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By JOYANNA LOVE/ Senior Staff Writer

Each summer educators attend conferences and other professional development to prepare for the coming school year.

Many Chilton County principals and Superintendent Jason Griffin recently attended the Council for Leaders in Alabama Schools Conference.

“I am so thankful that we have administrators who love and care about our students enough that they want to learn through professional development activities like the CLAS Conference,” Griffin said. “I know I could see the excitement from our administrators who attended the conference, and they are ready to use that to improve our schools.”

Among those who attended were Clanton Intermediate Principal Louise Pitts and Isabella High School Principal Ricky Porter.

Porter said he tries to attend the conference each year as a part of fulfilling the professional learning units requirements for administrators.

“The primary focus of the convention was leadership and with Isabella being a Leader In Me school, the sessions offered were very beneficial,” Porter said.

“Attending the conference gave me an opportunity to listen to presenters who are motivators and provided wonderful ideas to build school culture and to find the greatness in all our students,” Pitts said.

Some of the presenters that she especially enjoyed were Joe Sanfelippo on “communicating a school’s true story” and Jimmy Casas on improvements to give students and educators the best experience possible.

“I always enjoy the presenters, and I loved that it was in Montgomery this year instead of in Mobile,” Pitts said.

She commented that she also enjoyed talking to companies about new resources available for use in the classroom.

Porter said the three general sessions were “very inspirational and very motivational.”

“The breakout session that I personally enjoyed the most was entitled ‘Pick Up the Roach! Why Great Leaders Do the Little Things’ by Pete Blank,” Porter said. “This session dealt with focusing on the small details that can be the difference between being a mediocre leader and being a successful leader.”

Each year, Porter enjoys getting to talk with other administrators from CCS and other school systems.

“I enjoy seeing what others are doing and trying to find that one nugget that I can bring back to my school,” Porter said. “The CLAS conventions are always refreshing and motivational. I always return energized and ready to get started on another great year!”