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AUSTIN, Texas –Tricia Ann Stroud, trustee from West Orange‐Cove CISD joined 26 other school board members from across Texas November 12‐14 at the second session of the Leadership TASB class of 2021. Selected by the Texas Association of School Boards (TASB), the group is participating in a yearlong education leadership study program. These trustees represent school districts of all sizes, with student populations of 1,200 to 110,000, and reflect a similar range of property wealth.

Participants who complete all required elements of the study will graduate next year

by earning Master Trustee status. This is the highest designation recognized by TASB.

Meeting in San Marcos and remotely, the trustees heard featured speaker Debra Fine, recognized authority on creating and sustaining meaningful conversations. The second featured speaker was Kori Hamilton Biagas, founder of Just Educators and communication program manager of SRI Education at SRI International. Biagas spoke on the sensitive topics of injustice, inequity, bias, and privilege.

During the session, the class also toured Navarro ISD and learned about the district’s health precautions protocol and witnessed its adaptive use of personal tents for taking classroom instruction outdoors. While at Navarro ISD, the Leadership TASB participants heard from Superintendent Wendi Russell about the district’s pending growth, more than doubling student enrollment in five years, and its advance planning.

Other Leadership TASB sessions are scheduled for Corpus Christi, February 11‐13; Longview, April 15‐17; and Fort Worth, June 24‐26. Each session has a unique theme that builds on the previous session and features nationally recognized experts in the fields of leadership development and education. Teams also work throughout the year on extended learning assignments between meetings. Created in 1993, Leadership TASB has more than 900 graduates to date.

TASB is a voluntary, nonprofit association established in 1949 to serve local Texas school boards. School board members are the largest group of publicly elected officials in the state. The districts they represent serve more than 5.4 million public school students.