One Tuesday last March, a bomb threat was called into West Genesee High School, students and staff were evacuated into 20-degree temperatures, held on school buses and finally sent home. Real time updates to the community and the media via Twitter by Superintendent Chris Brown resulted in no panicked parents coming to the school, no media tr...

This story from the Dallas Morning News describes the use of social media by the Dallas superintendent finalist, Mike Miles. The article is posted here with permission of the newspaper. By TAWNELL D. HOBBS Staff Writer thobbs@dallasnews.com Published: 07 April 2012 10:14 PM The man chosen to be Dallas ISD’s next superintendent isn’t known ...

Great story in this morning's Washington Post about the Plain Writing Act, a new decree that government officials communicate more conversationally with the public. Official communications must now employ the active voice, avoid double negatives and use personal pronouns. According to the Post, “Addressees” must now become, simply, “you.” Clunky c...

We hear from our members regularly—when they need advice or direction, when we make them angry, when they have something to say, and sometimes when they want to pay us a compliment. Recently, we heard this from a long-time superintendent/member who is about to retire: I find that AASA has been the unifying experience of my career. I mean this in...

The warm winter we have experienced in the Washington, D.C., area has persuaded our daffodils to make an early appearance this year. Back in the ‘60’s, when Lyndon Johnson was President, Lady Bird Johnson committed significant time and energy to making the national capital region a much more beautiful place. She had thousands of daffodil bulbs plan...