Jim Lawson
Jim Lawson, Public School Teacher, Bay District Schools, A. Crawford Mosley High School, Panama City, FL
Jim Lawson is a public school teacher at A. Crawford Mosley High School, in Panama City, Florida.  He has over 30 years of teaching experience with the past 19 years being devoted to serving his district as an in-school suspension teacher for middle and high school-age students where his ISS students are taught through methods of self-empowerment and responsibility.  Jim is nationally recognized for his leadership skills and expertise in addressing school safety and dropout prevention issues.  Jim is a 2004 recipient of a Crystal Star for Excellence in Dropout Prevention, Intervention, and Prevention presented by Clemson University’s National Dropout Prevention Center Network (NDPC).

Pre-Conference Workshop ONE > DETAILS
Reinventing In-School Suspension:  Helping Students Achieve, Stay in School, and Graduate

Robert Barr
College of Education, Boise State University, Boise, ID

Dr. Robert Barr has gained national and international recognition for his research on at-risk children and youth, teacher education and alternative schools. He is a nationally recognized speaker, consultant, and scholar in the areas of at-risk youth, school improvement, and alternative education. He has appeared twice on PBS’s nationally televised “Firing Line,” featuring William F. Buckley, been interviewed on ABC Evening News with Peter Jennings and on Fox TV’s “The O’Reiley Factor.” He has been quoted in the New York Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal, served as an expert witness at many state and federal trials, and presented testimony to sub-committees of the U.S. Congress.

Barr has been widely published in almost every educational journal and is the author or co-author of eight books. Barr and Parrett have co-authored four books: Saving Our Students, Saving Our Schools: 50 Proven Strategies for Revitalizing At-Risk Students and Low-Performing Schools (Pearson Skylight, 2003); Hope Fulfilled for At-Risk and Violent Youth (Allyn & Bacon, 2001); How to Create Alternative, Magnet and Charter Schools that Work (NES, 1997); and Hope At Last for At-Risk Youth (Allyn & Bacon, 1996). Barr’s editorial, “Who Is This Child,” published by Phi Delta Kappan, February, 1996, was reprinted in French for distribution internationally and was nominated for a national award by the Educational Press Association. Other books authored by Dr. Barr include Alternatives in Education (Phi Delta Kappan, Bicentennial Publication, 1976); Values and Youth (NCSS, 1971); The Nature of the Social Studies (ETC Publications, 1978); and Defining the Social Studies (NCSS, 1978). Defining the Social Studies has been identified as the “single most influential book in the field of social studies.

Pre-Conference Workshop TWO > DETAILS
The Kids Left Behind…Building Plans to Successfully Intervene with Underachieving Children

Franklin Schargel
President, The Schargel Consulting Group, Albuquerque, NM
Franklin Schargel, a native of Brooklyn, New York now residing in Albuquerque, NM, is a graduate of the University of the City of New York. Franklin holds two Masters Degrees: one in Secondary Education from City University and a degree from Pace University in School Administration and Supervision. His career spans thirty-three years of classroom teaching and eight years of supervision and administration as Assistant Principal. In addition, Franklin taught a course in Dowling College's MBA Program.

Pre-Conference Workshop THREE > DETAILS
From At-Risk to Academic Excellence:  What Successful Leaders Do

Daryl Macaluso
Durham Police Department, Durham, NC
Daryl Macaluso is certified as a "Gang Identification Specialist" with the National Gang Crime Research Center (Chicago, IL), and has presented gang awareness training sessions focusing on gangs in schools nationwide. He was featured in the North Carolina Justice Academy's 2006 state-mandated law enforcement training on gangs. He is Corporal with the Durham Police Department, and has spent 4 years as a School Resource Officer in middle and high schools. He teaches Gang Resistance Education and Training, and is an instructor for the North Carolina Military Academy (Fort Bragg, NC). He is the Southeastern Representative for the International Latino Gang Investigators Association, as well as a member of the following associations: the National Gang Investigators Association, the East Coast Gang Investigators Association, the North Carolina School Resource Officer Association, and the North Carolina Gang Investigators Association.

Pre-Conference Workshop FOUR > DETAILS
Reality and Gangs

Lew Smith
Lew Smith, Associate Professor and Director,Center for Educational Research and Leadership, Fordham University, Bronx, NY
Dr. Lew Smith received his BA, MA and School Administration/Supervision Certificate from Brooklyn College and his EdD from Teachers College, Columbia University. He began his career as a social studies teacher in New York City high schools, where his interdisciplinary course in American History, titled The American Dream, became a textbook published by Scott Foresman and adopted nation-wide. Lew Smith served as the principal of a New York City high school; the executive director of America’s first settlement house, a multi-social service agency; and the principal of a suburban junior-senior high school.

Dr. Smith conceived and directed the NYC Middle School Initiative, which ultimately launched middle school reform in 26 of NYC’s 32 community school districts. He facilitated the creation of 82 school-based leadership teams for the Newark, New Jersey school system.

Lew Smith has served as an Associate Professor in Educational Leadership and Associate Dean, Program Development and Outreach at the Fordham University Graduate School of Education. As a member of the educational leadership faculty, Dr. Smith directed the revision and expansion of the Master’s Program in Educational Administration, which generated more than 200 well-prepared school administrators between 2000-2003. Dr. Smith, working with a Fordham team and external partners conceived and directed a Critical Issues in Education Conference Series, the National School Change Awards, and the National Principals Leadership Institute.

Dr. Smith’s research and teaching focus is on leadership development and school change. He has presented papers and conducted workshops in numerous school districts, at regional conferences, and at national conferences conducted by the American Association of School Administrators (AASA), American Educational Research Association (AERA), Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD), and the University Council of Educational Administration (UCEA). Four commentaries authored by Dr. Smith have appeared in Education Week.

Dr. Smith has been involved in extensive school restructuring and school design work, including the creation of three small New York City high schools dedicated to the themes of public service and social justice. Additionally, Dr. Smith helped with the restructuring of four K-8 schools and two high schools in Paterson, NJ; the design of a middle school in Baltimore, MD; and the redesign of four secondary schools in Newburgh, NY. He prepared Milwaukee, WI educators for the redesign of all eighteen high schools in their district and facilitated a new Aspiring Principals program for the San Francisco, CA Unified School District. Dr. Smith is married, with four children and one grandchild, all of who have attended public schools. Lew Smith is an avid reader, cook, and vegetable gardener.

Michele Hancock
Chief of Professional Development and Diversity, Rochester City School District, Rochester, NY
Michele has been committed to providing all children(and in particular, urban students)with a quality education to become successful and productive citizens in their community. In her 32 years as an urban educator, she has served in the role of a project facilitator of a teacher-run school, literacy specialist, mentor, assistant principal of curriculum and instruction of a middle school and has successfully led one of the lowest performing elementary schools to national prominence. Her belief in power with others fostered a school environment where shared governance became the norm and people view human success as limitless. At present, she is the Chief of Professional Development & Diversity for the Rochester City School District . Michele is steadfast in the journey to continue the "good fight" for children to read, write and do math with their peers, leading toward unlimited and often unheard of success stories. The idea that you can never stop learning describes her beliefs and validates her career choice on a daily basis. An example of this is that she is near completion of her Doctorate in Education.

Pre-Conference Workshop FIVE > DETAILS