March 31, 2025

Join Us at the TALAS Summer Leadership Summit! 🌟

TALAS is excited to bring you over 30 dynamic sessions at this year’s Summer Leadership Summit in El Paso, Texas!

Get ready to learn, connect, and grow with top education leaders as we explore key topics such as:

✅ Leadership Development

✅ Building a Strong Campus Culture

✅ Elevating Student Outcomes

✅ Navigating Critical Conversations

A huge thank you to our incredible presenters who have submitted outstanding proposals—we can’t wait to unveil the full schedule soon!

📅 Don’t miss out! Early Bird Registration ends April 1, 2025—secure your spot today!

3.2.1: On the surprising path to success, the value of downtime, and how parenting changes you

“Take all the energy you spend on…

worrying about the past

worrying about the future

worrying about what others think

worrying about if you might fail

… and channel that energy into one useful action within your control.”

II.

“Stories of failure resonate more than stories of success. Few people reach the top, but everyone has failed—including those who eventually succeed. If you’re teaching people how to succeed in a given field (or talking about your own success), start with how you failed.”

Remote Learning Was Supposed to Make Snow Days Obsolete. But Did It Really?

boy in blue crew neck t-shirt using macbook pro on brown wooden table

Since Jan. 1, roughly a dozen major winter storms have shuttered school doors around the United States and kept students home.

Before COVID-19, snow days like these were routine, not even worth mentioning. But with the switch to virtual schooling came predictions that days off from school because of weather would soon be a thing of the past. There would be no reason to cancel classes if they could just go remote. An EdWeek survey from November 2020 even reported that around 70% of principals and school district officials had converted or were considering converting snow days to remote learning days.

But a 74 survey of policies around the country finds that while some districts have made the shift — or tried to — others have gone back to that time-honored tradition.

Mission and vision: The heartbeat of school leadership

Every thriving organization operates with a purpose that transcends day-to-day tasks. For schools, this purpose is encapsulated in their mission and vision. These statements articulate the school’s core values and long-term aspirations, serving as a North Star for every decision and action. Yet, bringing these ideals to life demands deliberate effort from school leaders. It requires a blend of strategic planning, cultural alignment and relentless communication to ensure the mission and vision resonate in every corner of the school system.

How will Education Department cuts impact special education?

A swell of parents, advocates, educators and Democratic politicians are sounding alarms that the dramatic downsizing of the U.S. Department of Education will chip away at civil rights protections for students with disabilities and even negatively impact their classroom supports.

In just the past two months, the Education Department under the Trump administration has laid off half of its 4,133-person workforce, paused federal funding, eliminated diversity, equity and inclusion programs, canceled research and teacher preparation grants, and promoted private school choice.

Local News

Schools across the country are grappling with what to do about cell phones and other devices that are often distracting in classrooms and harming social and emotional learning of kids.

A meta-analysis across 14 countries determined that cell phone use in schools negatively impacts educational outcomes including test scores and GPA, according to Fairplay for Kids.

Recent studies also show a strong correlation between the increased use of smartphones and social media with increased rates of depression, anxiety, loneliness and suicidal ideation in young people.