PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
Greetings OCASA Members,
As the incoming President of OCASA, I’d like to start by expressing my gratitude to Matt Turner for his outstanding leadership and stepping into the role for the first part of this year. His work on the OCASA Board for the past 8 years has been an instrumental force in accomplishing the gains we have made as an organization . A heartfelt thanks also goes to Dr. Anna Diaz, whose expertise as our Executive Director continues to be invaluable.
I have been a member of the OCASA Board for several years as the Middle School Principal Rep. The beginning of this year I moved into the President Elect role which lead me to be tapped as your President for the remainder of the year. Since joining the OCASA Board ( I honestly can’t remember the year Furno and Painter said to me, “It’s your turn!), I’ve witnessed remarkable growth and evolution in our organization. We’ve worked tirelessly to strengthen relationships with the School Board, Superintendent, and various OCPS departments, establishing OCASA as a key voice in administrative advocacy. As we navigate a complex political landscape, our influence continues to grow, and with your support, we aim to continue on our path of growth.
Our focuses/goals for the 2024 – 2025 School Year:
- First and foremost we need to promote and increase membership. We have seen over 100% growth in the past 5+ years but in order to truly give the perspective of all administrators at all levels we need the best representative sample possible. For reference there are roughly about 635 school based administrators in OCPS and we have about 367 members. The more members we get the better voice and true advocation we can provide. As a member we ask you to actively recruit others in your immediate circle to join and you are welcome to forward them this email to so they can see all the great things we do.
- We need to continue to bring overarching concerns forward to the Deputy Superintendent but we also need to improve upon bringing possible solutions forward with our concerns. We have some of the best minds in OCPS running our schools and typically identifying concerns has not been an issue but developing a solution is something we need to promote.
- We need to continue to increase our presence with the School Board Members without alienating the office of the superintendent.
- We need to improve capturing opinions from our members on key topics. Please lookout for surveys and do your best to complete them. Your voice is VERY important to us.
- We need to continue to improve our professional development opportunities and our reach with getting members access to skills needed to advance their careers.
Your insights are invaluable, and we deeply appreciate your dedication to our schools and students. Thank you for being a vital part of OCASA.
Wishing you continued success this year!
Amy McHale,
President