Highlights & Insights
by Heath Larson
ASBSD Executive Director
THANK YOU, VETERANS!
Monday, November 11, is Veteran’s Day. Thank you to all veterans for the sacrifice and service to our country. Freedom isn’t free. Our public schools in South Dakota partake in Veteran’s Day learning activities and many host outstanding programs to engage their local communities in honoring our veterans. We encourage schools to share photos and highlights with your community demonstrating the value placed on patriotism and love for our country.
2025 LEGISLATURE & LEGISLATIVE ACTION NETWORK (LAN)
The 2025 legislative session is getting closer. We are continually engaging with stakeholders about education topics in South Dakota. Please take time to provide us your LAN member information. We encourage all public school districts to support our legislative advocacy platform by including your entire board of education as LAN members and connect with your local legislators regarding this year’s session. Invite your legislators into your school to build rapport, relationships and discuss K-12 education topics.
IM 28 DEFEATED
ASBSD became engaged in early August with IM 28 by joining the Vote No coalition and provided information to our membership in various formats regarding the negative impact this ballot measure would have on public education funding as there was no replacement revenue. Thank you for your engagement with this effort to support K-12 public education. I would like to thank Nathan Sanderson at South Dakota Retailers Association for his leadership with this measure.
ZOOM PRESENTATION ON VOUCHERS: November 17 @ 7:30 PM (Central Time)
ASBSD and SASD (School Administrators of South Dakota) have collaboratively worked to bring our memberships this learning opportunity. Please mark your calendars for the evening of Sunday, November 17, at 7:30 PM (Central Time) to participate in a presentation from Josh Cowen, a Michigan State professor, on the impact of vouchers. Vouchers, or a variety of other terms that are used interchangeably, boils down to the use of public funds for non-public students.
The presentation will be a short history of educational privatization, how school vouchers defund public schools and devastate student learning, and how billionaires have turned to culture wars to sell voucher schemes moving forward. Josh has authored: The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers which is now available if you are interested. Josh’s web page can be found here: https://www.josh-cowen.com/
Zoom Link: Voucher Presentation by Josh Cowen:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88509906124?pwd=J954hip7BaTlPqqZAy4mw3PZpxQG3x.1
Thank you for your continued support and engagement!
ASBSD’s 2024 Delegate Assembly is scheduled for Friday, November 22 in Fort Pierre at the Drifters Event Center beginning at 1 p.m. (Central) and EACH member district should appoint a board member to represent their school board and vote on positions that help set our legislative direction.
Click the links to review ASBSD’s proposed resolutions and standing positions for the 2025 legislative session.
Each resolution or standing position with a change has an explanation of the proposed change underneath it in red.
The Delegate appointment form is online and can be found by CLICKING THIS LINK and completing the information requested for the school board member your board has appointed. Or, if you’d prefer, you can forward your delegate’s name and contact information to tpickner@asbsd.org.
School boards appointing a board member as a Delegate will earn 25 ALL points!
Member districts can also submit a new or amended resolution or standing position, or suggest deletion of a resolution or standing position, by completing the 2024 ASBSD Delegate Assembly Member Resolution-Standing Position Form, which can be found by CLICKING HERE.
If you have questions about submitting a delegate or Delegate Assembly, please contact Director of Communications Tyler Pickner at tpickner@asbsd.org or at 605-773-8382 or at 605-881-3791.
by Tyler Pickner
ASBSD Director of Communications
The General Election has concluded, South Dakota has its legislature set for 2025 and now the fun begins!
South Dakota’s 105 person legislature – 70 in the House of Representatives & 35 in the Senate – will welcome 42 legislators in 2025 who did not serve during the 2024 session, which is a 40 percent turnover.
Click here to download the list of legislators.
This large amount of turnover means you as school leaders will need to get in contact with your legislators, so they are aware of the successes or your district as well as the needs of your schools.
In the coming weeks ASBSD will be providing you with a list of legislators representing your district and their contact information, as well as a list of questions to ask of them related to public education.
We urge you to contact them and introduce yourselves, so they are familiar with you before the start of legislative session and invite them into your school to meet with them, if possible.
If you have questions or there’s anything ASBSD can help with before legislative session begins, please contact us: https://asbsd.org/about/contact-us/.
We need voices advocating for public education during the 2025 legislative session.
A voucher bill taking public money for non-public education is coming, as is a proposed cap or cut to property taxes, and challenges to your local control along with other potentially damaging bills will be introduced this session.
To combat that, we need many members appointed to the ASBSD Legislative Action Network (LAN), which is designed to activate school leaders to communicate to legislators our legislative positions. Please consider appointing multiple board members and administrators to LAN.
The LAN appointment process is online and can be completed through the following steps:
- Click here to access the LAN Appointment form;
- Complete the form;
- Adding multiple individuals from your district for LAN is similar to how a new paragraph is added in a document.
- Click the submit button;
- Should you need to add another board member after you've submitted, click the "Submit another response" link.
Please note, LAN members and Delegates are not the same position.
LAN members will periodically be contacted by ASBSD during legislative session asking them to contact their legislator(s) and advocate for or against specific legislation.
Each board member designated as a LAN member earns 25 ALL points for their local board.
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact Director of Communications Tyler Pickner at tpickner@asbsd.org or at 605-881-3791.
ASBSD is pleased to announce two new team members, Naomi Cromwell as the Director of Policy & Legal Services and Madisen Vetter as Marketing & Policy Specialist.
“We’re thrilled to have Naomi and Madisen join us,” ASBSD Executive Director Heath Larson said. “They bring a wealth of knowledge to ASBSD and will be a great resources for our schools.”
Prior to joining ASBSD as its Director of Policy and Legal Services, Cromwell was in private practice for the Tieszen Law Office in Pierre from 2005 to 2024.
Cromwell also served for nearly twenty years as legal counsel for municipalities, where her legal work included dealing with subjects ranging from employment issues, drafting and reviewing contracts, assessing public document requests, to reviewing and ensuring compliance with open meeting laws.
Cromwell can be reached at ncromwell@asbsd.org or at 605-773-2513.
Before coming aboard at ASBSD, Vetter held multiple positions within state government.
She feels that her various involvements throughout state government have led, prepared and given excitement to her range of responsibilities with ASBSD. Madisen is excited to continue her involvement in policy and marketing.
Vetter can be reached at mvetter@asbsd.org or at 605-773-2511.
Both Cromwell and Vetter joined the team on November 1.
Learn more at the ASBSD Staff webpage: https://asbsd.org/about/staff/.
by Holly Nagel
ASBSD Chief Financial Officer & Director of ASB Protective Trust Services
Let the holiday decorating begin…..
While staff and students are looking forward to creating a fun and festive holiday atmosphere, it is important that all staff maintain a clear focus on safety-related matters and not forget to use good judgment when transforming hallways and classrooms into a “winter wonderland.” Safety should be top of mind when creating the scenes, sounds and scents of the holiday season.
Several critical areas of concern that can compromise safety during the holidays include electricity, exits, live decorations, aromatherapy, and fire protection systems. The following tips address these areas and can help ensure a safe holiday season.
Electricity - Use common sense when setting up electric decorations, if it looks unsafe, it probably is. Inspect holiday lights and electronic decorations before use to ensure they are functioning properly. Use LED light strings and decorations whenever possible. LED bulbs do not produce heat like other bulbs, this can lessen the chances that their contact with combustibles will start a fire. LED bulbs also do not pop or shatter like other glass bulbs. Do not overuse extension cords or daisy-chain power supply cords.
Also ensure that individuals hanging items above shoulder height are using the appropriate stepladder.
Exits - Do not compromise the means of egress in hallways, lobbies and near exit doors with holiday trees, scenes, and other decorations. Items placed in hallways can severely reduce exit capacity and place occupants in danger should an emergency occur.
Scentsy’s, Essential Oils, & Aromatherapy – What represents the holidays more than the smell of a fresh pine tree, baked apple pie or sugar cookies? While these scents may be delightful to some, they can cause adverse effects to others. Staff should remain highly aware of sudden changes in student behavior while using any form of scent producing device as they may cause nausea, headaches, itchy or blurry eyes, or even the potential for seizure.
Staff using essential oils or aromatherapy devices should clean their devices daily to limit mold within the device. If it is not cleaned daily, it can quickly develop mold and vaporize it into the air with the essential oil.
Fire Protection Systems – Remind staff and students to not use the fire suppression system or its components as anchor points for holiday decorations. It is essential to ensure that all fire detection and fire suppression systems are operational and un-compromised to help ensure that they function properly during an emergency.
Mental Health – The holidays can be as sad and stressful to some as it is joyous to others. Stress can have a significant effect on one’s physical, mental, and financial wellness. Acknowledging these challenges and encouraging your team to look at employee mental wellness can reduce medical claims, workplace accidents and increase attendance.
Contact Holly Nagel for safety and wellness resources provided by the Associated School Boards Protective Trust: https://asbsd.org/about/contact-us/.
ASBSD and SASD are bringing our memberships FREE a learning opportunity with Josh Cowen, an author and professor, who will discuss the harmful impact of school vouchers.
Join Josh and your fellow school leaders on Sunday, November 17 at 7:30 p.m. (Central) to learn more about and discuss vouchers – or a variety of other terms to describe them that are used interchangeably – and how it all boils down to the use of public funds for non-public students.
Just click here to join the webinar when it begins.
The presentation, which will be recorded if you cannot attend live, will provide a short history of educational privatization, how school vouchers defund public schools and devastate student learning, and how billionaires have turned to culture wars to sell voucher schemes moving forward.
Cowen will also discuss the voucher movement, impacts on all school districts, and share valuable information that will be beneficial for you to know.
In addition, Josh has authored: The Privateers: How Billionaires Created a Culture War and Sold School Vouchers which is now available.
If you have questions about the webinar, please contact ASBSD Director of Communications Tyler Pickner at tpickner@asbsd.org or at 605-773-8382.
