ACTEAZ News  President’s Letter

President’s Letter – Spring 2017
Submitted by Julie Stockwell

Welcome to Spring Semester, 2017, friends!

This second semester of the school year is always a very fast rollercoaster of events, from planning and delivering second-to-none career and technical education to our students every single day, to helping those same students prepare for regional, state, and national competitions, to taking every opportunity possible to collaborate with and support our colleagues, both on our campuses and throughout the state.

And while we are on this rollercoaster, we are also keeping an eye on developments with our state and national policymakers, to identify where we need to advocate for the support and the resources to continue providing education that will ensure economic security for our students.  Every year brings new challenges to the work we do, and we at ACTEAZ are committed to helping you stay informed as well as letting you know when potential policy decisions may need all hands on deck.  Collaboratively, we have truly moved mountains over the past year to ensure continued Arizona funding for quality CTE programs, and I know this year there will be times we will need everyone’s help to move a few more.

Please continue to check our website and our Facebook and Twitter feeds for regular news updates.  Additionally, if you have not yet joined our Advocacy Contact Form, please click it and fill it in with your PERSONAL email information.  Doing so will allow us to contact you immediately when we need your help in calling and emailing legislators.  We don’t use it often (it’s probably been at least 8 months since we activated it), but when we do, your help makes an immediate and significant difference!

In the meantime, the spring is also full of outstanding professional development for CTE professionals.  Whether you decide to attend the Midwinter Conference in February, National Policy Seminar in March, or the ACTE Region V Conference in April, you will return to your school refreshed with new ideas, ready to hit the reset button on several items on your to do list.  And our annual Summer Conference in Tucson in July will be one no one will want to miss!

Wishing you all an amazing spring,

Julie Stockwell,
ACTEAZ President