Ken Jones, Lodi Unified School District
The conference planning committee has been burning the midnight oil to get this year's conference off the ground. Here are a few highlights and some notes on special activities that we have planned.
You will want to come in a little early this year for Farley Stewart's excellent class on Internet World Wide Web Page Programming. This class will take place on Tuesday afternoon before the usual Wednesday start of the conference activities. For the nominal fee of $55, you will be able to get three hours of Farley's time on this very popular subject. Farley is becoming known within K-12 circles as one of the top experts on the Internet and it is very exciting to be able get him for this class. You must be signed up for the conference to take advantage of this class, so get those registrations in early.
Speaker Chair Skip Sharp has recruited some fine main speakers and timely and relevant breakout speakers. For our keynote addresses, Skip has found some real talent. Dr. Kelly Blanton has a long and distinguished career as an educator in California, and has been Superintendent of Schools in Kern County since 1986. Alex Kaplan is Director of Western Business Operations for BDM Education Technologies. Mark Phigler is the Deputy Director of the Telecommunications Division of the State of California.
Representatives from the California Department of Education will be on hand to report the latest on CSIS, CENet, and Standardized Account Codes. Members of the CEDPA Board are involved in these projects and a good working relationship has been established with the CDE. Come hear what is going on in each of these projects.
Greg Lindner, Vendor Chair, has put together a great exhibit show for you this year. There will be new products to see from the vendors that have supported the CEDPA Conference so loyally for years, and there will also be new vendors and new products. We hope these new vendors will become loyal supporters of CEDPA as well. There will be refreshments, door prizes, and lots of good company at the show.
The Conference location is extremely convenient this year. The San Jose Airport is five minutes away from the Fairmont and the hotel has free shuttle service. No long drives or waits after you finally get to the city. San Jose has many fine attractions.
We know that budgets are tight and you want to get the most bang for your buck. The CEDPA conference is designed to do just that for the IS professional in California K-12 Education. We hope to see you there.