Customized Workshops & Retreats

Heather Curl and WSSDA Consultants.

Tailored to Fit Your Team

Prioritizing professional development for your board-superintendent team is essential to aligning goals across the district and driving positive student outcomes. WSSDA offers customized coaching, training, and team development designed to meet your board’s unique needs—all delivered directly in your district.

Informed by academic research on education, adult learning, and school board service, WSSDA’s workshops are facilitated by trained, experienced WSSDA leadership consultants. The board workshops are designed to support school boards and superintendents in building skills, competencies, and establishing high levels of professional and personal conduct and performance.

We offer a variety of standard workshops, but all can be customized to match the needs of your local board or school district. Workshops range from two to four hours in length and can be combined into a full day, if desired.

Having a WSSDA facilitator allows all members of the team to participate, while providing expertise in navigating important conversations.

Why Choose our Workshops?

  • Informed by research
  • Customized to your board
  • No travel; delivered in your district
  • Led by trained facilitators
  • Flexible length and format
  • Builds skills, knowledge, and team alignment
  • Leads to improved student outcomes
Request a Workshop

Customizable Workshops

Customizable Workshops
Foundational
Board Self-Assessment Workshop		 A workshop for reviewing the outcomes of a Board Self-Assessment Survey. Reviewing your survey results, we’ll look for themes, areas of strength, opportunities for growth, and potential for increased cohesiveness as a board.
Focused
Board Self-Assessment Workshop		 For boards that already had a Foundational Self-Assessment Workshop, the focused workshop combines survey results with a look at student needs in your district with discussions supported by research-based high-leverage indicators from the Washington School Board Standards.
Board Roles and Responsibilities For boards with newly elected or appointed board members or those who want a refresher on roles and responsibilities. This workshop takes content from WSSDA’s Board Boot Camp and puts it into the context of your school district by incorporating information about your district’s status and goals for students. We also review protocols to support team building and communication.
Board Operating Protocols Work together to create clear guidelines for how your board operates. This workshop walks you through real examples, helps you pinpoint what matters most for your team, and guides you in drafting your own policy that defines your board’s operating protocol.
Governance Frameworks Learn more about different board governance structures, including Policy Governance, Coherent Governance, or Balanced Governance. Explore the similarities and differences, or update your team’s current structure.
Strategic Planning Whether you’re starting from scratch or refining an existing strategic plan, we’ll design this workshop to suit your needs. Using the Washington State Board Standards as a road map, we’ll explore components of the strategic planning process and the board’s role in it. See also our Strategic Planning Service.
Superintendent Evaluation Learn the best practices around superintendent evaluation that support student growth. Includes a review of requirements, leadership competencies, and goal setting for the board.
Board – Superintendent Relationship One of the most important relationships in a school district is between the board and superintendent because a well-functioning leadership team is proven to support strong student outcomes. In this interactive workshop, you’ll explore this relationship in the context of your own district and gain a deeper understanding of how to best align your work together.
Research Article Review Review four articles revealing which leadership practices actually improve student achievement – and which ones get in the way. In this interactive workshop, you’ll dig into the research together, then discuss what it means for your district and students.
District-Sponsored OnBoard Training Your board can host any of WSSDA’s OnBoard trainings by inviting other local boards to join you.

Pricing

2025 District Fee
Virtual (2-3 hours) $800
In-Person (2-4 hours) $1,100
In-Person (5-8 hours) $1,650

Testimonials

Luckisha Phillips“We had a WSSDA leadership consultant come to facilitate a retreat on roles and responsibilities and policy governance. It was impactful and supported us to better understand how to create the conditions for student success in our district through strengthening the board-supe team. The chance to work with an experienced school board director and seasoned facilitator was a perfect balance of experience, education, and compassion”
— Luckisha Phillips, Board Vice President, Federal Way
School District

Amy Cast“When I started on my own school board several years ago, I was introduced to Tricia Lubach and the work of the WSSDA leadership consulting team during one of my first board retreats. I saw first-hand how a facilitated retreat helped my board not only improve our practice, but also find new ways to collaborate and communicate. As I’m now a leadership consultant myself, it’s my honor to “pay it forward” and support other boards as they serve the children of their community.”
— Amy Cast, Board President, Northshore School District

Questions?

To request a workshop, please fill out this request form. Typically we need a minimum of two-weeks advanced notice.

Dr. Heather Curl
Director of Leadership Development
360-890-5781

Rassamy Smith
Learning and Development Specialist
360-252-3003