Executive Viewpoint

HAPPY NEW (FISCAL) YEAR!

Dr. Mike Hernandez, AAEA Executive Director

The month of June has come to an end. I always felt like June was a time to breathe and go on vacations — a nice time to rest and reflect on the previous school year. I hope you have found some time to do this. I spent the last few days of June going to the New Kids on the Block concert in Rogers, AR, and getting my youngest daughter’s wisdom teeth cut out. Regardless of what you do, a little time off is always good. After July 4th, our administrative wheels start to pick up steam and move full speed ahead for the upcoming school year. Seeing all the new students and staff as they return for the 2024-2025 school year will be exciting. We will also anxiously await the scores from the new ATLAS test and determine how to best support each student going forward. June is over, so bring on the new school year!

At AAEA, we have been busy making our usual visits across the state providing training in Tier I, general updates, and supporting principals. I have been able to do a couple of trainings with superintendents on supporting principals. It has been great to dive back into the LEADS rubric and discuss with district leaders how they develop goals and measure successes with their building principals. We have learned about identifying and collecting the various types of evidence and how to develop a goal for each element of the rubric. This allowed different district leaders to share ideas and consider various types of principal supports. I believe this will go a long way to helping improve the work of principals to in turn support teacher’s efforts in the classroom. We must continue to improve our practices in this everchanging environment. I know we have the right people in place leading our schools and the best is yet to come.

There are a few changes at AAEA. Mr. Mike Mertens is officially retiring but will continue to support AAEA and work some days through the coming year. Mr. Mertens has been a long-term support for administrators across our state and I appreciate his leadership and friendship. He has seen it all during his 50+ year career in education. Please join me in thanking him for his service. Dr. Karla Neathery has joined the AAEA team as of July 1st. We are excited to have someone with her background and leadership experience supporting our administrators. She has served in multiple roles such as teacher, principal, curriculum director, assistant superintendent, and superintendent. Dr. Neathery has had experiences in all areas of school leadership. I believe she will be a great addition to AAEA and will serve all of you well. Change is always hard, but it is just a part of life and we will continue to press forward in our mission of serving administrators as they improve student outcomes. Enjoy the remainder of your summer. I know that your minds are going 90 miles an hour as we get closer to the start of school. I appreciate the work that you all do for kids. Our 49th AAEA Summer Conference is July 29-31 in Little Rock. We have a great line-up of presenters and hope to see you there. If you have not registered yet, you can find the information and the link here. Please reach out to me if I can help you with anything.