Are you willing, over breakfast or lunch, to spend 20 minutes to help colleagues understand the role and importance of the school principal?  If so, then OESPA is more than willing to pay for your meal.

OESPA’s 20-20 Vision Leadership Mini Grants, initiated by OESPA President Tim Larkin, are intended to recognize the strength of the principal in both promoting and elevating the principalship in the schools and communities we serve.  Here’s how the grants, available to elementary and middle school principals, work:

• Review this OESPA 20-20 Vision PowerPoint presentation.
• Take the opportunity – with November holiday and conference/grading day breaks, or at any time – to spend 20 minutes, over a meal or coffee, with a colleague or aspiring teacher leader, talking about the role of the principal and how it serves communities, staff and students to exceptional levels of success.
• After your meeting, complete this survey and this PDF reimbursement form.
• OESPA will send you a check to cover your expenses, up to $20.

The mini grants were approved by the OESPA Board of Directors last month.  “The strength of our association literally and figuratively lies in the ranks of its members, and OESPA has some of the finest educational leaders in the state,” Larkin, a South Umpqua principal, explains. “Those members need to connect and collaborate with new and aspiring, or newly-assigned and multi-hat wearing colleagues to develop the professional relationships that promote high achievement.”

“The 20-20 Vision Leadership Grant is all about connections,” OESPA President-Elect Mike Scott, a Hermiston principal, says. “In the rural areas of Oregon it is very important to get out and connect with colleagues. This program helps that happen.”