Conference Schedule
Summer Conference
7:45-8:30 Registration and Breakfast – Rebecca Stafford Student Center – 2nd Floor
8:30 – 9:30 Welcome & Keynote – Carl Hooker – Anacon A & B
Learning Evolution
The rapid rise of generative AI will have a dramatic impact on how we teach and learn. "AI-enhanced" learning means gone are the days of focusing on a single product to measure student growth. Responsible and ethical use of AI in education should be a primary focus of schools going forward from grades K-20. In this interactive keynote, we'll discuss the ethical ramifications of AI and look at examples of how using AI in the classroom can actually encourage deeper learning and understanding. After all, learning is more about the process than the product.
All Breakout Sessions will be held at Bey Hall (Leon Hess Business School)
9:45 – 10:45 Session A
AI is Improving. Are We? Rethinking Rigor, Assessment, and Leadership in an AI-Forward Future
Room 128
Artificial intelligence is evolving rapidly–but are schools evolving with it? This provocative session moves beyond AI tools and productivity hacks to examine deeper questions about leadership, learning, assessment, curriculum, and human connection in an increasingly AI-shaped world.
Presenter:
Dr. Derek Tranchina, Director of Special Projects
MOESC
AI Powered Leadership 2.0: From Curiosity to Capacity
Room 129
Whether you are a superintendent, central office administrator or school-based leader this session will provide practical strategies you can apply immediately to work smarter, lead better, and build organizational capacity in an AI-powered world.
Participants will explore updated AI tools, emerging use cases, and practical workflows that can help school leaders streamline communication, strengthen planning, analyze feedback, support decision-making, and manage the daily demands of leadership more effectively. The session will highlight real-world examples of how AI can be used to save time, improve clarity, and enhance the quality of leadership work while remaining grounded in professional judgment, transparency, ethics, and human connection.
Presenters:
Raymond A. Gonzalez, Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools
Westfield Public Schools
Matthew Bolton, Ed.D, Deputy Superintendent of Schools
Westfield Public Schools
AI -- Beyond the Classroom: Applications in Facilities Planning, Referendum & Budget Strategies, and District Communication
Room 130
AI is not replacing professional judgment, legal review, architectural responsibility, or superintendent leadership. Used properly, AI can be a tool that helps school districts and their professional teams organize information, review documents, improve communication, test ideas, explain complex projects, and engage the public more clearly.
The session will focus on how AI is actually being used today in support of school district work and practice.
Presenters:
Frank A. Messineo, AIA, Principal/CEO
Solutions Architecture
NIck Norcia, Superintendent of Schools
Morris Hills Regional District
From Confusion to Clarity: Using Notebook LM to Provide Quick & Consistent Answers to Parents*
Room 132
This session will guide K-12 administrators and supervisors through the process of leveraging NotebookLM to create an AI-powered chatbot designed to provide parents with district-specific information. Participants will learn how to efficiently gather and organize
relevant data, train a chatbot using NotebookLM’s capabilities, and deploy a practical solution for common parent inquiries, such as bell schedules, lunch calendars, and event information. This hands-on session will demonstrate how to streamline communication, reduce administrative burden, and enhance parental engagement through intelligent automation.
Presenter:
Gary Fiore, Assistant IT Director
Morris Plains School District
Cutting Clicks: Using AI to Audit Mandated Staff Trainings
Room 133
Across New Jersey, school districts devote hundreds of staff hours each year to mandated training programs intended to ensure compliance, safety, and legal awareness. Yet a statewide review of assignments from 20 districts revealed significant inconsistencies in both the number of trainings assigned and the amount of time required for completion. In many cases, staff are completing modules that may be redundant, role-specific, based on outdated guidance, or assigned out of an abundance of caution rather than explicit regulatory requirements.
Based on research recently published in the June issue of the NJEA Review, this session will share findings from an AI-assisted audit of mandated staff trainings and demonstrate how tools such as Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude can help districts evaluate their obligations for staff against current NJDOE guidance, federal regulations, and OSHA standards. Participants will explore a practical framework for distinguishing between legally mandated trainings, compliance-related assignments, and common-practice modules.
"Cutting Clicks" highlights how AI can serve as a powerful administrative tool for identifying redundancies, clarifying legalities, and supporting data-informed decision-making. Attendees will leave with concrete strategies for conducting their own audits, reducing unnecessary workload, and ensuring that staff time is aligned with district priorities while maintaining legal and regulatory compliance.
Presenter:
Denise M. Spina, Library Media Specialist and Instructional Design Assistant
Hunterdon Central Regional High School District
Leading with Intention
Room 134
Not all screen time is equal — and not all tech tools deliver results. So how do district leaders tell the difference?
This panel brings K-12 leaders together to focus on what actually matters: which digital experiences produce real learning outcomes, and how leaders can use that evidence to make better decisions for students, classrooms, and communities.
Presenters:
Carl Hooker - Author and Speaker
Panelists: TBA
10:55-11:55 Session B
Curriculum-Informed AI: Tools That Put Teachers in Control to Support, Tailor and Drive Instruction
Room 128
In this session, Imagine Learning will share how Curriculum-Informed AI—powered by trusted instructional content—helps move beyond generic tools to real classroom impact. We’ll highlight how districts are leveraging AI to streamline lesson planning, personalize instruction, and turn student data into immediate, actionable next steps—all while maintaining standards alignment and teacher control. Most importantly, we’ll address how to balance innovation with responsibility—ensuring AI supports, not replaces, the human expertise that drives great teaching.
Presenters:
Dan Savarese - Senior Account Executive, Imagine Learning
Liz Puma -Senior National Curriculum Consultant, Imagine Learning
AI-Powered Grant Writing
Room 129
Discover how Delsea Regional and Elk Township School Districts leveraged AI tools to revolutionize the grant-writing process—streamlining mandatory entitlement applications (ESEA, Perkins) and securing over $7 million in competitive funding. This session will share practical strategies, real-world results, and lessons learned in using AI to enhance efficiency, accuracy, and creativity in grant development. Attendees will leave with actionable insights and tools to reimagine their own grant processes, freeing time for leadership priorities while maximizing opportunities to secure critical funding for student programs.
Presenter:
Anthony Fitzpatrick, Assistant Superintendent
Delsea Regional School District
Private AI: How To Build Your Own Secure, Local LLM
Room 130
AI tools have been transforming education, but for all their potential, most come with one big roadblock: you can’t share sensitive student data with them. Our district faced this challenge head-on and found a solution that keeps innovation moving forward without compromising privacy. In this session, we’ll share how we developed and deployed our own local secure large language model (LLM) entirely on-premises, giving educators the power of AI while keeping all data safely within district walls.
Participants will learn how we navigated hardware, software, and policy decisions, fostered staff trust, and created custom AI tools tailored to our curriculum and district needs. You’ll leave with practical strategies for evaluating, building, and implementing secure, local AI solutions in your own district.
Presenters:
James Santana. Superintendent
Northern Valley Regional High School District
Marc Cicchino, Director of Innovation
Northern Valley Regional High School District
Slawek Pajak, Chief Information Officer
East Brunswick School District
From STRIDE to STRIVE: Redefining Talent Acquisition and Diversification in a Teacher Shortage
Room 132
In an era of unprecedented educator shortages and high turnover, traditional hiring models are no longer sufficient. This session will explore how districts can pivot from passive recruitment to strategic talent acquisition and sustained educator support. Attendees will learn how West Windsor-Plainsboro leverages proactive HR practices and alternative route pipelines to build a robust, diverse workforce. Additionally, this session will officially unveil the evolution of NJ STRIVE, highlighting a statewide network designed to support district leaders with modern onboarding, mentorship, and retention strategies that beat burnout. Walk away with an actionable blueprint to transform your district’s Human Resources set-up (from secretary to full team) from a compliance hub into a culture-building powerhouse.
Presenter:
Charity Comella, Assistant Superintendent for Personnel
West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District
President, NJ STRIVE
Using Artificial Intelligence to Streamline Superintendent Evaluation Preparation
Room 133
Preparing for the annual superintendent evaluation can be a time-consuming process, often requiring hours of gathering, organizing, and synthesizing documentation that already exists throughout the school year. This hands-on workshop will demonstrate how artificial intelligence tools can help superintendents create a more efficient and effective evaluation preparation process while maintaining accuracy and alignment to the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders, as well as District goals.
Participants will learn how to leverage Google Docs variables, a customized Google Sheets script, and Google NotebookLM to organize evidence, analyze supporting documentation, and prepare comprehensive evaluation materials with significantly less manual effort. A portion of the session will serve as a working lab, allowing attendees to apply the tools directly to their own evaluation documentation and begin building a streamlined system for next year's evaluation cycle.
Participants are encouraged to bring relevant district documentation, goal evidence, and evaluation materials to maximize the practical value of the session and leave with resources already in progress.
Presenter:
Jessica Cangelosi-Hade, Superintendent
Hunterdon Central Regional High School District
From Intervention to Acceleration: Using AI Powered Diagnostic to Unlock Gifted Potential
Room 134
Gifted students deserve the same level of personalization often reserved for struggling learners. Through Edmentum AI-powered diagnostics, Edison Township Public Schools can move beyond identification alone and toward meaningful instructional action for advanced learners and track continued academic growth for these students.
Presenters:
Doug Stokes, Supervisor Elementary
Edison Township School District
Sheila Miller, Partnership Manager
Edmentum
Greg Adams, Partnership Manager
Edmentum
12:05 – 1:05 Session C
Cyber Defense That Never Sleeps: Protecting K-12 from Advanced Cyber Threats
Room 128
The cyber threat landscape is evolving at an unprecedented pace. AI is accelerating both the scale and sophistication of threats targeting K–12 schools, creating new challenges for protecting students, staff, and sensitive data.
Aspire Technology Partners is committed to helping educational institutions strengthen their security posture and maintain safe, secure, and private learning environments. Join us to learn how AI is transforming cybersecurity and influencing both attackers and defenders in today's threat landscape.
Presenters:
Nick Kelly, Sr. Security Solutions Architect
Aspire Technology Partners
Dana Grau, Sr. Account Executive
Aspire Technology Partners
From Scratch or from the Jar? Leading with Vision in an Age of AI
Room 129
In a world that prizes efficiency, women leaders are uniquely positioned to model discernment—knowing when to slow down, when to speed up, and how to keep humanity at the center of innovation. This interactive session reimagines AI as a partner in learning, not a shortcut for thinking. Participants will explore how to balance vision and practicality: when to make the sauce from scratch and when to reach for the jar—without losing the flavor of authentic leadership and learning.
Presenter:
Amy Mount, Director of Curriculum and Instruction
Gateway Regional
Harnessing Agentic AI: Building Custom Gems for Education
Room 130
Discover the future of productivity with Agentic AI—autonomous tools designed to act on your behalf. In this session, you will explore real-world use cases of Agentic AI before learning how to build your own "Gems" (custom AI assistants within Google Gemini). Finally, we will dive into practical educational use cases.
Discover the future of productivity with Agentic AI—autonomous tools designed to act on your behalf. In this session, you will explore real-world use cases of Agentic AI before learning how to build your own "Gems" (custom AI assistants within Google Gemini). Finally, we will dive into practical educational use cases.
Presenters:
Mr. Michael D’Alessio, Director of Mathematics, Business & Assessment
Watchung Hills Regional High School District
Dr. Elizabeth Jewett, Chief School Administrator
Watchung Hills Regional High School District
Understanding the Dark Side of AI: A Survival Guide
Room 132
The future of AI is not just about innovation; it’s about understanding. This session is a critical look at the unseen dangers of AI, moving beyond the hype to confront the very real risk, We’ll expose the ethical landmines of AI, from manipulative sycophancy to deceptive anthropomorphism. Prepare to uncover the hidden threats lurking in chatbot interactions and learn to recognize and mitigate the potential harm these bots pose to students. You’ll leave armed with the knowledge and resources to not only boost AI literacy but also to protect and empower the next generation as they navigate this new digital frontier.
Presenters:
Jamie Burrows, Supervisor - Career and Technical Education
Atlantic County Vocational School District
Michele Lockhart, Supervisor of Humanities
Atlantic County Vocational School District
Feel Those Vibes: Let the AI Do the Coding For You
Room 133
We are entering an era where, instead of finding the next new app and finagling it to fit our needs, we can collaborate with AI to design the exact tools we need. Join us to use various AI platforms to build custom, code-free interactive tools from scratch for both students, staff and administrators. Create, don't search!
Presenters:
Joel Handler, Assistant Superintendent of Instructional Technology
Hillsborough Township Board of Education
Vice President NJETA
Dan Gallagher, Supervisor of Instructional Technology
Hillsborough Board of Education
Work Smarter: Tell Your District's Story with AI
Room 134
As a school leader, you need to tell your district's stories across platforms while maintaining accuracy and community trust. This session is designed specifically for busy school leaders who want to use AI to safely streamline their district communications and social media. Learn how to treat AI as a writer/editor that handles the heavy lifting giving you back hours of your week. Discover how to generate communications in seconds that help build your brand and tell your story.
Presenters:
Lori Perlow, Public Information Officer
Haddon Township School District Communications Consortium
Heather Daniel, Ed.D., Director of Communication and Policy
Edison Township Public Schools