SAM Connecting Resources During Changing Times!

by Kirk Miller, SAM Executive Director

The beginning of the 2021-22 school year begins today with optimism and hope for creating a learning environment in each of our schools that will assist each child to develop their full potential!  2020-21 has been an outstanding year for your professional association, SAM, with great contributions from over 1100 members insuring progress on our strategic plan and excellent educational opportunities for our Montana children!  The COVID pandemic has impacted all lives and has driven the national and state dialogue now and into the future.  Our nation and world are changing, and your SAM organization is creating an atmosphere for these changes to be implemented with the fidelity required and expected for our children.  Attending hundreds of virtual meetings and a couple in-person the past 9 months, we are listening to the needs of our members.  Our story of progress is easy to share resulting from the collective energy and effort of administrators all across our state.  I share with you the most recent SAM Update that encapsulates the progress of this year while also points to a very robust agenda for 2021-22, with our administrators and SAM leading the way on numerous efforts to positively impact the education of our Montana students …

SAM was organized as an association for administrators in 1971. It rep­resents the interests, aspirations, and professional leadership of Montana administrators.  Over 1100 members network under six affiliate associations (MASS, MAEMSP, MASSP, MCASE, MACSS, META) to promote GREAT Montana Schools, supporting leader’s passion for providing an outstanding education to Montana's children!

The SAM Strategic Plan 2018-22outlines the benefits being a SAM member affords each education leader through their contributions to the greater good of the education community to inspire our students…

SAM Executive Director’s Strategic Plan Report for 4^th Quarter 2020-21

Leadership Involved in Decisions that Impact Education

• AKA – SAM members working together to literally have a seat at the table (input) on all efforts that impact the education of Montana’s children.
• COVID-19 Information for Schools SAM webpage for Administrators
  • Montana ESSER I, ESSER II, ESSER III Estimated Federal Stimulus Allocations by District 4-7-21 (from the OPI website) is the best current estimate of funding intended for schools as the legislature finished their work on the appropriation of federal ESSER II (HB 630) and ESSER III (HB 632) federal funds.
• Recruitment and Retention of Quality Educators Update
  
  • 2020-21 SAM Administrative Vacancy Report Executive Summary
  • Montana District/School Leadership Staffing Report 2020-21
  • RISE4MT Update January 2020 webpage
  • OPI Educator Recruitment and Retention webpage
• GREAT 2020 released at MCEL 2020 on Oct 15 with polling of Montanans and public school support
• K-12 Vision Group webpage
• School Safety and MT-PEC Project Safe Schools and Suicide Prevention
• SAM Needs Assessment 2021 Executive Summary and the SAM Needs Assessment Data Disaggregated by Affiliate 2021 provides recommendations for future professional learning, advocacy, and services
• Broadband Connectivity Progress, ESH Report and Montana Progress Report, One-Pager 6/8/20
• Student Data Privacy/Terms of Service META Project – HB 745 – Launch – MTSPA
• ARM Chapter 57 (Educator Licensure) and Chapter 58 (Prof Educator Prep Programs) Task Force

Advocacy

• 2021 Legislative Session Update
• SAM Delegate Assembly 2021
• Federal Advocacy Update

Professional Learning and Services

• Professional learning opportunities for educational leaders aligned with best practices research and innovative strategies.
• The SAM Leaders Professional Learning Program (LPLP) is a best practices professional learning delivery system that personalizes learning for Montana administrators. Over the past 7 years, SAM LPLP has supported 490 administrators in meeting their personalized professional learning needs. 
  • SAM LPLP 2020-21 with 70 administrators registered and 8 CLNs collaborative efforts in progress, and the SAM LPLP Huddle highlighting resources.  See the SAM LPLP 2020-21 Mid Year Executive Summary.
  • SAM LPLP 2021-22 launched on April 16, 2021.  Many creative opportunities for personalized professional learning are being developed.  SAM LPLP Summit 2021-22 on July 27.
• SAM annually assists in the operation of 11 conferences creating learning opportunities for our members. See the ‘Professional Learning’ ‘Conferences’ tab on the website.MT-PEC planning Collaborative Professional Learning following the 2021 Legislative Session.  MT-PEC After the Advocacy Virtual Event – MT-PEC 2021 Legislative Session Summaries – Bills Impacting Education 5.24.21 and Recording of the event.
  • SAM Administrators Institute 2021 on July 26-27, 2021 – Planned for blended delivery with in person conference in Helena.  “Reimagining the Future with Strategies of Hope Moving Forward” with focus zones including Social, Emotional & Mental Health, Accelerating Learning, and Infrastructure Needs, along with Celebrating 50 Years of SAM.  Event plans will follow COVID-19 CDC guidelines.
  • MCEL 2021 on October 20-22, 2021 planned for Helena with blended delivery.
• MT-PEC Collaborative Professional Development Flexibility & Efficiency - Framework
• SAM Membership    Join Here Benefits    SAM Web Calendar
• SAM Youth Endowment – Distributed
• SAM and Affiliate Awards – Current Award Opportunities
• SAM developed web-based communication tools for the use of our Members. Click HERE to see the instructions on how to use the E-list tool.  Click DOCUMENT or VIDEO to learn how to use SAM Community Forums.
• Member benefits:  Affiliate regional meetings, SAM Bulletin and weekly SAM Update, colleague networks, state and federal advocacy networks, legal assistance, professional liability insurance, technology embedded solutions including website, cloud-based solutions, use of social media, E-Lists, digital Community Forums to enhance member communication, many more…

Make sure to follow SAM on Twitter @MTEDLeadership & on Facebook at Sam Montana

Thank you SAM members for your excellent work in 2020-21.  SAM is ready to continue our collective effort for the greater good of the education community to inspire our students in 2021-22!

New Addition to the SAM Team

Please join us in welcoming SAM's new Director of Operations - Finance, Membership, Conferences - Marcus Meyer who officially joined the SAM team today!  Marcus has been working as an Investigator/Compliance Specialist for the Montana Attorney General's Office of Consumer Protection for the past nine years.  A graduate of Carroll College, he has also worked for the Montana Guaranteed Student Loan Program and as a Middle School Lead Coordinator/Supervisor for the Helena Public Schools PEAK Enrichment Program.  As the son of a retired school administrator and teacher, Marcus understands and appreciates the importance of providing excellence in education to our Montana students.  We are excited by his professionalism and manner, as well as his experiences, and believe he is a good match for joining the SAM team!  Welcome, Marcus!!

Our previous SAM Director of Operations, Gary Wagner, accepted a new position in the banking industry.  We are sad to see him go but congratulate him and offer our thanks for his six years of stellar service to SAM.  On behalf of our SAM team and all of our members, we thank Gary for all he has done for our association and the administrators his work has enhanced all across the state!

Now Accepting Nominations for SAM Awards!

• G.V. Erickson Award - Nominations are open until October 1, 2021: The G.V. Erickson Award is given to a member of the School Administrators of Montana who has made the greatest contribution to the betterment of education in Montana; something that G.V. did throughout his career. This is the most honored award a school administrator of Montana can receive.

• Erdie Memorial Scholarship - Applications close October 1, 2021: A Dr. Jay Erdie Memorial Mentor Scholarship in the amount of $1000 will be awarded annually to a deserving educator. The purpose of the scholarship is to “train and mentor” new Montana school administrators. The scholarship will be awarded to a school administration candidate who plans to begin and/or complete his/her administrative credentials and intends to work in a Montana school district. Once the candidate has secured a position and notified the SAM office, a trained mentor will be provided through SAM’s Mentor Program to assist during his/her first year on the job.

Welcome to Our New SAM Business Partners 

• K12 Montana, Inc

  K12 Montana, Inc is a Great Falls based innovation company specifically focused on K12 education.  They offer a wide range of technology projects and can support your district technology team or provide complete managed services. K12 MT created K12 Panel, the first of its kind K12 focused computer management system that simplifies inventory-management and technical functions, including tracking and mapping PCs and Chromebooks, remotely installing software and managing PCs, easily reimaging PCs, detailed reporting, and more! 

For a full description of the K12 business model and partnership opportunities, click HERE.

• Nexxus Portal

Nexxus Portal is a next generation community engagement platform. It brings common day-to-day tasks onto a seamless, digital platform. Each module of the Nexxus Portal is purposefully built and “goes the extra mile”.  It provides a powerful platform that’s geared towards community building and not restricted to the classroom, convenient and useful features across mobile and web interfaces, a modern user interface and user experience and is designed to evolve.  Visit Nexxus Portal for more information.  

• D.A. Davidson