About Susan Perkins Weston

Hello! Council Coach is my new way to support Kentucky school councils, and I’d like to share the background I bring to this work.

• COUNCIL ASSISTANCE CREDENTIALS
• SOLUTION DESIGN CREDENTIALS
• DATA ANALYSIS CREDENTIALS
• EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT
• FAMILY AND CHURCH
• FAVORITES

Council Assistance Credentials

As Executive Director of the Kentucky Association of School Council, I delivered training and legal answers to hundreds of school councils. That work included reviews of many SBDM policies, by-laws, and school improvement plans.

Through Council Coach, I look forward to devoting more time to those kinds of direct services to councils.

Solution Design Credentials

In fifteen years of school council-related work, I have created many and varied resources to support council work on assessment data, budgets, committee work, consensus-building, hiring, policy development, planning, and every area of council responsibility.

In addition to developing books, manuals, checklists, spreadsheet, e-mail resources, and other item, I have authored more than a dozen SBDM workshops, and more than sixty issues of Insights, (KASC’s practical, hands-on journal on SBDM issues).

Through Council Coach, I will offer new resources to help councils succeed. As always, my goal will be to provide clear, accurate information and effective, user-friendly ways to meet council responsibilities.

Data Analysis Credentials

My past work with CATS data has included:

• Identifying “Top 20 schools” and demonstrating that high poverty schools can provide excellent learning
• Identifying the best results for African-American students, students in poverty, and students with disabilities.
• Analyzing statewide learning progress for the Prichard Committee for Academic Excellence.
• Identifying student performance concerns for the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Center’s Annual Conference and the Kentucky Association for Gifted Education.
• Designing user-friendly graphs of school and district CATS results for the Kentucky Association of School Councils.
• Contributing to the design of data-study sessions for the Kentucky Association of School Councils, the Kentucky School Boards Association, and the Commonwealth Institute for Parent Leadership.

Through Council Coach, I will develop new ways to understand key data and share what those results school, district, and state decision makers. I’m available to analyze issues that concern your school, district, or organization.

Education and Employment

I graduated from Central High School (Macon, Georgia), Swarthmore College, and Yale Law School.

After law school, I worked for the Pennsylvania Office of Consumer Advocate and the United States Department of Education.

I served as Executive Director of the Kentucky Association of School Councils from August 1992 to May 2006.

Family and Church

My husband Beau teaches at Centre College.

My daughter Molly is about to graduate from Danville High School and will enter Swarthmore College in August. My daughter Nora and son Joe attend the Danville public schools.

I belong to the Presbyterian Church of Danville.

Favorites

• Book: “Busman’s Honeymoon” by Dorothy Sayers
• Computer: Macintosh iBook
• Flower: Daffodil
• Hangout: the Hub Café and Coffee House in Danville
• Hymn: “Christ is Risen, Shout Hosanna” by Brian Wren
• Movie: “Casablanca”
• Paintings: “The Four Freedoms” by Norman Rockwell
• Song: “Born to Run” by Bruce Springsteen
• State: Kentucky