want to bring with you to come to this as we release the agenda and you take a look at it and you're like oh this friend would be great or this person would be wonderful it's open to everybody it's it's a a conference that we're hoping will speak to lots of people of the community and bring the whole Community together yeah awesome well um any other areas or ways that a new board member can get involved um they can like I said they could go online and take a look at that volunteer application if they want to um but I really do suggest like you said I was going to go back to the field service reps talking to your field service rep starting there so that you can get um your connection there uh going to the county meetings because that's the first step in the door and really just getting to understand your the community in which you're based because a lot of times we're so focused on our local spot that we don't realize the bigger we get lost for the trees in the woods um but you can go to we're going to run a spring conference also so you could come to that um there'll be some Regional programming that field services is going to be putting out so take a look for that um and then there's some stuff online that that through connections that you'll see great so mostly take a look at watch your Schoolboard notes watch releasing from marketing and pay attention to what's coming at you excellent um say I'm a board member I've completed my training but it's not showing up on my certificate okay so there's there's a couple things I know you get this question all the time too we do we get call center is probably inundated with this question there's a difference between your certification and your transcripts so if you're going to get your new board member certification which is something that all new board members can get their first two years so if you're looking to get that but you complete your required training through the self-paced course that's not going to get you your certification for new board member so that's why it's not appearing on your on your certification listing but it is appearing on your transcript so those are two separate spots in your portal so remember as you look in your portal if you're a new board member or a seasoned board member you have two different places in your portal that you can look you have my transcripts and then you have track my certification those are very different places and they're tracking very different things um but if you do want to get your new board member certification and you took the self-paced course because you were like oh I have 90 days I got to check this I got to get it done and you get that done that's okay you can still attend something um to get your certification for the new board members so you can still go to a live virtual you could still attend the mandated Training Day the only thing that isn't open is the weekend um but you can you can still go do other versions so that you can get your certification yeah now we also have a spring conference right we do can you talk a little bit about the spring conference um you know and if who who is that targeted towards and this conference is directed at mostly school like school board members School District employees it's more directed at at your District um and it's going to be um we're going to have at least three different tracks um that we're hoping to have um which what is a track a track is is um it's basically a training course so there'll be a line that's like for one of them is our PR we're going to do public relations and Communications so there'll be a traff of who the target for that that is um anybody in your in your um in your District who would be doing your Outreach for your community so whatever role title whatever you call them y That's where that would fall okay um now it doesn't mean that it's not open to other people I mean board members can attend that track attendance can attend that anybody can attend that track but it's directed at the person that you have doing your community relations and public relations of for the district got um so what it means is that the sessions in that track are going to be more tailored and focused at speaking to that level of person um the other tracks are student achievement and Student Success um and then potentially school security but an overarching sense of school security not necessarily the traditional you know lockdowns or cyber secur we're talking about an umbrella approach to school security um and so those other two are more of a of a district Personnel Board member um track so great awesome if you just tuned in I'm here with Marshall LaVine our director of professional learning uh we're having a conversation about professional learning but you can call in with any question you have uh or you could type in into a chat um we'll certainly get to all of your questions um so we'll continue to have this conversation and feel free to uh interject with any questions that you have um can you talk us I I know I get this question all the time about Workshop um my presentation was rejected what might be the reasoning or what advice would you give um a stakeholder who has submitted a presentation he was rejected but they want to present this year okay so the process we have um our Workshop um we have a committee that goes through all of the submissions and they are relying on what you write in that submission to best portray your your program proposal so if if we're looking at an action lab and there's nothing actionable in it they're going to give it a low score which you'd be surprised at how many action Labs have no actionable event yeah um or if we had a lot of we tried to have them relate back to our strategic plan okay and a lot of them didn't have anything that related back to the nsba Strategic plan what about the theme what if I you know I considered the theme and I wrote my proposal based on the theme so it um that helped I'm not gonna lie it helped a lot this year um this last year people who were incorporating the theme and kind of worked that into their description and worked that into their learning objectives and worked it into the um the in the The Proposal they did score higher yeah by the this last year our theme was today's students tomorrow's superheroes we had over 8,000 attendees at workshop at Atlantic City um so and right now we're talking about submission of proposals for Workshop sessions uh and we do turn away a considerable amount and we get that question about you know well why was mine turn away why was my proposal rejected so we're talking a little bit about how you could refine that proposal to ensure a better rate of success at getting into Workshop 2024 which is in October but you've been planning uh and Lauren corvo and the team have been planning almost uh immediately following the previous year's Workshop we have been yes we have um okay anything um in terms of um professional learning um is there anything or any new initiatives that you feel and we talked about women in leadership um but that would better serve our members or say I have an idea I'm watching right now and I have an idea idea of what New Jersey school boards association should do let's say I'm my opinion you guys need to do this yeah how who do they reach out to on your team to share that idea they can send it we actually have a general email box um it's training and professional learning training what is that email it's t if you give me one second I can p up here I apologize um it and we put down on the screen uh for you so um we'll drop it into the chat box as well to see have that information we have two one is training njsp.org and the other one is tpd at nsp.org okay either one of those will get to the entire team okay um which is Luchia gersman and Amy Burke and myself yeah I mean at school boards we believe that success doesn't occur in a vacuum right so we know we're stronger when we listen intently to what your needs are as members how can we better serve you so we're constantly thinking of ways we can serve you better um and that's been you know part of our vision for quite some time now so along those lines if you do have an idea or you think that um Schoolboard should consider whatever it might be you know certainly email us and let us know so that Marsha and her team can take a look at that uh and be guided accordingly um in terms of um as you reflect on the governance modules so you've got go one two three and four MH um talk to us a little bit about I'm a board member but you know I don't learn legal until you know so how do how do I if I'm a new board member I feel like I don't know all the information until I've completed the four modules I know the answer but yeah share what is module one look like and how does that prepare them module one is a sixh hour if when we do it in one day it's at least six hour hours so it touches on and and growing it's going to probably be longer than that uh it's a full day program though so it touches on all of the different pieces yeah so you have an Ethics you have almost a 90 minute presentation just on ethics and then you have on top of that open public meetings act which is a good 45 minutes so while you may not know everything correct you've been subjected to everything it's like a buffet SM there you go it's like a buffet you get to go face if I could speak honestly just being you don't like the sne is that enough to protect you right not enough with the sneeze card but um it's an orientation so the idea is that you're GNA spend time learning a little bit from each of the departments in our building um which is why it keeps growing because everybody wants more time they all when I say 20 minutes they come back with an hour um which is fine I understand it but um when people sit when anyone one sits for six hours they start to just yeah close over but the other thing is is that honestly you can take any of the governances that you want um it won't be counted by the SEC but you are we welcome new board members take of two three and four could take them it's not going to count towards next year's requirement correct but you know in terms of being informed as a board member correct you are welcome to attend any of the mandated trainings that you would like to do uh Dani put a question in the chat related to you know do you need volunteers how can I volunteer how can I help the State Association so without knowing if Daniel's a board member let's let's bifurcate your answer so as a member of the public can I get involved in what ways to help and I'll answer a little bit of this as well and then as a board member so I'll let you answer the board member and I'll answer the member of the public appreciate So Daniel I um you know we you you know if we just operated by listening to our members you know we'd be remiss and I think we'd be myopic in in our thinking uh and we realize that members people that are not members now can become members can be members next year in November so yeah we certainly would love for you to get involved um uh as we mentioned before if you have any ideas you can certainly uh send us those ideas but you know I certainly would Avail myself to having a a chat over a cup of coffee if you have some ideas or um you'd like to get involved in certain ways um the Committees that we have our committee structure is really only afforded to those who are our members who sit on a board of education um and we have a variety of ways that you can get involved um I'm going to let Marsha answer the question related to how can I get involved from the lens of professional learning because you might be an expert in something uh you might be a school leader so I'll let her answer how how you might get involved in terms of uh teaching a course or or getting involved in that way but in terms of being a member of the public we'd love to hear from you love to hear your thoughts um in terms of active involvement we do defer to our members for active engagement uh but I'll give you an example we're rebooting our website um so I've got a a task force that's been working diligently on redefining our website to make sure it's more user friendly uh that it is you know more member driven uh but certainly members of the public that aren't you know the members we serve you use our website for information for research so that's an area where we could certainly get your Insight and involvement um yes and so for membership it it varies and I think your I think your background and your expertise apply to where you would want to volunteer with the association there are a lot of committees standing committees that you could be a part of there's the group leader piece that you could be a part of in professional learning we could always take a look at if you are somebody who has some expertise that that fit into a course figuring out how how that could work for us um but there's also just the the Grassroots level I mean Tim talked about the counties the counties all have officers and they are constantly in need of individuals who are willing to step up and be in that role and take on the the the face of the County Association but also be the voice because if the counties aren't speaking to the State Association then the communication isn't going both ways so we need some people that talk up and people who talk down for the association to be fully functioning and working properly um there's Board of director positions that you can fill and I do see that as a lad now that you mentioned that um and I I think this is relevant to Daniel's question um getting involved in your County Association I do see that as a step um before possibly getting more involved um at the state level in the board of directors or even you know down the line potentially considering an officer position each one of your executive officers started as a County officer so that is that's a great point to start there at that county level to get involved um and if you're a student we urge you to get involved locally with your with your school um and hopefully your board has student representative that you can consider that as well so we don't know where you're where you're at in your career or you know where you are uh in your stakeholder lens but uh we certainly urge you to get involved um yeah yeah and and honestly I would never say that we don't need volunteers we always need volunteers because we always need to be filling and looking for people so makes us stronger yeah it does yeah we talk a lot um with leadership about uh the difference of opinion and how it makes us stronger and um I feel like we we are living in a divided World um but when we make decisions it's so important to consider the opposing opinion and I think you know at least at leadership we've tried to cultivate an environment where we're listening to the room right hearing the entire room um ensuring that no voice is marginalized and ensuring that that voice because that voice may change direction uh complete direction of the organization that could be a pearl of wisdom that a nugget of information that can change how we operate um better and more effectively so I think um you know at least internally as I reflect on our internal work it's so important that we welcome differences of opinion uh and then we Embrace that we have a uh they laugh at me because I I put a a plush skunk in the middle of the table yes and and that skunk represents that things are going to get messy in here but that's a good thing it makes us stronger uh so yeah it's um anyway well that's again we talked about the women's Conant the women in leadership and that's one of the big premises is ensuring that oh yeah your team is listening to all the voices whether you like them or not all of them the barriers that you faced as a woman in leadership um I'm excited about that conference yeah I am too I'm trying to yeah so I have um I ask three questions always at the end of podcasts and certainly if you have a question you know far away but um you know I'd like to ask or I'd like to end with what book are you currently reading and would you recommend it sometimes you're reading a book and you wouldn't recommend it second is what is a quote that you live by or maybe um something that um you someone said once or a quote that sits on your desk um and the third is name a person who's been an inspiration to you Mentor um you know it could be anyone so those three questions first book well I don't ever just read one book because okay it depends on where I am and my head in that space well you're in professional learning so that's a good answer um the the book I'm gonna talk about that was home front by um by Kristen Hannah she if you liked Nightingale if anybody read that um you'll love this book too what's the premise tell us about book it's about a uh it's um the the first Iraqi War to war so the the concept of that and but it's about what it's like it actually goes Al line with the Women's Conference that we talk about um what it's like for her as being a mom being a wife and being a soldier and having to leave and the dichotomy of dealing with that because her husband doesn't understand why she cares so much her husband while he loves her still just doesn't get all of that um and while she's over there she gets injured and and all of the stuff that happens um if you sounds like a keynote for your women in leadership conference just saying it would be good um but it is one of those ones where you uh if you make sure you have your box of Kleenex and you're ready to to dab your eyes as you're reading it especially if you're uh a woman who has has dealt with any of that and you're a mom because I mean like night Andale if you read that I was sobbing at the end of it um so yes I would recommend it it's good um that's my light reading that's my light reading that's your light reading that's my light reading all right what about a quote it's funny because during a the last year I I reached back out to uh a friend of mine from my student Exchange in high school um because of the war in Kev so I reached out to see if they were all safe and they were all fine and in the process of doing that she quoted back to me a quote that I had when I was 18 which is a very different Marsha than this Marsha um but it was uh life is short have fun which is hysterical to me and as soon as she said that like all of these different images came into my head um and I would say that it's my my quote is probably still the same but it's be here now is where I am now so I think as I've gone through life the quote is about the same but it shifts depending on be here now where I am so and you know I have a story for everything so I have a quick story bear with me listeners um no I am yeah it is that um the so I was coaching is t-ball of all things highly competitive of course um so there's this parent who um you know was was videotaping uh holding up their camera and videotape every time the kid was up every single time um but you know when I talked to he he missed something that occurred I forget what it was that the details because he was trying to get his phone to record um and I said you know what you're doing by doing that is you're looking through a screen you're not enjoying the sounds the Ambiance right the entire picture being present because you're behind a screen right right you're not really experiencing it you're not experiencing it you're not in the moment it's funny that you had that because that's the exact same conversation I had with my husband about recording the kids like at the zoo or at I was like put your phone down right yeah you're capturing this to watch later but you're not you're not here now you're not experiencing this moment at this moment put the phones away put it away be here now the moment be here now that's right yep um so yeah that's I feel as though it's it's very similar um to what I I mean when you're 18 of course have fun but um yes um I think that as as I move through life it shifts a little bit you know now that I have kids it's I just want to be here now because the decade with my daughter has gone fast gone fast yeah um and the last question is um you know someone in your life that's provided you know mentorship ship inspiration um this one is a little bit more difficult because again I think as I move through life it's different and I'm and I don't have a someone I have a group of some ones my family and my friends are my Foundation um and I feel like they fill in all of my rough edges and my weaknesses um and that's partially why I'm drawn to the people I'm drawn to I think with my friendships is that I see in them something that I don't see in myself so they're the ones that I look to to help inspire me to be a better version of myself a better version yes isn't that what we're all striving we're alling for I'm sorry I didn't give you the answers that you want but that was exactly what I wanted it's my family friend well thanks for tuning in to the boardroom this episode of The Boardroom um and we're g to be back next month um with a different guest thank God you want to do this again Charlie Mueller will be here on Val Valentine's Day of all days so you can you can sit and enjoy lunch your Valentine's lunch with Charlie and me uh but Charlie is our new business administrator and residence um and he's going to share a little bit about budgeting Finance really perfect timing in terms of being on the board and um working through how you support your business administrator and District officials um and what questions to ask and and how to what where should I be asking questions um appropriately so look forward to that conversation hopefully you can join us February 14th from noon to 1: p.m. and thanks again for joining the boardroom have a great day