“You played a crucial role in advocating for education funding. When the Governor wanted to cut $8 billion from the educational budget, your voices made a difference. When the Legislature passed a bill restricting hiring practices, you urged the Governor to veto it, and he did,” Gonzalez said. “Never forget that you are the vital voice of public education. Strong county and district boards are essential in delivering high-quality education to every student in every community.”

Santos, host of “The Happiness Lab Podcast,” the Chandrika and Ranjan Tandon Professor of Psychology at Yale University and former head of the institution’s Silliman College, detailed the research behind happiness and provided surprisingly simple, evidence-based practices to help trustees live a happier life — which in turn, according to the research she provided, will also make them better, more creative and fulfilled board members ready to help their students, teachers and communities deal with the myriad challenges they face.

“For school boards and administration, you are facing stakeholders who are all going through this stuff in their own ways,” Santos said. “The crises that your students are facing, and the mental health problems that come up for them and the reasons they’re feeling hopeless may look a little bit different than the reasons parents are feeling overwhelmed, or your teachers are feeling stressed. We’re all going through this crisis together all in our own ways, and it’s really depleting us. This time is really fraught. It’s hard to do your jobs well because everyone is feeling burned out.”

That’s where the importance of happiness comes in. Research shows that happiness is linked to better outcomes in the workplace and the classroom. Santos stressed the importance of reframing the notion that, in light of all the issues trustees and administrators face, they shouldn’t focus on happiness, but on fixing things. She said that mindset might be affecting performance, especially when it comes to fixing the stubborn challenges that need to be addressed in schools.

“Happiness is the thing that matters for our performance, for our effectiveness, and probably for fixing the big problems all of us face,” Santos said. “What we know about happiness is that it’s not just something nice to have — it really matters for performance … Individuals who are happier wind up thinking more innovatively. They think more creatively. Think about the last time you were feeling utterly overwhelmed. You’re not coming up with innovative solutions for your school communities, you’re just triaging. But when you’re feeling a little more positive and excited, that’s when the new ideas come.”

Santos called on education leaders to take small, evidence-based steps to improve happiness among themselves and others, including:

• Connecting with others socially
• Making time for gratitude every day
• Remaining in the present moment and savoring the good things, as well as taking the time to experience and process negative emotions
• Giving yourself the gift of self-compassion
• Helping others, which makes us happier than we expect

“I think the great news for the folks in this room is that sometimes you also need to remember the things you’re already doing to help others,” Santos said. “I think in the midst of balancing these stakeholder goals and the challenges you face, you can get away from the idea that your true value is helping to improve education.”

“Technology is just getting better and better and more advanced, and it’s changing so fast. But here’s the thing — so are we,” Lathan said. “During the Roman Empire, life expectancy at birth was only 25 years of age. Now today, life expectancy has gone from 25 years to almost 75 years. And that’s in large part due to technological advances like agriculture, medicine and public infrastructure like sanitation and water. And just in the last 50 years, we’ve changed tremendously … I have access to more knowledge than anybody alive 50 years ago, and 50 years from now, we’re going to be different than we are today. I think technology is going to make us better. Technology plus humanity is more than the sum of its parts.”

Lathan also discussed her fears surrounding emerging, “disruptive” technologies, such as virtual and augmented reality that could allow “deep fakes” — a video of a person in which their face or body has been digitally altered — or artificial intelligence (AI) programs like ChatGPT.

“If I let the risk of technology get in the way, then I behave one way. I might tell my daughter, no, you can’t use ChatGPT at all for your assignments, and I ban it,” she said. “But if I see technology as an opportunity, then I teach my kids prompt engineering and I teach them how to use ChatGPT to fuel their creativity.”

Lathan closed her talk with encouraging words for thinking about the future and the importance of inclusion and equity. “What can we do to invent the future? First, let’s make sure all voices are heard. We know that talent is distributed equally; opportunity is not,” she said. “Let’s democratize opportunity and close the gender gap, the racial gap, the ethnic gap, the neurodiversity gap … See technology as an opportunity to make us stronger and healthier. An opportunity to do things we couldn’t do without technology, and an opportunity to create an equitable future. We are all artists, creators, makers and inventors, and we are all active participants in inventing the future. I’ll leave you with one final quote that dates back to Abraham Lincoln: ‘The best way to predict the future is to create it.’”

When children enter the education system, they are full of curiosity, but that can wane as they grow up. By the time they enter the workforce, many are content or forced to go with the status quo of how things are done. “We need to reignite that [curiosity] in everything we do,” Stanton said — including how AI is used and taught in K-12.

Stanton challenged audience members to think of their legacy and the actions they are taking in “these highly crucial, sensitive times” when the world is changing. No one is an expert in AI yet, he said, but local educational agencies can choose to either get ahead or try and catch up with the quickly evolving technology later.

Stanton added that research suggests only 30 percent of corporations have AI-related guidelines and/or policies in place now — furthering his message that LEAs can be on the cutting edge. According to data he presented from Digital Promise, 25 percent of California LEAs currently have AI-related guidelines and/or policies.

Educators shouldn’t think they have to become an AI pro, Stanton said. In fact, most people are probably more familiar with it than they may realize as it is used on smartphones and by social media and streaming platforms as well as navigation systems like Google Maps.

While AI is often touted as a tool, there is no instruction manual on how to use it. However, generative AI in particular is a collaborative technology, and users can build its knowledge base and refine outputs as they go.

Stanton shared stories from his home state of Texas where successful applications of AI improved outcomes in three very different settings: for an ice cream store owned by a group of adults with special needs, by a high school football program and to supplement Advanced Placement seminars.

System leaders may need to change how they look, react and do things to get the most out of AI. Setting out to simply deepen their knowledge about AI and its potential applications a little at a time is an attainable goal.

In addition to being a powerful communication tool because of its ability to draft emails and memos and translate messaging into multiple languages, AI can assist with lesson planning and act as a notetaker in class, generating key takeaways for students to reference later.

Stanton ended his keynote address with practical strategies for LEAs to apply to AI in education — clarifying that a step-by-step roadmap is key to success as it should align with organizational goals, ensure intentional progress and maximize impact by providing clarity, focus and actionable milestones while avoiding costly missteps and inefficiencies.

The first phase should focus on building AI literacy and awareness, while phase two should address strategic planning and vision through the establishment of goals, policies and a roadmap. This can include forming an AI impact team. The third phase should include iterative implementation and scaling.