It has been an exciting fall for the Minnesota Elementary School Principals’ Association.  The board of directors and state committees met September 26-27 at Breezy Point for our 37^th annual Leadership Conference, MESPA Loves to Lead. On Saturday before our conference, I attended the World Chainsaw Sculpture Championship in Hackensack, MN.   The event was filled with beautiful sculptures of eagles, bears, lions, Indian chiefs, and mountain lions carved from large northern pine trees. The predominant tools of choice were Stihl, Husqvarna, and Echo chainsaws. They were fast, sharp, and strong running machines that helped the artists create their masterpieces in record times.

“Sharpening the Saw” became an underlying theme of our work at the MESPA Leadership Conference. The mood of principals was energized; excitement for a great year ahead filled our conference. On Sunday morning your division leaders met together to plan their entire year for you. We were impressed with the intensity of division leaders and their desire to create powerful opportunities for their division members. As they reported division plans for the year, it was easy to see that divisions are in for exciting experiences: from informational meetings on RtI, to cyber bullying prevention, to meetings with legislators, to meetings following Roger Aronson’s legal issues seminars. There will be plenty to keep everyone interested. If you’re wondering when your division is meeting next – and what the meeting will be about, visit MESPA Division News at www.mespa.net and click on your division. You’ll find all the meeting details, and contact information for your division officers.

Sharpening the Saw also became the underlying message of our MESPA New Principals’ seminar on October 14. This group of new principals was fired up. Some were young first-time principals and some had experience in other states or charter schools. They asked great questions and offered solid advice to each other during our round table and panel discussions with experienced principals.

Finding time to be away from our buildings and Sharpen the Saw is always a challenge. For this reason, you may be pleased to know that your MESPA executive committee, staff, and board of directors are deeply committed to maximizing all your MESPA experiences. We go to great lengths to plan, design appropriate objectives, communicate, and evaluate everything that we do during the year. Numerous comments from the evaluations on the Leadership Conference and the New Principals Seminar spoke to them being the best conferences ever and the time being extremely valuable to participants. With the pressures of NCLB, data studies, bullying prevention, teacher evaluations, difficult parents, and misbehaving students, it is easy to believe that you cannot leave the building. It gets even more difficult if your superintendent or board members don’t support staff development. In my 17 years as a principal, I have learned that with good backup plans, strong teacher leaders, clear communication with my supervisor about my goals, and a good cell phone, I can create the freedom to Sharpen the Saw. I encourage you to put forth the extra effort to prepare your school for your absence and take advantage of MESPA professional development opportunities and division meetings offered this year.

While the chainsaw artists were competing for the World Championship, it was interesting to me that they used several saws to do one sculpture. Some were for detail work, and some were for cutting straight to the core of the project. But all the saws were very sharp, fueled up, and ready to do their jobs

The MESPA staff is deep in the process of creating your next opportunity for the premier professional development experience of the year: our annual statewide convention, the three-day MESPA Institute. Institute 2011 will be held February 9-11 in Bloomington, MN. The theme is MESPA Loves to Read! With keynotes by Marcus Conyers, Jim Grant, Dr. Paula Tallal, and over 20 breakout sessions, and 100 exhibitors of education products and services, this is sure to be a fantastic opportunity to sharpen your saw, so you can perform faster, sharper, stronger, and smarter. If you need additional support in presenting this opportunity to your superintendent or school board, please feel free to contact me or our Executive Director P. Fred Storti. We will be happy to make a call for you.