New staff, new year, new opportunities.

New staff, new year, new opportunities. I couldn't help laughing at the cynical greeting I received one first day of January, "Happy New Year--your car is now worth $1,000 less!" While the cold reality of depreciation is not funny, it underscores the need for accurate, up-to-date and useable information in making choices to lessen the bite personally and for our school districts. You need to know what and when to purchase, when to retire equipment and buy new, and when to outsource products and services. Keeping you informed professionally is what DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION magazine and its integrated online resources are all about. You can read, download, link to, print out and search for articles on all topics related to school district management at www.districtadministration.com, and share your thoughts in the DA online community. For example, when a reader alerted us to a site that displays the values of homes (www.zillow.com), by simply plugging in each address, I spent many hours being surprised at the worth of homes where I previously taught in New York New York, state, United StatesNew York,Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , Illinois and Indiana. Zillow offers estimates for more than 67 million of the 85 million single-family homes in the nation, based on past history and nearby sales, so anyone thinking about leaving or coming to your district will want to check it out. We want to be your definitive go-to source for such timely information. Top 100 We are also pleased to announce a redesigned and greatly expanded new products section in each issue. This section forms the basis for our new online products database, and from these sources--over the course of the year--we'll be selecting the Top 100 Products in K12 education. But to do it well, we need your help. Check out this month's products in print and on our Web site, and let us know what you think. You can rate the products online and nominate those not yet in our database, and at the end of the year we will use this information to publish a special issue devoted entirely to the Top 100 Products of 2007. We look forward to working with you on this exciting new project. Meet the New Editorial Team I am particularly delighted to introduce three new members of the expanding DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION editorial team: Judy Hartnett, Managing Editor, graduated from New York University New York University,mainly in New York City; coeducational; chartered 1831, opened 1832 as the Univ. of the City of New York, renamed 1896. It comprises 13 schools and colleges, maintaining 4 main centers (including the Medical Center) in the city, as well as the in art history and archeology, and has 10 years of experience as managing editor for ConsumerReports.org and the Conde Nast Publishing Company (jhartnett@edmediagroup.com); Ken Royal, Associate Editor, has two degrees from Western Connecticut State University Western Connecticut State University (Western, WestConn or WCSU) is a public university in Danbury, Connecticut. Founded in 1903, WestConn has an arts and sciences curriculum, a business school, and several professional programs including elementary and , extensive teaching and writing experience in K12 education, and was selected "teacher of the year" in five different schools (kroyal@edmediagroup.com); and Zach Miners, Assistant Editor, is a recent graduate of Fairfield University Publications and Media1073 North Benson - A Publication for Fairfield University Alumni Campus Currents - The Official News Publication of Fairfield University Fairfield Now - The Magazine of Fairfield University, with majors in English and Mathematics, has experience with Nickelodeon magazine, and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa Phi Beta Kappa:see fraternity. Phi Beta KappaLeading academic honour society in the U.S., which draws its membership from college and university students. The oldest Greek-letter society in the U.S. last spring (zminers@edmediagroup.com). They join Senior Features Editor Angela Pascopella, Senior Editor Gary Stager, Art Director Carrie Abel and me. We also thank Associate Editor Ann McClure for her many contributions to DA, as she now moves to our sister publication UNIVERSITY BUSINESS magazine. We look forward to keeping close touch with you online and meeting you at conferences listed on our calendar of events, including FETC FETC Federal Energy Technology CenterFETC Florida Educational Technology ConferenceFETC Florida Educational Technology Corporation , TCEA TCEA Texas Computer Education AssociationTCEA Transportation Concurrency Exception AreaTCEA Texas Community Education AssociationTCEA Texas College English AssociationTCEA Training Center for Experimental Aerodynamics (NATO), AASA AASA American Association of School AdministratorsAASA Asian American Student AssociationAASA Association of Academies of Sciences in AsiaAASA Aging and Adult Services AdministrationAASA Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of the Army , NSBA NSBA National School Boards AssociationNSBA National Small Business AssociationNSBA Nebraska State Bar AssociationNSBA National Snaffle Bit AssociationNSBA National Steel Bridge AllianceNSBA North Saskatoon Business Association (Canada), NECC NECC National Educational Computing ConferenceNECC Navy Expeditionary Combat Command (Norfolk, VA)NECC Net-Enabled Command CapabilityNECC Northeast Mississippi Community CollegeNECC North Equatorial Counter Current and EduComm. Help us build our lead as the best magazine for K12 school executives. Odvard Egil Dyrli EDITOR-IN-CHIEF gdyrli@edmediagroup.com