WEDNESDAY+SYMPOSIUM

**AM Keynote Bernard James: Safe Schools and Effective Collaboration, 2011 Legal Update** – This was truly one of the most entertaining and thought provoking sessions I attended during the Symposium! Dr. James touched on recent changes in the law as related to educational law reform. He focused on two key areas: what the law permits and what the law requires. Recent key cases Bernard spoke about pertained to the failure of teachers/schools to keep students safe (Duty and Liability) and to the use of technologies: bullying case, kissing club case, and the webcam case. This speaker emphasized that what makes good law does not always make good policy, and he tied that idea to the various cases he discussed. While South Dakota lags behind other states in educational law reform, there have been significant changes to make schools safe in recent years. These include more collaboration between police, educators, juvenile and justice teams. The quiz on reasonable searches was a great way to test what the audience knew and discuss how the law relates to what educators can/should do.
 * Wednesday Symposium**

Two other sessions I attended on Wednesday included //Webmail/Outlook Web App 2010 - Tips and Trick, Christy Flemmer// and//Font-astic Fun in Adobe Illustrator by Jackie Dusseau-Beilke.// Flemmer, the computer technician for the SF School District, covered various tips and tricks for using the new webmail system adopted by the Sioux Falls School District. There were a handful of ideas related to the appointment book and group mailings that I found helpful. The Illustrator presentation was both relaxing and helpful. I work with yearbook students using this program, but I am self taught and rarely use the program. I learned that Illustrator uses vector graphics rather than raster graphics, thus the final project is high resolution, better for printed publications. (This speaker teaches graphics and provided several excellent PDFs that could be used in having my yearbook students become adept at using this fun program.)