From the Desk of the President By Dr. Melissa Sadorf, ARSA President The ARSA Executive Board continues to be intentional about ensuring that the organization offers multiple benefits for your membership. These efforts include the Superintendent Roundtables, the Rural Scoop podcast, and the advocacy work both during and in between legislative sessions. This year we started the process of creating a well-defined mission, vision and goals. You should see the results of that work coming soon. Additionally, we are looking to grow and refine the focus of our organization in several ways that I would like to share with you. With the opening of the NAU Rural Resource Center (www.naurrc.org), an ARSA partner, we want to ensure that efforts that support rural leaders and their schools are not duplicated. Both the NAURRC and ARSA met with their respective Boards and delineated their roles providing outreach and assistance to the field. While the NAURRC will focus on providing resources, upcoming professional development, and topical content, ARSA will spend more energy on advocating for rural schools at the local, state and federal levels. To be effective in that work, the Executive Board will begin the process of moving from a part-time to a full-time Page 3 Executive Director, effective in July, 2022. This shift requires the ARSA by-laws be updated. Look for a draft of the proposed changes that will be emailed out and voted on at the general membership meeting in June. As part of the expectations the Board has of the Executive Director, regular communication to the membership on key items happening around a host of topics will be ramped up, especially as it relates to the legislative session and State Board updates. We want to continue to support your efforts to being an effective advocate for your rural schools. The Director will look to serve as a liaison to give you the opportunity to provide anecdotal information to policy makers and influencers on issues of concern or celebration in your community. Also expected will be a more visible ARSA presence at the county, state, regional, and federal levels to ensure that rural issues stemming from our backyards to across the country that might have impact in your community can be addressed. As a result of these shifts, the Board voted to raise the annual membership fees from $250 to $350 starting in the upcoming fiscal year. We believe that what you will get from your (continued on page 5) “Stronger Together!”
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