October 14, 2015 – Campus Directors from all of our 74 campuses come together once a year for a director’s conference to learn and discuss topics that will enhance the new school year. The 2015-2016 Director’s Conference focused on three themes: Virtue, Liberty and Leadership.
Sherry Jones, Executive Director of Training and Leadership Development, believes that giving directors this time is vital for a successful school year. It gives directors a chance to come together, learn from one another and consider the role they play in modeling Virtue, Liberty and Leadership for their campus.
“We believe educating a generation of young adults who are virtuous, self-governed individuals should be viewed as a critical calling in our society. This calling to lead our campuses – and students – takes on a whole new dimension of meaning. In order to help instill the needed virtues in their students and staff, our campus leaders must seek to embody the virtues themselves. As the saying goes, you can’t give what you don’t have.” said Kyle Queal, ResponsiveEd’s Vice President of Learning & Leadership Development
Three guest speakers were chosen to speak on one of the themes.
David Bobb, the president of the Bill of Rights Institute, an organization in the DC area dedicated to promoting the civic virtues of America’s Founding Fathers and constitutional heritage, spoke on the theme of virtue. Dr. Bobb spoke on the virtue of humility, utilizing the story of Fredrick Douglas as an example of humility that individuals should model.
Jonathan Catherman, a Stephen-Covey educational consultant with deep experience in school leadership, discussed the topic of leadership with our directors. Dr. Catherman challenged directors to realize that each of their campuses is a community of people shaped by traditions and communication creating unique culture for each campus. He used this as a framework to talk about leadership, reminded directors that students, teachers and parents are welcomed as members by the school’s culture and to see directors what they as leaders are doing to develop their school.
Louis Markos, a professor from Houston Baptist University and an expert on C.S. Lewis, was able to provide a great introduction to our book initiative on The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis. Dr. Markos discussed the danger of educating students to be “men without chests,” by which C.S. Lewis means people without moral courage and conviction. This is a timely reminder to all of the urgent need to recover the moral aim of a truly human education.
Campus Director of Quest Middle School in Lewisville, Marci Stapp, believes this time to crucial to directors giving them a chance to share ideas.
“This time is so valuable for new and experienced directors alike. It is a time for us to get ideas from other directors and see what is going on at their campuses as well as get to discuss topics that are applicable to areas we are dealing with. The conference also gave us time to get information that deals with character based learning which applies so heavily to our mission of giving hope to students and families. Having speakers who are dedicated to this was very motivational and insightful,” said Stapp.
