News Link… A newsletter publication of Alaska Association of School Business Officials ALASBO News Link is published for the members of the Alaska President’s Message Association of School Business Officials Cassee Olin, Sitka School District and its affiliate members. It’s that time of year again, when BOARD OF DIRECTORS summer starts winding down and the 2017 doors to our schools open up to let our President students into our buildings. I for one Cassee Olin, Sitka feel like summer has flown by, but then President-Elect again I am sure many can relate as I spent three Carl Horn, Nenana months with my new daughter, Brynlee, who was Past-President born on May 15th. I hope that everyone found Holly Holman some time for summer activities as they prepare Secretary for their annual audit and the start of the school Karen Quitslund year. Treasurer Kim Johnson, Delta/Greely Executive Director (Continued on page 2) Amy Lujan Directors Ashley Bjornson, Matsu Contents Lila Krosschell, North Slope Meridith Boman, DEED 1-2 President’s Message Andy Ratliff, Anchorage 3 Executive Director’s Message Kristy Andrew, Cordova 3 ALASBO Baby Boomlet Ryan Ayars, Southwest Region 3-4 Summer Leadership Recap 5 ALASBO Awards www.alasbo.org 5 Thoughts on Leadership For publishing information, contact: 5 Send Us Your Pictures Reminder Amy Lujan 6 Pcard Update e-mail: [email protected] 6 Power Lunches 7 Member Spotlight: Meridith Boman Editing and layout by 7-8 Eagle Institute Report Edith Hildebrand, Galena City Schools [email protected] 8 Upcoming Events 9-11 Liaisons & Mentors Would you like to receive this newsletter in print, rather than e-mail? Send a message to Amy Lujan at the above address. ALASBO News Link 2 August 2018 (Continued from page 1) one-hour drive. We had great weather, great scenery and conversations to pass the time. Summer Leadership was in Once we all arrived in Nenana, Carl Horn took us Fairbanks/Nenana this year on a tour of the town, where we stopped to see and we had 33 ALASBO the Coghill’s General Store, the Tanana River, members attending, as well as and the Nenana Ice Classic tripod. It was fun guests and vendors. Thank seeing all the sights of Nenana! Once we you to our five vendor sponsors, arrived at the Student Living Center, we heard a for their support of our Leadership Conference. presentation from Jens Jacobsen, who is The vendor presentations were on Friday night principal at Nenana. It was impressive to hear and they were very informative. It was great all of the wonderful things that are going on in the seeing the familiar faces of our vendor Nenana School District, which includes both representatives from American Fidelity, Dude residential and correspondence programs. Solutions, GCI, KEV Group, and Tyler Technologies. Thanks to Carl Horn, Jenny Martens and Heather Heineken for local logistics support in Nenana and Fairbanks! What’s not to love about a day like this one on the Chena River? On Sunday morning, we continued our planning for the annual conference. It was helpful to have Josh Peach of Dude Solutions had his presentation the collaboration of our colleagues, to make sure memorably interrupted by clown Shriners! that we are representing all components of our organization, from human resources to food On Saturday morning, we began reviewing the service to audit and budget. We went over the Executive Director documents for our job posting. conference evaluations from last year while We had an excellent discussion on what type of reviewing comments and concerns along with individual we are looking for and made some any suggestions along the way. Our conference adjustments to our posting and job description. is shaping up to be a great one! We closed out We then broke out into small groups to discuss Sunday afternoon with white water rafting down what type of interview questions should be asked the Nenana River in 90-degree weather. After of job applicants. We came away with a great the adventure, we were treated to a great BBQ by number of questions that the sub-committee will the rafting company. All in all, it was a great be using in the interviews. The job posting will weekend! Thanks to everyone who made be released very soon at different venues leadership a great success! throughout the state and nation. Finally, please consider attending the ASBO We then moved on to the next item on our International Fall Meeting and Expo to be held in agenda, which was a discussion of the New Kissimmee, Florida on September 21-24. This Business Manager Institute (NBMI) led by will be my third year attending the meeting and I ALASBO Honorary Member, Melody Douglas. am always excited to have the opportunity to We are expecting to launch the NBMI at the attend and meet many others from around the US December annual conference. Be on the lookout and other countries who deal with the same thing for information about the NBMI soon! we do every day. After lunch, we began planning for the annual I hope to see you in Florida and if not, then conference with a review of the presentation definitely in Anchorage in December! I wish proposals. At about 3 PM, the group made our everyone luck with their annual audit and the way to Nenana from Fairbanks, which is about a beginning of the new year. ALASBO News Link 3 August 2018 available on our website, on the Resources- Executive Director’s Awards page. Message Amy Lujan, Executive Director Finally, I’d like to give you a “heads-up” on a new pilot program we are developing, a New Business Manager Institute (NBMI). This will Once again, the summer is flying by! be a multi-year program, modeled after a program that has been successfully developed at President Cassee and Swarner grantee John Oregon ASBO over the past six years. It is far Stackhouse have provided excellent summaries more extensive than our current School Business of Summer Leadership, which was fantastic! Academy and mentoring programs, to provide Carl Horn, you surpassed expectations with true support to those who are new, or relatively new to summer weather! If you haven’t attended before, the business manager role. You’ll be hearing I encourage you to consider integrating this fun more about this program over the next few event into your schedule in the future. Even months, and we plan to roll it out this December! sooner, you have the chance to join us at ASBO Many thanks are due to Melody Douglas and a International in September, and of course at our team of ALASBO Honorary Members who are December Annual Conference, which is not to working on developing this program. be missed! As John points out, the collegiality (an ALASBO Value!) at these events is extremely If you have questions about any ALASBO important to our success in our jobs. program, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected], or 907-723-7415. You’ll also find useful information, including past presentations and recordings of Power Lunches at: www.alasbo.org. For additional information and events registration, navigate to our Events I want to make sure everyone’s aware that the page! Executive Director job posting is now available on the ALASBO website! I plan to complete my ALASBO Baby Boomlet tens years of service as ED in December, as discussed in the last newsletter. Note that this is What’s going on out there??? ALASBO President a part-time, contractor position. Cassee Olin, long-time member Heidi Teshner of DEED and frequent presenter Katie Stachow of The Board transition team plans to interview in Altman Rogers all gave birth within weeks of each September/October, and the new person would other this spring. Quite the baby boomlet for our begin training just before and during the annual ALASBO family! conference, with full contract duties beginning January 1. Please spread the word, so we can Best wishes to all the new moms and families! find a great person for this important ALASBO leadership position! Either Cassee or I would be happy to talk further with anyone interested in learning more. Summer Leadership Recap John Stackhouse, Yupiit School District In addition to Summer Leadership this past month, It was hot; probably the hottest day of the year. ALASBO completed its financial The high cliffs on either side provide a brief statements for the year ending respite from the sun as the raft surged through March 1, 2018. We had an the churning water. Water that was hundred-year- excellent year financially. These statements old ice merely twelve hours ago drenched us as as well as past statements are available on our we struggled to maintain the raft upright. website, on the About-Operations and Financials “Forward two!” came the call from the helmsman page. as we dipped our oars in unison to pull away from some unseen danger. Please start thinking about nominations for this year’s School Business Official of the Year! The weekend began for some on Friday night The nomination form will be available in about a with dinner and presentations from vendors. I, month. ALASBO members, immediate however, straggled in late and missed the supervisors and school board members may festivities. Saturday came early and I joined submit nominations. More information about this business managers, purchasing agents, program, including a list of past recipients is (Continued on page 4) ALASBO News Link 4 August 2018 (Continued from page 3) We addressed the needs of the small rural district as well as the desires of the large urban ones.