What happens when over 80 charter human resources (HR) specialists and school leaders gather for a two-day deep dive on HR in a charter school context?
CSDC’s HR Academy, which took place in San Diego earlier this week, hosted leaders from over 50 charter schools and organizations.
The program, which is in its third year, helps leaders with significant HR responsibilities to explore the science and art of charter school HR.
Multiple Lenses Provides Deeper Understanding
The program had a solid rotation of presenters, including risk management assessors and claim managers from CharterSAFE and the foremost expert on teacher credentialing in California, Greta Proctor of the Procopio law firm. These presenters, along with CSDC’s longtime guest instructors, Jennifer McQuarrie, Brigid Perakis, and Eric Premack, offered detailed insights, enabling charter leaders to return to their schools with actionable to-do lists and helping to ensure that schools maximize resources, balance workloads, and tighten their budgetary considerations in the coming months while equipping participating leaders to manage their teams more effectively.
As new legislation looms with potential significant impacts for charter schools, HR leaders are having to re-examine their strategies for supporting their teams to remain an appealing place of employment for educators, general and specialties, retain solid, reliable staff, and continue to offer competitive packages for their employees.
Prioritizing Critical Peer-to-Peer Networking
Participants found the opportunity to connect and learn from experts and one another empowering. Throughout the two days, participants worked through exercises and shared their own experiences and best practices with one another, swapping resources and advising on challenges, proving that it is essential for charter leaders to continue to convene in-person, to strengthen their networks, and to know who their counterparts are in other chartering organizations.
Many of the participants attended the program for a second, and some even for a third, time, seeing the annual professional development program as offering lasting returns that continue to benefit their schools. The 2025 program dates and location will be announced when registration opens in the spring.
Thank You, 2024 Participants!
A huge “Thanks!” to the charter school leaders who traveled from across the state and contributed to this year’s program!
Bay Area
Latrice Bennett Rosie Bravo Maggie Diaz Jasmine Fuentes Suzanne Garrett Page Hersey |
Maren Kato Claudia Lee Jonathan Pike Mary Streshly Kathryn Wong Jocelyn Zuno |
Greater Sacramento Area & Northern California
Byanca Alcazar Calamidy Alexander Ella Blair Jennifer Buckley Isaura Cacho Lane Carlson Kara Crochett Brian Davis Morri Elliott Autumn Emond John Garrard Jasmine Gibbs Brian Hamilton Sonsie Hopper |
Matthew Lemos Nikki Madison Christina Martinez Andrew Michaud Shaina Miranda Judy Morales-Sue Deanna Moreno Sherri Morgan Rachael Navarrete El Roper Christi Torres-Rogers Mayra Valdivia Daniela Voronkova Jodi Votava |
Central Coast & Valley
Deena Klein Carolina Martinez Daisy Orozco |
Mariana Rodriguez Holli Shipp Annie Stevens |
Greater Los Angeles Area
John Bowen Matthew Brown Dee Cardona Raul Carranza Angie Casares Brittany Clark Melody Donnelly Olivia Duran Catalina Garcia Elena Girotto Tyler Hamilton Sonia Hernandez |
Denise Hobbensiefken KoKo Judge Anabelle Medina Silvia Montejano Martha Morales Liza Olivas Maria Pimienta Stephanie Romo Kristen Roy Julia Ruiz Sophie Trivino |
San Diego
Christin Barkas Krystin Demofonte Shari Erlendson Colleen Green Joy Harris Zuleyma Hernandez |
Gigi Lenz Laura May Kristy Renken Erika Vanderspek Nour Zori |
Missed Out? More Charter HR from CSDC
School leaders that missed out on having attended this year’s program, or seeking to deepen their knowledge, have more opportunities to stay on top of charter HR with CSDC.
Issues We're Tracking
Keep an eye on the following escalating issues and to be prepared to pivot to meet the changes that may be coming:
- Salary schedules that may be impacted as early as mid-December (Read CSDC's Your Salary Schedules are on the Ballot this November)
- End of 'grandfathering' of non-credentialed and out-of-assignment charter school teachers on July 1, 2025
- The remaining possibility of a recession despite a stable economic picture
2024 CSDC Conference
Attend the myriad HR-related sessions at the 2024 CSDC Conference in Sacramento on November 18-20!
In addition to breakout sessions, this year’s program also features two opportunities to delve deeply into charter school HR during with two half-day workshops*:
- Charter Teacher Credentialing in 2024-25 presented by Greta Proctor and Julia Choi
- Human Resources IRL presented by Jennifer McQuarrie and Wendy Tucker
*Note: These workshops are included in the cost of registration but have strict capacities and require tickets to gain entry. Register for the conference and reserve your tickets now!