Achieving Joy and Mastery in Public Schools
This podcast is designed to celebrate all that is good in Public Education around Western New York. We will be featuring programs and innovative ideas that inspire and influence our students, faculty, staff and community in new and exciting ways.
Achieving Joy and Mastery in Public Schools
NYSCOSS President - Dr. Kenneth Bossert - Expand Your Circle of Impact
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In this episode of Achieving Joy and Mastery in Public Schools, I am thrilled to speak with Dr. Kenneth R. Bossert, Superintendent of Great Neck Public Schools, who was officially sworn in as president of the New York State Council of School Superintendents (NYSCOSS) on June 28 in Cooperstown.
Elected by his fellow members to lead the organization this year after serving as president-elect the year prior, Dr. Bossert now guides one of the premier professional and advocacy organizations for public school leaders in New York State. NYSCOSS is an institution established in 1883 and dedicated to leadership training, member support, and policy advocacy.
He is only the second Great Neck superintendent to hold this role, following Dr. John L. Miller, the namesake of Great Neck North High School, who served in 1961–62.
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Hello, everyone, and welcome to the Eerie Niagara School Superintendents Association's podcast, achieving joy and mastery in public schools. I am your host, Brian Graham, superintendent of the Grand Island Central School District. We are really excited that you're listening today. This podcast is designed to celebrate all that is good in public education around Western New York. We will be featuring programs and innovative ideas that inspire and influence our students, faculty, staff, and community in new and exciting ways. So, everybody, let's get started. Hey, in this episode of Achieving Joy and Mastery in Public Schools, I am thrilled to have as a guest Dr. Ken Bossert, Superintendent of Great Neck Public Schools, who, friends, was officially sworn in as president of the New York State Council of School Superintendents this past June. Elected by his fellow members to lead the organization this year after serving as president elect the prior year, Ken now guides one of the premier professional and advocacy organizations for public school leaders in New York State. Niscus is an institution established in the late 1800s and dedicated to leadership, training, member support, and policy advocacy. He is, this is interesting, Ken. I just got to say this. This is fantastic. You are the second superintendent from Great Neck to be the president of NISCIS. And was it John Miller who was the first?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, Brian goes back a little ways. Dr. Miller was president of the council in the 61-62 school year. Wow. But his name is very familiar to those in Great Neck as North High School is named in his honor. Oh, that is awesome. Wow. Now I have no illusions about a similar honor coming in my direction.
SPEAKER_02Right, right. Yeah. Well, maybe the janitor's closet or the custodian. That would be about right. That would be appropriate. Yeah. Oh my goodness. Well, that is an honor. So, you, from my perspective, you bring a remarkable breadth of service to this work. You actually sit on the commissioner's advisory council. You serve as the president of the Scope Board of Directors. And I just got to ask you about that. What is Scope?
SPEAKER_00So, Scope is a Long Island-based non-for-profit. The acronym used to be the Suffolk County Organization for the Promotion of Education. Got it. When it spanded island wide, Scope just became Scope, as in, we offer a scope of services to support public schools. So it's before and after care. Scope is the largest pre-K provider in New York State. Really? It's enrichment programs, it's professional development opportunities, it's professional support for school leaders, for teachers, for facilities managers. Whatever box isn't checked within your district on Long Island, you can reach out to Scope and say, this is what I need. And Scope typically has the resources to help you fill that gap.
SPEAKER_02Wow. That's really impressive. I love that. And I obviously you're a member of the Nassau County Council of School Superintendents and on their executive committee. You've been past president of the Suffolk County School Superintendent Association and an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University. I'm I'm adjuncting at Niagara University. So it really does bring joy, right, to speak to the future administrators. And of course, you've spent a career not only leading in your own district, but also developing the next generation of leaders. And we're, you know, I think you and I both have the same perspective on that. So, you know, at the heart of our conversation today, we're going to be like focused on something, a phrase, a quote from you, which refers to the race for excellence has no finish line. I love that. So we're going to dig a little deeper into that and that mindset. That's exactly what we ask our students to do. And us role modeling that is so important. And I really think it elevates our schools. Whenever all members of the organization are engaged in continuous improvement, the race for excellence certainly has no finish line. So I love that. And of course, that is the theme, right, for the 2026 Fall Leadership Summit. Uh, that's going to be at Saratoga Springs again, September, starting September 27th through the 29th. It's really remarkable. And I think we're all going to get a chance to hear and listen to your keynote that night or that day. So, really, Ken, welcome to the podcast. It's truly an honor to have you on, and especially in this new chapter of your leadership. So, welcome.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you, Dr. Graham. And I'm just going to put my summer reading down for just a second for the purposes of the public conversation. I'm going to put that aside.
SPEAKER_02Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_00So I can focus on chatting, Brian. But it's nice to connect with you this way. You know, we've had many of opportunities to chat in person, but this venue is also very welcome mid-summer here.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So this podcast is called Achieving Joy in Mastery in Public Schools. We started it about four years ago. We actually have a lot of uh listeners, a lot of people around actually the world actually have listened, which has totally shocked me. Definitely an you know an unintended positive consequence. But with that said, achieving joy in mastery in public schools, I always ask, uh, what is bringing you joy right now as a superintendent?
SPEAKER_00You know, you know, Brian, I'm connecting with you from the council offices in Latham. I'm up here for an orientation for new superintendents that were appointed to their positions across the world. Oh, that's awesome. I love it. So we have we have 19 participants here with us for the few days. And we talked about this yesterday. And it was interesting to go around the room of, you know, the different things that bring people joy. And a lot was focused on, you know, personal things. We had we have weddings, we have children being born, we have all the personal. But on a professional level, you know, what I always find interesting this type of year is education is so unique in that every September brings a clean slate, a fresh start, a new opportunity to really invest in the work that we're prioritizing, to really re-energize, refocus. And, you know, I I give an opening day remarks to my to my faculty each year. And I typically conclude it with just remember, whether this is your fifth year, your 15th year, your 25th year, it's your students' first year in your classroom with their opportunity to experience all. So treat every day as a gift and an opportunity to make a positive impact on the life of a child. And I truly feel that way. And and it's exciting as the school year is building towards that opening day.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I love that. That's a great way to get the mindset in September to you know really work on inspiring and influencing the young people that come to our classrooms, come to our schools. And so, you know, speaking of inspiring, influencing, maybe share with our listeners a little bit more about your journey to this position as a superintendent. What inspired influenced you to pursue a career as a professional educator?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so my mother was a teacher. And I had some real influential teachers growing up. And um, to be candid, when I started uh school, I wasn't a big fan. I was the kid who missed a lot of time, woke up with a lot of stomach aches, frequent flyer in the nurse's office, and I really wasn't having a positive experience. Fortunately, there was major intervention in fourth grade, and I made a very close connection with a teacher. His name was Dan Hunter. Very happy to use his name, to use his name. And Mr. Hunter found something in me that really turned things around, and school became a place for greater joy. And really, it was at a an early age where I decided I wanted to be someone else's Mr. Hunter. Um, so so my journey, my journey began as an elementary teacher. My first teaching assignment was the third grade. As a third grader, I I had missed over 30 days of school. So when I was assigned to teach third grade, my mother said, that's because you missed it the first time. And uh mom's mom's always no. She was on point. She was on point. So, you know, I think that the the journey upward from classroom teacher to building leader to district leader was more about just trying to expand my my circle of impact. You know, as a classroom teacher at the elementary level, you have 20, 25 kids a year and you hope to do everything you can. You know, as a building principal, I had 1,200 kids, and I and I really tried to do everything I could to make sure their experiences were great. But as you go from building leader to district leader and eventually a superintendent, you know, that that circle of impact widens. And I think that's why I chose to get involved in the county organization and then finally the state organization, because that circle of influence continues to expand.
SPEAKER_02I just I just wrote that down, actually. Even though the title of this podcast might might be Dr. Kenneth Bossert, right? New present new NISCIS president. I may change that up. I love this concept of expanding your circle of impact. And I think I think that really aligns really well with your welcome back message, too, for your teachers, right?
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Yeah. And, you know, you know, I suffer from a case of helium hands. When someone asks if there's a volunteer to something, my hand just, you know, just that's right. It's always the first go up. And I know many of us share that affliction, and and your one as well. You know, and you know, so to have the opportunity to work closely with our colleagues who who have influence throughout the state, who partner with the different agencies that you know the council provides, and then to have that direct relationship with the commissioner and the state education department. You know, I I said yesterday to new superintendents that welcome to being they. There's always that question of why are they so focused on student attendance this year? Why are they looking so closely at the math program? Well, you know, I've gotten calls from teachers, from parents, from students and said, Why are they? And I said, Well, they is me. So let me explain to you, you know, why I have this mindset. So, you know, when there are decisions being made at the state level that, you know, perhaps there are questions, you you want to be in the room to understand the rationale, to understand the decision, and perhaps offer a different lens, a different perspective, a different viewpoint to shape what the outcome, you know, turns out to be.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I love it. So you started off as an elementary teacher, and uh, how long did you do that work?
SPEAKER_00It was seven years, and I I think my greatest achievement as a classroom teacher was meeting my wife, who was also nice, who was a speech pathologist in the building. And uh, so the results of that are 30 years of marriage and and two wonderful kids. And so we we really enjoyed that time together. But I also think that was part of my reason to to start to look for other things, you know, to to have some separation between home life and professional life and all of that. So it was seven years of teaching, one year as an assistant principal, where I decided I did not want to be an assistant principal. Lots of disciplinary referrals and transportation issues.
SPEAKER_02Right. It's always good to delegate as a principal. So is that what you did? A assistant principal to principal?
SPEAKER_00I did. So um five years of elementary principal were great. You know, if you know, talk about joy, right? Talk about joy. Uh serving that capacity is like walking down the hallways with a flowing cape behind you, the way the the students respond to no doubt. No doubt. So, you know, when I left that position, the superintendent I was working for at the time said, you know, you're leaving the position that you may reflect upon as having brought you the most joy. A lot more high. He might have been right. The show's not over yet, but he might have been right. Um where where did you grow up? I grew up out on the east and uh south shore of Long Island, Mass Merchant Shirley, in that area, beach town, Smith Point Beach, just a short walk to the sand in the ocean. Nice and you know, now working and living on the north shore of Long Island, I can tell you it's two completely different things, different mindsets, different everything. When my wife, uh, who grew up in Port Jefferson, where we live now, who says she's taking the girls to the beach, you know, the rocky North Shore Long Island Islands say, it's not the beach, don't call it the beach, stop using that word. That's right. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, I have four children, and I have my youngest is in Ohio, and I have two of my children living locally in in the Buffalo area. And then my daughter just moved to Queens in Astoria, so we're gonna go visit her at the end of this month, and she's loving, she's loving the whole, you know, New York City, Long Island. She sent me a picture of her at a Long Island beach, you know, just soaking up the sun. And she's living her best life, Ken, her best life right now.
SPEAKER_00I'll tell you, Brian, uh uh Great Neck is a border town of Queens. So if you need an emergency contact in the M.
SPEAKER_02That's actually pretty funny. She's had a few situations that, you know, kind of interrupted the joy of moving to Queens, but she's she's moving on in a in a great way. So congratulations. So, assistant principal, high school principal, and I forgot, did you go from high school principal to like an assistant soup?
SPEAKER_00Well, it was an elementary principal, and then I I moved on to be an interesting journey. I spent three years in the three village school district, and in those three years, I had three different titles. I went from executive director of elementary education, executive director of curriculum instruction, and then assistant superintendent of curriculum instruction, three different superintendents in three years. All right. Preparing for my fourth year and a fourth superintendent, the superintendency became available in my home district of Port Jefferson. And I said, with all this expanding responsibility, with all this change in leadership and some questions, you know, about vision and direction, I said, you know what, I'm gonna throw my hat in the mix to be the superintendent in the community in which I I live. Uh my children were both in the elementary building at the time. And again, if I could have a positive impact and treat all of the children as if they were my own, because literally two of them would be, I'd take I'd take a shot. And I was I was surprised as anyone else when the Board of Education saw fit to offer me the position. And I spent five wonderful years as superintendent of Port Jefferson Schools and serving my own community of which I still reside.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I love it. Good, good for you. Uh, when I got here to Grand Island a couple years later, we brought my son, my youngest son, and he went to our high school for the four years, graduated, and it was it was great. I would say though, I would say that when the first snowflakes fall, that poor child of mine was getting a lot of messages. Tell your dad to close close the school tomorrow. So yeah, there it has its good things and and challenges too, right? So so okay, so oh go ahead. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I had two girls going through the the program while I was there, and and my older daughter Abigail, you know, she wanted no part of being known as the superintendent's daughter in any capacity. If a teacher had said to her, hey Abby, look out the window, it's snowing, give dad a call, we want to go home early. She would want to crawl under the desk. Umily expected a preferential treatment, demanded a preferential treatment, and could have and could have won a sign in front of it that said, Do you know who I am? Yeah. So very different experiences for the two girls.
SPEAKER_02Right. Yeah, she probably wanted to be probably asked your permission. Is it okay if I tell my friends first before you uh send the message out?
SPEAKER_03100%. 100%.
SPEAKER_02Well, good, good for you. So so here we are, you're get gearing up for a new a new year leading, you know, our New York State Council of School superintendents with the theme, right? The race of excellence has no finish line. Talk to us about that a little bit and and your hopes and and wishes for all of our colleagues as superintendents and assistant superintendents to really appreciate that message and what can we expect in the upcoming year?
SPEAKER_00Well, first I'll tell you a funny story about that quote. Uh it's not original to me. Sheikh Mohammed, the leader of Dubai, is the one credited with that quotation. However, I noted it a good 10 years ago and adopted as my mindset. And when I was serving as superintendent in the Elwood School District, uh, it was, you know, a mantra of mine, a theme that everyone was accustomed to hearing and trying to aspire to achieve. And for a fifth grade class, and they put together a gift and gave them hoodies. And on the back of the hoodies was a picture of a runner on a track, and it said in quotations, the race for excellence has no finish line, Dr. Bossard. So there's a full generation of kids who mistakenly think that work is original to me. Okay. But it it's it's a mindset. And, you know, as it indicates, you know, we all many of us have have the opportunity to really work and represent organizations of excellence, the council being one, your district, my district, you know, these are places to take great pride in, to be real proud of. But if we come in every day and say, you know, our work here is done and we're doing a great job, and there's no opportunity for growth or future focus, we're doing a disservice to all those that we serve. So it's just the mindset of lifelong learning, continuous growth, seeking out, you know, gaps in the system and addressing them as best we can. So, you know, the race will never be over. And as long as we're moving forward in a positive trajectory, I think we're doing the right thing for kids.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Oh, I love that a lot. In in Grand Island, we talk about a championship school district as one where everybody in the organization is continuously improving, continuously invested in our own our own growth personally, professionally. And we and I really do believe that that's a great, great role modeling for our students and for the entire community. So, you know, taking that and combining it with your passion for bringing young leaders up through the Stony Brook Education Administration program, you know, what are you seeing with the new cohorts of people aspiring to leadership? And what message what messages do you have for those aspiring to leadership in that capacity?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, thanks. I it's it's don't be afraid to do it. I think that, you know, there are there are many of us who you know are more in the twilight of our careers than the dawn. And, you know, so a lot of the work I've been doing over the last few years is to try to prepare for that next generation of leaders. So whether it's teaching in the Stonybrook admin cert program or working with aspiring superintendents that, you know, many of us as part of the SDP, you know, we do that through the council and leaf. It's it's, you know, when they are aspiring to be administrators, I'll ask the question, do you have aspirations to be superintendent? And the answer more often than not is absolutely not. I do not know. Yeah. And and that troubles me. So trying to, you know, carve out as to the why uh of the hesitancy, the most frequent answer is I I don't want to deal with the political aspects of the job. Right. And you have to be transparent. It's a big part of the job. You know, you are definitely the face of your organization. There is definitely the need to be able to have collaborative and meaningful relationships with elected officials. It's the ability to represent yourself in an apolitical way that reflects your organization and your board of education. So is it political? Uh absolutely. But is it beyond anyone's capacity? Absolutely not. You know, it's something you just have to learn to grow comfort in. And I see so many talented uh leaders at the building and district level who I encourage to pursue that next step. And I'm so glad that the council has the expiring superintendents' cohort. I'm so glad that the STP exists. I'm so glad that so many of the BOCs and county organizations have taken to trying to help to cultivate that next generation of learners of leaders because they are so desperately needed.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Oh boy, that's so well said. And really the origin story of this podcast. We, you know, it we started four years ago in a in a time where public education was being attacked across the nation and locally. And we really wanted to tell a longer story, a better story about all that's good, right, in this job. But you're absolutely right. People who aspire to leadership definitely have the capacity to take on the superintendent role, but it's it it needs a little more nurturing, a little more understanding of how to navigate some of those political um challenges for sure. All right. So I don't know much about Great Neck. Maybe you could talk about your school district, you know, the size, and some maybe some of the initiatives that have been launched over the past few years or anything new and over the horizon.
SPEAKER_00So about About a week after I was appointed superintendent, I hadn't yet started, I had an eight-month start date, but in June, when the board signed me the contract and announced the community that I was heading in that direction, the the rankings came out from Washington Post, top school districts in New York State, and Great Neck was number one. And this was about a week after I had been appointed. So I went on my Facebook page and simply attached the link to the article with the post, my work here is through. Um so I was gonna make a joke.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so yeah, what happens if you go to number two?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, we haven't been number one since. So clearly, uh I have the race for excellence has no finish line. Um we still have some work to do um to get back there. But you know, Great Neck is always in the top 1% of every ranking of every publication, and there's some pressure with that. It's a community that truly prioritizes public education. They pay a tremendous amount in property taxes. Uh and when you ask the residents what drew them to the Great Neck Peninsula, it is almost always the quality of the schools and the importance that education plays in the community. So we have a very involved uh community and parent population. Public school right now, I have two high schools, two middle schools, I have an alternative high school, four elementaries, plus a uh an early learning center, an adult debt program. We we are we educate we educate from birth to earth, and we have about 6,600 kids in the public schools right now. But interestingly, another 2,000 students who are residents who attend the private schools. Most of them are faith-based at yeshiva, but we are charged, of course, with with providing them with all the people. Of course. So transportation is interesting. We have our public school routes, which are massive, and then we send 2,000 children to 82 different private and parochial schools. Wow. And that 15 mile radius, as I mentioned, 15 miles, yeah. It's it's a border community to Queens. So we send kids into Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, and running our transportation department is a small municipal grid. It's it's it's a tremendous task. But you know, in Great Neck, we're we're focused on some real good work. We really embraced the portrait of a graduate work. We were we were honored to have the commissioner and her team visit us last spring to see our investment. You know, even to the fact where teachers in their daily lesson plans are now aligning their objectives to we had a great uh we had a great partnership with Malloy University that helped us to develop our portion portrait using a tremendous amount of community input and stakeholder input. So we're we're we're delve diving deeply into that work. Uh we have dove we have dove deeply into media literacy, a wonderful partnership with Stony Brook University. Howard Schneider's done some work with us, and if things are moving in the right direction. And our kids continue to just impress every year with the accolades. They they bring in the pride they they demonstrate to the community.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, this is fascinating to me. We're we're working in partnership with a group called Modern Learners. We've just finished year one and we're entering year two. We're also going to be thinking deeply about the attributes and the competencies that help you know get to the overarching attributes. Sounds like you've already done a lot of preliminary work in your district. As you look ahead for the next few years and children entering ninth grade and 2027 and so forth. Do you do you foresee more authentic learning experiences occurring in your district or uh throughout the district, and or maybe even looking at capstone projects or other project-based learning? I'm sure a lot of it is already in place, which is great, but I'm just curious as to that part of the journey, you know, uh parallel to the typical regions exams.
SPEAKER_00Yes, for sure, Brian. I think that it is a major cultural shift. I think that while some educators have embraced, you know, that transitional time, there is some understandable resistance. You know, this is the way we've done things for a long period, looking at things through a different mindset, crafting lessons and opportunities to address those characteristics and traits identified in the portrait, and then finding ways not only to instruct to build those competencies, but then assess them is the investment we're making in the work. And yeah, we're in the fledgling stages, but we're the first part, I think, is changing the mindset to imagine schools differently, to recreate learning opportunities with perhaps a different end game in mind. And I I'm pleased to say that our teachers are embracing it and we all have some wonderful exemplar work going on. So it's just a matter of, you know, expanding that that that network and allowing teachers the time um to work with one another, to collaborate with teachers from other districts doing great things, to see what's happening throughout the region, throughout the state, so that they can, you know, start to you know find greater comfort in this transitional shift. Dirty words for me is well, this is the way we've always done it. That's never a good thing to say to me because that is almost an indication that we need to do it differently. And and I think, you know, while while some educators are are speedboats and off they go, you know, now we're kind of pulling the tubboats along to say, let's explain the rationale for why we're making these changes. Because, you know, sometimes leaders ask for buy-in from their staff. And and someone wiser than me once said, when you're asked for buy-in, you're really asking them to sell out. You know, either you're asking them to follow you because you're saying so. I think this process is more about showing and demonstrating and have people truly adopting and believing the work that they're doing so that they are inspired to do it, not simply just following the directions that came from them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Wow, that is very powerful. I love that a lot. And I think that's where most people are, right? Across the state. Other states have had portrait attributes, you know, baked in, so we can certainly learn from them as well. And I think, you know, I think deeply about what you just said and align with your thinking. Some of our educators who have, you know, traditionally been working so hard and so successfully at helping kids be mindful and understand the standards and the important essential elements and enduring understandings of regions type questions and exams. Maybe starting slow, trying to sprinkle in some performance tasks that may only take up two or three days out of a unit is probably where we're heading to get started. Just, you know, just try, you know, something a little different. And, you know, we're hoping that that feedback along with work with modern learners will will help those tugboats, right? Those, those folks that are, you know, needing to make a shift in in some of that work. And it's a journey and it aligns very well with the race to excellence, right? Having no finish line. And and I think that that is going to be a very powerful theme uh for uh the state and under your leadership as well. So, you know, kind of as we wind things down, I'm just curious if there are things that you want to share about the uh fall leadership summit, and then particularly anything else that you might want to shine a spotlight on.
SPEAKER_00I appreciate that, Brian. Um I'm really looking forward to the summit. I I would be disingenuous as I said, I wasn't nervous about it. You know, we've had some we've had some just wonderful conferences and opportunities lately. And, you know, the the list of past presidents that have served the council, you know, I I dare not name any for fear of omitting.
SPEAKER_02Well, some of them are hoping you're gonna name their names, you know, Jason Andrews, Kevin McGowan.
SPEAKER_00And you throw Norris Clemens in, and yeah, and those are the super saucers. And you know, yes.
SPEAKER_02That's a that's a good theme for their podcast and article and Substack, right? The super saucers.
SPEAKER_00Our our our podcast, our blog, you know, super sauce, available with stuff.com. You know, we we we do this, we do this out of joy, and as we've talked about earlier, and and the same uh as your your motivation for uh beginning this podcast is to just give back to the field and give back to the profession. And you know, between the four of us, we have nearly 80 years experience as a superintendent. Half of that's Jason, but yeah, I'm thinking you're right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_0080 between the four of us. And you know, it it started with Kevin's idea um to begin the blog and just a way, an outlet to share. And you know, we weren't sure anybody was reading it.
SPEAKER_01Uh oh, we're looking at it.
SPEAKER_00And the last fall summit, you know, so many folks came up and talked about looking forward to it, how they use it within their districts, how they use it to facilitate discussion amongst their leadership team. And it was really gratifying. But within that that quartet, I I know I'm Ringo. So, you know.
SPEAKER_01So that's the best line. Maybe that'll be maybe that'll be the title. I know I'm Ringo.
SPEAKER_00The the pressure's on. So I've been working on my opening address. I have no doubt our keynote's gonna hit it out of the out of the quartet.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, yeah. Who who remind us of the keynote speaker? Yes.
SPEAKER_00So last fall we heard from Joe San Filippo and and lead from who you are, lead from where you are. And and Joe and I have made uh such a wonderful contact and collaboration since that point because his message was so meaningful to me, though, to really advantage those small moments and the and again that impact that we can all have. And and never say you're just a teacher, and never say you're just a power professional, because everyone has influence over their the impact they have on students. So Joe's actually coming to Great Neck for our opening keynote at the end of the month. So looking at that work and wanting to continue the message, I feel I another speaker was brought to my attention, Tom Murray. So Tom Murray is going to be our keynote, and his work really um lines up with Joe to continue that message of really advantaging every opportunity. And if you've had any chance to hear Tom speaker read his work, it's so inspirational. And I and I really just hope it sets a positive tone and gets people excited for the opportunity that the new year will bring. So I and there are so many great presentations set up, so many workshops. We had more applicants uh for to facilitate workshops than ever before. It was a record high response, and so many are being held for the winter or future because of how robust the offerings will be. So I really hope participants get a lot out of the conference. But pressure's on.
SPEAKER_02The pressure's on. I'm a big Bills fan. So I I believe, I'm not sure I gotta double check the schedule. I believe there's a game, but I come up right after that. I leave at when the Bills are over, I drive right to Albany. It's kind of a you know very intense journey. Uh, hopefully the bills win so I can listen to sports radio all the way to Saratoga and then check in and get ready for the conference.
SPEAKER_00But when the schedule dropped, when the schedule dropped, there was two negative things noted. Number one is there's a home game the week under the fall summit. And number two is when many of us will be in Buffalo for New York State school boards. It's it's a bye week. So my my dream of catching a game before flying home was destroyed.
SPEAKER_02Right. Oh my gosh. Well, listen, it's a real pleasure to have you on the podcast. I'm just so proud of you and your leadership. And I hope maybe not only to uh hang with you uh during the conference, but you know, to meet your family too. They better come and cheer you up. I love that.
SPEAKER_00That's what I'm most nervous about, is that they'll be there on uh tough critics anatomists all right.
SPEAKER_02No doubt. Well, we really appreciate you. Thank you so much for joining the podcast. And for our listeners, don't forget you can follow or subscribe to Achieving Joy and Mastery in Public Schools on your favorite podcast platform. That's Apple, uh, Spotify, and so many others. Until next time, thank you so much for tuning in. Thank you for joining us today as we explore the concept of achieving joy and mastery in public schools. We will be interviewing school districts in Erie and Niagara counties on a regular basis as we look to shine a spotlight on all of the amazing programs and practices essential for achieving joy and mastery with our students, faculty, staff, and community. This podcast is sponsored by the Erie Niagara School Superintendence Association, and we hope you consider subscribing.
