Welcome to the 2024-25 school year. Among the challenges school leaders will be facing this year, issues around the use of artificial intelligence in education will be in the forefront. In this issue of ASBJ, you’ll find several articles on the topic to help start or push forward conversations among your colleagues.

“Striking a Balance” by Glenn Cook shows how districts and schools are harnessing the power of AI with their students in their classrooms. In “Shaping the AI Curve,” Ann Willemssen and Paul Butler-Nalin, who recently worked with the California School Boards Association to help set the direction of its AI policymaking work, outline the steps school leaders should take to create and shape AI policy.

Many districts are starting the school year experimenting with banning or restricting student cellphone use in the classroom. Jinghong Cai, the senior research analyst at NSBA’s Center for Public Education, writes about the trend in this issue’s Newsmaker piece. While some states and districts are calling for total bans on cellphone usage, others are trying to find ways to end the distraction that cellphones cause while still giving students access to the benefits of the powerful communications tool.

Our Council of Urban Boards of Education (CUBE) will be holding its annual conference in Las Vegas from Oct. 28 to Oct. 30. CUBE has convened school board members from across the nation for the past 56 years to network and share the continually evolving strategies they are using to address the unique educational challenges that exist in our nation's urban centers. Highlights of the program for this year’s conference are in our Urban Advocate section of this issue.

The deadline for applying for a Magna Award is Oct. 31, which is fast approaching. Please consider applying and join us in celebrating the 30^th anniversary of the awards in 2025. Click here for more information about the Magna Awards.

Looking ahead to 2025, which will be here before you know it, we hope you’ll join us for NSBA’s inaugural Advocacy & Equity Institute in February. This galvanizing and powerful event merges two long-standing conferences on the association's calendar, NSBA’s Equity Symposium and Advocacy Institute. We bring the two convenings together to help underscore the knowledge that advocacy work and equity work are inherently connected in achieving extensive and impactful improvements in public education.

The Advocacy & Equity Institute will explore the latest developments in education policy and legislation, aiming to empower school board members and education leaders with the knowledge, tools, and strategies needed to address barriers to equity in education. Click here for more information.

I hope to see you there!