NSBA Draws Educational Leaders to SF

SAN FRANCISCO — The 71st Annual National School Boards Association’s Conference, drew more than 5,000 educational leaders, from as far away as Germany, back to the Moscone Center this week for exhibits, conferences, sessions and tours.

 

This year‘s exhibition featured products, technologies, demonstrations and services available nationwide. The booths were lined with inquiries from school board members, administrators, architects and planners, engineers, and educational and facility plant managers.

 

The event had a long roster of sessions on topics that are important to school decision-makers and leaders, including: increasing student achievement, federal legislation and funding, managing schools during tough economic times, and school law issues.

 

With nearly 50 million students attending approximately 99,000 public elementary and secondary schools in the United States, it is estimated that $540 billion will be spent on education during the 2010-11 school year, according to the National Center for Educational Statistics.

 

Condelezza Rice, secretary of state from 2005 to 2009 and current professor of business and political science at Stanford University, was the headlining general session speaker at the conference. Rice is a longtime education advocate and a founding board member of the Center for a New Generation, an educational support fund.

       

Other speakers included Daniel Pink, a best-selling author whose books have redefined how one views global economics and the workplace; and Juan Enriquez, chairman and CEO of Biotechonomy, a life sciences research and investment firm, who gave the closing general session speech.

      

Founded in 1940, the National School Boards Association is a not-for-profit organization representing state associations of school boards and their more than 90,000 local school board members throughout the U.S.

NSBA’s Annual Conference in 2012 will be held, April 21-23, in Boston.