CALSA's Summer Institute 2026

To advance opportunity and create lasting impact for California’s students, we must empower the staff who interact with them most: our campus supervisors. This session offers a meaningful learning experience centered on a proven model that builds the capacity of campus safety personnel.
Rooted in the belief that authentic community-building begins with the staff, we demonstrate how the cultural practice of sharing a meal creates the psychological safety necessary for honest dialogue and shared leadership. By "calendaring" regular meeting times and formalizing incident debriefs, administrators can move beyond reactive management to a proactive system that addresses inequities and elevates and empowers support staff.
Participants will engage in planning high-leverage role-play scenarios and practice assertive, PBIS-aligned redirection that balances authority with support. This session provides a scalable blueprint for building a unified team that "covers each other," ensuring that every student feels safe, seen, and supported by a highly-skilled, empowered supervision team.

This powerful and reflective presentation centers on one essential truth: principals matter, deeply and measurably, in the success of schools. Designed for educational leaders, the session elevates the role of the principal from manager to transformative leader, highlighting how their actions shape school culture, teacher effectiveness, and ultimately, student outcomes.
Grounded in research and real-world leadership experiences, this session emphasizes that principals are second only to classroom instruction among school-based factors influencing student achievement . Participants will explore how effective principals can accelerate student learning by several months within a single school year and create conditions where both adults and students thrive .
Through engaging visuals, stories, and structured reflection, the presentation examines the principal’s role in building a strong instructional focus, fostering a positive school climate, and developing collaborative, high-performing teams. It also highlights how leadership decisions impact teacher retention, professional growth, and overall school improvement.
Participants will be invited to reflect on their own leadership practices and consider how they influence culture, expectations, and outcomes across their campuses. The session balances inspiration with practical application, offering actionable strategies that leaders can immediately implement.
This presentation is both affirming and challenging—reminding leaders of the profound influence they hold and equipping them to lead with clarity, purpose, and impact in today’s complex educational landscape.

This session, Supporting School Staff: A Multi-Tiered Guide to Immigration-Related Stress, equips school and district leaders with practical strategies to address the growing impact of immigration-related stress on educators and school communities. Grounded in a Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) framework, the session highlights how immigration policy changes contribute to secondary trauma, disrupted workplace trust, and feelings of helplessness among staff, ultimately affecting school climate and student support systems .
Participants will explore how administrators can proactively build a culture of collective wellness by embedding universal supports into daily practice, such as structured check-ins, community-building circles, and micro-wellness strategies. The session also addresses targeted interventions, including informational workshops and resilience-building opportunities that empower staff with knowledge and coping tools. For staff experiencing acute distress, leaders will learn how to implement intensive supports, including crisis response protocols and referral systems to professional mental health services.
A key focus of the session is clarifying the administrator’s role in supporting staff wellbeing through the “notice, normalize, and refer” approach, while maintaining professional boundaries and psychological safety. Through reflection and discussion, participants will assess their current systems and identify opportunities to strengthen implementation within their school communities.
Ultimately, this session provides actionable, equity-centered strategies to help educational leaders sustain staff wellbeing, foster resilience, and maintain supportive school environments during times of sociopolitical stress.

Join us as we discuss current issues educational institutions face surrounding artificial intelligence, including: (1) The intersection of artificial intelligence with the California Public Records Act; (2) The use of AI-powered notetakers in meetings; and (3) Wearable AI (smart glasses).  We will discuss how to prepare yourself to address these key developments in your agency.