Derek talks with Damian LaCroix, who became executive director of the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators (WASDA) on July 1 after 33 years in public education, including nearly 20 as a superintendent in Howard-Suamico.

Derek raises a pattern out of a summer spent in the data: roughly 53 Wisconsin districts that are small and rural, with older communities and fewer households with children in school — and higher property tax rates, meaning they are doing more locally to fund their schools. Being a superintendent in one of those communities can be isolating, and those communities are rarely neighbors.

Damian's answer starts with loneliness. He points to former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, who traveled the country expecting to hear about cancer and heart disease and kept hearing about disconnection instead. Hence this year's theme, Forward Together, taken from the state motto.

Also this conversation:

• Wellness and Leadership, a new initiative built on four seasonal variations on resilience, with regional stops, an online offering, and one-on-one consultation for superintendents who need more than the association can provide in a group setting.

• The Fall Superintendents Conference (Madison Concourse, September 23–25), themed Creating the Conditions for Successful Leadership. Joe Gothard, the 2024 national superintendent of the year, opens; State Superintendent Jill Underly and the governor speak Thursday morning; Tony Frontier keynotes on moving beyond compliance to an intentional approach to AI; AASA delivers a federal update; and clinical psychologist Doug Bolton closes on belonging. Attendees walk over to the Capitol for the state superintendent's address and the teacher and business partner of the year recognitions.

• The rest of the year: monthly topicals beginning in October, the joint State Education Convention in Milwaukee, a spring conference back in Madison, a national education conference in Atlanta in February, and the summer legal conference in July.

• Breakout sessions built from member input rather than handed down — district consolidation, strategic reset, a women in leadership roundtable — and a program designed so you can wade in shallow or go deep.

• Every attendee goes home with Simon Sinek's Together Is Better, courtesy of Performance Services, as the basis for a year-long book study. Check page four for the scratch-and-sniff scent of optimism.

Links

WASDA: https://www.wasda.org

Conference registration and calendar: https://www.wasda.org/event/26Fall

Together, Vivek Murthy: https://www.vivekmurthy.com/together-book

AI with Intention, Tony Frontier: https://www.ascd.org/books/ai-with-intention

Together Is Better, Simon Sinek: https://simonsinek.com/books/together-is-better

The Speed of Trust, Stephen M.R. Covey: https://www.franklincovey.com/books/the-speed-of-trust/

Doug Bolton: https://www.drdougbolton.com

Performance Services: https://www.performanceservices.com