Breakout Sessions

Our breakout sessions are designed to provide practical strategies, real world insights, and meaningful conversations that you can take back and apply in your own school community.

Whether you’re focused on strengthening your School Improvement Council, deepening family engagement, or supporting student success in new ways, there’s a session for you.

Breakout Session 1 (12:30PM - 1:20PM)

This Breakout session offers a diverse set of topics designed to spark ideas, challenge thinking, and provide actionable strategies for you to take back to your school.

Intentional Teaching, Meaningful Moments, & Bell to Bell Brilliance

Presenter: Kyle Greene

Room: Salon G

This breakout session will be reflective, interactive, and focused on re-centering the participants' mindset and daily impact to public education. In this session, they will break into small groups to allow space for honest conversation, practical strategies, and activities that align with your organization's big goals: seeing students as individuals and meeting them where they are.

Voices That Matter: Engaging Families Through SIC for Real Impact

Presenters: Lemira Elementary School SIC: Stephanie Gregg, Principal, Leslie Dowling (AP), Marlene Levine (Instructional Coach), Shakiah Campbell (SIC Chair), and Margaret Johnson (SIC Parent)

Room: Salon D

This session will explore the critical role of family engagement in driving student success. Participants will learn how structured, monthly School Improvement Council (SIC) meetings can effectively bridge the gap between families and schools by promoting data transparency, fostering meaningful dialogue, and gathering actionable feedback. Attendees will gain practical strategies for leveraging SIC meetings to strengthen partnerships, inform decision-making, and support improved student outcomes.

You’ve Got This! Supporting Math Learning at Home

Presenter: Dr. Cindy Washington

Room: Salon C

This hands‑on session shares simple, everyday ways families can help their children with math. No math background needed! Participants will see what math looks like in classrooms today, try out easy problem‑solving activities, and leave with ways to build confidence, good habits, and a positive attitude toward math at home.

The SIC Secret Sauce: A Recipe for Recruiting and Retaining SIC Members

Presenter: Karen Utter, J.D.

Room: Salon B

The first step to SIC effectiveness is attracting and keeping committed individuals to serve as SIC parent representatives. This isn’t easy when families are dealing with multiple demands on their time and attention or when parent engagement with the school has historically been low. This session will focus on specific, effective strategies that you can take home to your school and use to strengthen parent participation in your SIC.  

Family Engagement

Presenter: Latorsha Murray

Room: Salon A

Breakout Session 2 (1:30PM - 2:20PM)

In this Breakout session, participants will dive deeper into targeted strategies for engagement, leadership, and addressing real challenges facing schools today.

Chronic Absenteeism: Thinking Beyond the Obvious

Presenter: Dr. Baron Davis

Room: Salon G

Chronic absenteeism is often treated as a student attendance problem when, in many cases, it signals deeper challenges related to school conditions, student experience, family trust, and system design. This session will help participants move beyond surface-level explanations and examine why so many responses to absenteeism fail to produce lasting change. Attendees will explore a practical framework for identifying underlying barriers, questioning common assumptions, and designing more effective, context-specific responses that move from awareness to action.

Growing the Village for Optimum Student Success

Presenters: Dr. Janet Campbell and Dr. Rhonda Wiley

Room: Salon D

Every child’s success begins long before they enter kindergarten, and the strongest schools are built when communities work together from the very start. This session equips school and community leaders with practical strategies to strengthen student success by engaging families early beginning in the infant and toddler years while demonstrating how collaborative partnerships among schools, families, and community organizations can maximize district investments and create a stronger, more sustainable foundation for learning.

The session highlights a compelling case study of an elementary principal who led a school from an Average report card rating to Excellent in one year, offering actionable leadership moves and engagement strategies that drive rapid improvement. Participants will leave with clear, high-impact ideas to cultivate a “village” approach that increases both student outcomes and the return on district investments.

Reset. Refocus. Reimagine Your SIC: From Purpose to Impact

Presenter: Dr. Quantina Haggwood

Room: Salon C

How can your School Improvement Council move from purpose to real impact? This interactive, hands-on work session blends bold brainstorming with practical planning to help you reimagine your SIC’s role and effectiveness.  Participants will practice how to engage in meaningful goal-setting and using a curated toolkit to reflect on current practices, generate fresh ideas, and build actionable next steps. Come prepared to collaborate, create, and leave with strategies and tools that they can immediately implement together with their SICs for immediate impact.

From Compliance to Catalyst: Transforming Your School Improvement Council into a Driver of Impact

Presenter: Dr. Tracie Swilley

Room: Salon B

Too often, the School Improvement Council (SIC) becomes a routine obligation—but it has the potential to be so much more. In this engaging session, leaders will learn how to move beyond “checking the box” and instead leverage their SIC as a powerful driver of school improvement, authentic stakeholder engagement, and student success. Participants will gain practical strategies for building a purpose-driven council, facilitating meaningful meetings, elevating diverse voices, and aligning the work of the SIC to strategic goals—leaving equipped to lead with clarity, intention, and impact.

"The Power of Fathers in Education"

Presenter: Rashawn Aaron

Room: Salon A

“The Power of Fathers in Education” highlights the critical role fathers play in shaping children’s academic success, emotional well-being, and future outcomes. This presentation explores the impact of active father involvement, the challenges fathers face, and practical ways educators and communities can better engage and support them. Through real statistics, relatable barriers, and meaningful strategies, it emphasizes creating stronger father-child connections to build healthier families and communities. 

Student Session

This session is designed specifically for student leaders who are ready to use their voice and make an impact.

Students will explore their role in the School Improvement Council, learn how to advocate for their peers, and build confidence in speaking up and leading within their school community.

This is a space for students to connect, reflect, and grow as leaders.