September 9, 2025:
Purpose of DC LSAT Collective
WTU Focus: Review of Collective Bargaining Agreement
September 10, 2024 - Setting Your LSAT Up for Success
Communicating with your school community
The power of the agenda
Introduction to the CSP
October 8, 2024 - Comprehensive School Plan (CSP) + Enrollment Audit
October enrollment count
Comprehensive School Plan (CSP)
Resources for October and advocacy
November 12, 2024 - Public Budget forum co-hosted by DCPS
Presentations by the DCPS Family Engagement Team, Chancellor Louis Ferebee and Deputy Chancellor Patrick Ashley, including an overview of DCPS's 5-Year Strategic Plan
Discussions regarding the upcoming budget season
December 10, 2024 - Budget Prep Part 1: Budget checklist, surveying your school community
January 14, 2025 - Advocacy panel
Cathy Reilly from C4DC (Coalition for DC Public Schools)
Grace Hu, Melody Molinoff, Alexandra Simbana from Digital Equity in DC Education
Caroline Pryor from EmpowerEd
February 11, 2025 - Budget Drop Feedback (Butterball Turkey Hotline)
March 11, 2025 - Budget Debrief + Advocacy, Prepping for LSAT Elections, Jumpstarting a New LSAT
April 8, 2025 - Recruitment and Outreach + Open meeting for individuals interested in running for LSAT
May 7, 2025 - Special meeting to provide feedback on OSSE's reimagined high school graduation requirements - slide deck
May 13, 2025 - Comprehensive School Plans: Developing Next Year's CSP
June 10, 2025 - LSAT Handoffs, Onboarding, and Jumpstarting; Year in Review and Planning for Next Year
Budget debrief by Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn - slide deck
September 2023
Topic: Kicking the School Year Off Right: "How to LSAT" tips focusing on communication and relationship-building + a Q&A session + advocacy updates
Resources: meeting recording (no discussion is included in the recording - we only share recordings of the resource and advocacy presentations, in order to create a safe space for open sharing at our meetings)
October 2023
Topic: A Conversation with Deputy Mayor for Education Paul Kihn and the DME team
Resources:
meeting recording (no discussion is included in the recording - we only share recordings of the resource and advocacy presentations, in order to create a safe space for open sharing at our meetings)
DME presentation slide deck (coming soon - please check back)
November 2023
Topic: Digging Into Your CSP (Comprehensive School Plan)
Resources:
CSP Snapshots by school (currently not updated)
December 2023
Topic: Workshopping Budget Scenarios
Resources:
January 2024
Topic: Preparing for your February Budget Meetings
Resources:
February 2024
Topic: Budget Hotline
Resources:
Personnel Budget Comparison Template
This template includes all of the positions for an example elementary school for the 23-24 school year -- your school likely has a different configuration, so you may need to delete some of these positions and/or add others, and you will need to add in the number of people your school is employing in each position
You can find your final staffing numbers and costs for the 23-24 school year, and work out the cost per position, by searching for your school's 2024 *Amended* budget at https://dcpsbudget.com/budget-data/school-budgets/school-budget-worksheets
You can find the cost for each position in 24-25 at https://dcpsbudget.com/budget-development-guide/additional-information/#Item_Catalog
Note that this doesn't account for any cost increases in non-personnel spending, but in most cases the vast majority of a school's budget goes towards personnel
March 2024
Topics: Budget Debrief & Advocacy, Prepping for LSAT Elections, Jumpstarting a New LSAT
Check out the Google Group for a list of Budget Advocacy actions
April 9, 2024 - Recruitment and Outreach: Open Meeting for the LSAT-Curious
May 14, 2024 - Comprehensive School Plans: Developing Next Year's CSP
June 11, 2024 - LSAT Handoffs, Onboarding, and Jumpstarting; Year in Review and Planning for Next Year
September 2022
Topic: (Re-)Introducing the DC LSAT Collective + "How to LSAT"
running your first meeting
major LSAT-related events throughout the school year
managing your relationship with your principal
Resources:
October 2022
Resource Connection: Meet DCPS Community Action Team Specialist, Damián Popkin
Learn who the CAT specialist is for your school and how they work with the LSAT team
Advocacy: Maya Baum, DCPS teacher and EmpowerEd Fellow
Teacher attrition is up in DC -- see what supports our teachers’ need and how we can raise awareness on our LSAT teams
“Parlor Chat” Topics:
LSAT Community Engagement - How do we better engage our school community?
LSAT Relationship with the Principal - Examine ways to build your LSAT’s relationship with your leadership
Resources:
recording of Resource Connection and Advocacy Presentations
notes from Parlor Chat conversation - coming soon (we do not record the Parlor Chat section of our meetings in order to facilitate open conversation)
November 2022
Topic: "CSP, Yeah You Know Me: What is the Comprehensive School Plan and how does it affect your budget and school community?"
Resources:
recording of meeting intro
notes from Parlor Chat conversation - coming soon (we do not record the Parlor Chat section of our meetings in order to facilitate open conversation)
December 2022
Topic: "Money, That's What I Want: Wrapping Your Head Around Budget Issues"
Resources:
recording of budget overview and meeting end-notes
other insights from Q&A and discussion are captured on our Budget best practices page
January 2023
Topic: When the Budget Dollars Meet the Road: Tools, tips, and questions you can bring to your upcoming budget meetings to help you contribute effectively to the budget planning process
Resources:
meeting recording (no discussion is included in the recording - we only share recordings of the resource and advocacy presentations, in order to create a safe space for open sharing at our meetings)
February 2023
Topic: I’ll Be There For You: Real-time budget support meeting to answer questions, get advice, vent, etc. Think of it as a "Butterball Turkey Hotline" approach to answering budget questions.
Resources: No recording available because this meeting was entirely discussion.
March 2023
Topic: Budget-Drop Breakdown & Debrief: Reflecting on takeaways from the budget process, how they connect to advocacy trends, and implications for next year.
Resources: No recording available because this meeting was entirely discussion.
April 2023
Topic: Looking to the Future: A workshop focusing on key areas with room for improvement in terms of the LSAT experience, to identify concrete needs and make plans to meet or advocate around those needs.
May 2023
Topic: How It’s Working Out: Evaluating your school’s academic year and assessing the CSP for next year (including a discussion of educational strategies various schools are using & finding success with).
June 2023
Topic: We've Come A Long Way from Where We Began: Year in review, soliciting input for upcoming meeting with Deputy Mayor for Education's office, goals for DC LSAT Collective next year.
September 2021
Topics:
In-person school re-opening: what is working, what is not, and what role can LSATs can play)
DCPS' new budget model (with Will Perkins from Councilmember Lewis-George's staff)
Resources
October 2021
Topics:
Best practices on working with your principal
COVID protocols in school buildings
Presenter
Dr. Teferi from the American Association of Pediatricians)
Resources
December 2021
Topics:
Recent updates on new budget model for schools
what the changes mean for schools
how these changes are responding (or not) to feedback from the community from the past few years
Presenters:
Erin Roth, Director of Education Research at the Office of the DC Auditor
Qubilah Huddleston, Policy Analyst at DCFPI
Resources
January 2022
Topics: Teacher and principal retention and what LSATs can do to support
Presenters:
Scott Goldstein - Executive Director of EmpowerEd
Caylah Green - Math Lead Teacher/LSAT member at Sousa Middle School
January 2021
Topics:
Share and collect best practices for reviewing school budgets
Political and budget updates on DC finances and at-risk funds
Comparing notes on school reopening checklists/walkthroughs
March 2021
Topics:
review data from our LSAT budget survey
compare notes about this year's budget/budget process across school communities
discuss opportunities for advocacy together
May 2021
Topics:
Federal funding
LSAT pipeline and recruitment
Resources: