Region 17 President's Message

Welcome to the 2023-24 school year! 

 

It is my honor and privilege to serve Region 17 as President and I am excited to be working alongside our outstanding and dedicated Board of Directors. 

 

I have been an educator for more than thirty years. During those years I’ve served in site and district roles in counseling, teaching, professional development, and curriculum.  I have been a principal for most of those years.  Currently, I am a Special Education Coordinator in Newport Mesa Unified School District. In 2004, my family moved to California, and I became a member of Association of California School Administrators (ACSA).  ACSA is the largest umbrella organization for school leaders in the United States, serving more than 17,000 California educators! I first joined Region 17’s Board as a Member at Large and took an active role in the planning of our Annual Regional Conferences. Most recently, I served as Vice President of Programs.

 

Region 17 includes twenty-eight Orange County districts plus the Regional Occupational Program and Orange County Department of Education. Our goals focus on advocacy, leadership development, legislation, and support. In addition to our Region 17 Board, we have nineteen Committee and Council Chairs representing the region as part of State ACSA and 29 Charter Presidents, one in each of our school districts, who provide feedback and disseminate information about our events, professional development, supports and more!

 

This year, we will continue to provide opportunities for networking, sharing, and learning together. We will work collaboratively with members of our region, other regions, and state ACSA to provide you with high-quality programs and systems of support.  We value these opportunities to build our collective and individual capacities so that we are better prepared to serve our staff, our students, and our students’ families.  

 

I believe that we are stronger together!  With each year, the role of the educational leader expands, and the demands become greater.  So too does the sense of urgency to meet this growing list of demands.  You are not alone! Region 17 is The Place to Be, The Place to Belong, The Place to Become. I encourage you to take advantage of your membership by participating in the various events we have planned throughout the year.   For those of you who would like to take a more active role, reach out to any of our Board Members or our Executive Director, Dr. Carol Hansen, at [email protected].