Leadership Orange: What does it take to educate 203,000 students?

Learn how the OCPS system works in 8 monthly half-day sessions

Leadership Orange is your opportunity to learn about what it takes to educate 203,000 students every day. From peeks into the classroom to driving a school bus, you will gain a new appreciation for how a public school district runs and the people dedicated to the students it serves.

You will learn about the quality and breadth of opportunities afforded our children. You will also see and hear about the challenges the nation's 10th-largest school district faces as it pursues its vision to be the top producer of successful students in the nation.

Eight half-day sessions cover every facet of the school system with behind the scenes tours, hands-on demonstrations, student interaction, and quality time with the experts in their fields.

Sessions are held monthly (typically the third Friday of the month) starting in September, from 8:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at schools and facilities all across the county. Call Marketing and Events at 407.317.3368 for more information.

Here is a look at the monthly agenda for each session:

September: Who are all these important people?

Public Schools: The Leadership and the Organization

Introduction and overview of the Orange County Public Schools district

Exercise: How to Build a School Year Calendar

October: How students are taught and how they learn

Teaching and Learning: The Big Picture

Florida Standards: how we teach and how students learn

Digital Learning Initiative

November: District Operations

Operations Division: Making Everything Run Right and On Time

Safety, Environmental, Transportation, Food Service

Doing Business with OCPS

Exercise: Driving a School Bus

December: Every child matters, every child learns

Exceptional Student Education: Gifted to Autism to Physically Impaired

Case studies of students with disorders and disabilities

Tour of school accommodations for ESE students

Round table with employers, parents and ESE students

January: The troops on the ground

School Site Management

School leadership

Student discipline, explained

School choices: magnets, charter, and virtual schools

Minority Achievement Office

School Transformation Office

February: Reinvent yourself

Career and Technical Education: Where New Jobs are Born

Business and industry collaboration

Profession-specific classroom and lab visits

March: Professionals who aren't the teachers

Budget, Facilities, Legal, and Student Enrollment

The building program at full throttle

Where the money comes from, and where it goes

Exercise: How Principals Build a School Budget

April: Success through families and the communities

Community Resources: Business Partners, Volunteers and Recognition

How critical school needs are met

Parent and business partner heroes

Face-to-face time with district leadership

May: Graduation

Held during regular School Board Meeting

To apply go here. The deadline is August 11th.