State Affiliate of the Year Award
AZALAS was recognized as the “State Affiliate of the Year” award at the ALAS Summit in Portland, Oregon. The following board and staff members were able to be present to accept the award: Dr. Mario Ventura, Dr. JoEtta Gonzales, Dr. Gabriel Trujillo, Marco Ruiz, Christina Boston, Roxana Rico, David Verdugo, Jose Gastelum, Juan Ceja, Monica Mesa, Gisselle Herrera, Joe Quintana, Arturo Carrizoza and Dr. Marvene Lobato.
The Arizona Hispanic School Administrators Association dba the Arizona Association of Latino Administrators and Superintendents (AZALAS) is in its 36th year as a non-profit organization. AZALAS has a 15-member Board of Directors with six part-time staff positions. AZALAS has approximately 400 members and 60+ sponsors.
The vision of AZALAS is, “Ensuring excellence and equity in education.” The mission is, “To promote effective leadership that produces the best outcomes for all students.” AZALAS believes in promoting, training, and mentoring professional members.” Part of the work towards those ends includes the development and growth of the AZALAS Aspiring Leaders Training Program. Aspiring leaders have a variety of educational experiences from teaching to site administration, and assistant directors. Cohort participation in these workshops have grown from 25 participants to 182 participants this year. One of the most rewarding aspects of this work is witnessing the growth of the cohort members and seeing them grow into their first or next administrative position.
AZALAS has collaborated with Colorado, New Mexico and Utah to create the Four Corners Latinx Leadership Academy. The purpose of collaboration is to focus on the importance of using an equity lens in leadership decisions.
AZALAS, with their sponsor partners, offer twenty $1,500 scholarships to high school seniors each year. These recipients are then eligible to apply for an additional $1,500 each year for the next three years. Members who are working on a higher degree are eligible to apply for three (3) scholarships annually, two (2) for $5,000, and one (1) for $10,000.
The focus of the annual conference is to provide professional development for all AZALAS members. Member networking is a highlight of the conference. The two-day conference includes 32 presentations, three (3) keynote speakers, five (5) awards and three (3) student performances. The conference committee has 35 members representing 16 school districts from throughout Arizona.
AZALAS membership and sponsors receive communication in a variety of venues such as: monthly newsletter, website, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Newsletters are issued monthly providing communication to our members and sponsors. AZALAS also jointly host four networking mixers for our members, each year, with alternating sponsors.
AZALAS is proud to work alongside school districts to ensure that students have leaders who address challenges that affect equity for all students.
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