2024 Conference Program Proposal

Join us in celebrating the “The Miracle of Rural Education”!

The Rural Schools Association is excited to announce that we have started planning our annual conference, which will be held at the Lake Placid Convention Center from July 14-16, 2024. As a nod to the Miracle on Ice from the 1980 Winter Olympics, the planning committee has selected “The Miracle of Rural Education” as this year’s theme.

We are seeking applications from school districts and/or BOCES districts that have any unique and successful programs currently in operation that focus on helping make our rural schools more effective and efficient. The program you propose can be related to our theme or be of general interest to conference attendees. For instance, you may have a program that highlights unique opportunities you provide for your students, including but not limited to: career and technical education, workforce development or apprenticeship opportunities. Additional topics may include: advocacy, district culture, operational success, technology initiatives, community connections. 

Presentation proposals should be limited to 500 words or less.

Program submissions are closed. If you have questions regarding a submission please contact Heather Zellers at hzellers@rsany.org.

We normally hold these sessions on Monday, July 15 and Tuesday morning, July 16. If your presentation is selected, we will let you know your date and time as quickly as possible. If your presentation is not selected, it may be because there is another presentation of similar content, or because a similar presentation is offered by people who live closer in proximity to the site of the conference.

We strongly urge folks whose presentations are not selected to consider submitting their presentation to NYSSBA for their fall convention in New York City (to become part of our “Rural Strand” of convention programming.)

Please plan for approximately 45 minutes of presentation time and fifteen minutes to respond to questions. Presenters will be asked to pay the registration fee appropriate to their conference participation. Full conference registration is not required but highly encouraged.

Please direct any questions to Heather Zellers at hzellers@rsany.org.