Keynote and Workshop 1, Dr. Joelle van Lent is a licensed psychologist with over 25 years of experience working with children, families, and child serving agencies. Dr. van Lent has expertise as a therapist, clinician, evaluator, consultant, and trainer. Her work focuses on child and adolescent mental health, family therapy, trauma, and neurodivergence. Dr. van Lent’s approach is geared toward fostering resilience and creating communities that support healthy development. She is currently in private practice based in the northwestern part of Vermont and works across the state with schools and agencies.
Workshop 2, Sarah Pickering is an educational leader and executive coach committed to empowering individuals to achieve transformative growth in their personal and professional lives. She is confident and competent in instructional leadership, organizational development, systems design, and sustainable partnerships. Sarah’s passion is working with individuals and teams to realize their highest potential through strategic coaching, mentorship, and collaborative partnership. She finds joy in family, reading, nature, and time with her partner on their small farm in the Northeast Kingdom.
Workshop 3, Dovid Yagoda is the assistant principalship is a role defined by the unexpected. One minute you’re solving a routine problem; the next, you’re navigating a difficult conversation, untangling competing perspectives, or responding to a situation you never saw coming or maybe did! This highly interactive conference invites assistant principals to learn by doing through humor, hands-on activities, collaborative strategies, a little bit of magic, and plenty of opportunities to think differently about leadership. Participants will explore practical strategies for communication, perspective-taking, problem-solving, and navigating challenging interactions. The session concludes with a surprise challenge that asks participants to recognize a difficult conversational pattern, understand what is happening beneath the surface, and develop their own strategy for responding effectively. Come prepared to participate, laugh, question your assumptions, and leave with a few new tricks for your AP toolbox.
Workshop 4, Dr. Meagan Roy has been an educator and leader in Vermont since 2002. She currently serves as the Coordinator of School Leadership Programs at St. Michael’s College. Previously, she has served as Superintendent of the Washington Central Unified Union School District, and spent more than a decade in the Champlain Valley Union School District as their Director of Student Support Services. She began her Vermont teaching career as an Intensive Needs special educator, and her professional endeavors are deeply linked to her beliefs about social justice and the need to ensure that public schools can serve all students. Meagan is also invested and engaged in education policy work at the state level, and has a particular interest in policy
implementation at the local level. She is a past President of the Vermont Council of Special Education Administrators and past Chair of the Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont. Meagan is a graduate of Simmons College in Boston, MA and completed her Master and Doctoral degrees in UVM’s Education Leadership and Policy Studies program. Meagan spends her free time with her family in South Burlington.