School board members of the Virginia Commonwealth are gathering together on Saturday, Feb. 26 in Lynchburg, Virginia for a one-day event titled School Board Summit: Equipping New Leaders for Positive Impact. This event will serve to help school board members better serve their communities.

The School Board Summit was created as a resource and networking opportunity for school board members who want to equip themselves to make well-informed decisions in the best interest of the students and schools they represent. Board of Supervisors members and other educational leaders or stakeholders are welcome to attend.

So far, the response has been overwhelmingly positive, shared Melvin Adams, president of the Noah Webster Educational Foundation (NWEF.) Although the event is geared toward Virginia’s school board members, he’s received energetic feedback from people serving across the United States. Even parents have communicated their support for the school board summit.

“Every parent I know who has their child in some form of organized school wants the leadership of that school to do well,” he added. “The actual impact on their kids is sometimes related to the instruction in the classroom, but even more often, it is directly related to leadership issues that determine policies, curriculum, and many more important things impacting their children.”

NWEF is sponsoring the summit in collaboration with several other Virginia-based and national organizations.

“My experience is that nobody does everything well,” said Adams. “Therefore, if we want to properly equip the school board members, we need to build coalitions of organizations and individuals who have differing resources and expertise to help them.”

Partners for this year’s School Board Summit in Virginia include The Family Foundation, Building Education for Students Together (BEST), Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, Moms for Liberty, and FRC Action. Lunch and facilities will be provided by volunteers at Mountain View Church of God in Lynchburg. 

Four discussion panels, two presentations, and a breakout session will fill the day’s agenda. Attendees can expect to hear from seasoned school board members and board of supervisors members, parents, and resource organizations.

“I care a great deal about what happens in our schools,” Adams said. “What happens in our schools impacts the very core and future of our nation. And so anytime we get people together to talk about what we can do better in respect to core principles and best practices in education, it’s a good day. Different people will have different needs. Different people will use different resources. But if we can help empower these people to do a good job, if we can empower them to serve well, we’ve accomplished our mission. That’s very exciting to me.”

Adams expressed his gratitude for the organizations and individuals partnering with NWEF to bring about this event. He believes it’s good to keep people—parents, administrators, teachers, school board members, and more—engaged in dialogue and looking for solutions.

“For far too long, America’s education has come under the direct influence of professional associations that are often agenda-focused rather than focused on core principles and best practices in education,” he added.

To learn more about the 2022 School Board Summit in Virginia, you can visit https://summit.nwef.org/. There you’ll find registration information, a schedule, panelist details, and more.