Subject: Metro ECSU's edNews - Fall 2021🍂

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New School Year. Great Opportunities.

Who's Ready?

Julie Frame retires from Metro ECSU after 34 years

Julie led Metro ECSU as Executive Director for 16 years

Dr. John Schultz named next Metro ECSU Executive Director

Reflections from Julie:

When I started at Metro ECSU on August 1, 1987, I didn’t even know what an ECSU was! I came from a district in Wisconsin (No, I am not, nor was I ever a cheese head). I had applied for a position as facilitator for the Metropolitan Principals’ Academy.

My first day of employment was at the MPA Summer Conference at Breezy Point. Every administrator attending the conference was so welcoming and positive. My family didn’t think I really had a job because I kept telling them how much fun I was having! To them, the words "work" and "fun" just didn’t go together. Coming from the world of middle school teaching, I knew differently--work and fun were synonymous, most of the time!

During my time at Metro ECSU I have had countless, truly wonderful experiences. I feel very honored to have been able to work with and learn from so many different educators. Over the years I directed the Metropolitan Principals Academy, facilitated many collegial groups, planned and facilitated the MPA Summer Conference, facilitated Myers Briggs sessions, served as a MEEP Regional Facilitator, consulted with schools and provided training in numerous areas including professional learning communities, and served as the Executive Director for Metro ECSU.

I've had the opportunity to work closely with many national education experts--to me, this was awesome. They were doing such incredible work! This will really date me, but I had a beer with Michael Fullen and knew Rick and Becky DuFour very well. Actually, I knew Rick before there was even Becky!

The work I have engaged in at Metro ECSU gave me the opportunity to work with my key strengths, which are creative, entrepreneurial, and relationship-oriented. I love to help people learn. Supporting people and connecting them with the right resources, people, or materials that will help them move forward fills my heart and soul.

I feel blessed to have had these opportunities. Thank you to all of you who have been a part of my journey.

We are pleased to welcome John Schultz to Metro ECSU

Dr. John Schultz brings more than 35 years of educational practice to Metro ECSU. Beginning his career as a middle school science teacher, he has served as a school principal, a director of teaching and learning and, most recently, as a superintendent of both Hopkins Public Schools and Edina Public Schools.

“I am both honored -- and humbled -- to be working with this great group of professionals at Metro ECSU,” says Dr. Schultz. “The organization plays a key role in keeping schools running and students learning. I am excited to partner with all of our member districts to discover more opportunities to move us all forward."

A recognized community collaborator and consortium builder, Dr. Schultz co-founded the Reimagine Minnesota superintendent group, is a member of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators (MASA), and currently serves as president of the Superintendency Institute.

Dr. Schultz also brings extensive operational expertise to Metro ECSU, including complex fiscal stewardship in the face of challenging funding environments and a proven record of leading and passing numerous levy and bond referenda – even during the pandemic. He holds several academic degrees: bachelor’s degrees in biology, religion, and education; master’s degree in soil, water, and climate science; and a PhD in philosophy, curriculum, and instruction.

Outside of work, Dr. Schultz enjoys cooking, gardening, running, spending time with his two daughters, relaxing at his cabin on Lake Superior, and volunteering with Helping Paws MN.

You can reach John at john.schultz@metroecsu.org or 612-638-1525.

2021-2022 Educator Network Opportunities (Virtual)

Homeschool Liaison Network

Meeting dates:

September 15
November 10
January 12
April 13

Meeting time:

1:00 - 2:30pm

District liaisons to families who are homeschooling are invited to join in the collegial sharing of ideas, resources, and concerns through the Metro ECSU Homeschool Liaison Network. Register here

Friday Forum Network

Meeting dates:

September 24
November 19
January 14
April 22

Meeting time:
12:00 - 2:00pm

Collaborate with other gifted and talented professionals to discuss current issues in gifted education.

Register here

Bicultural Liaison Network

Meeting dates:

October 5
December 14
February 8
April 19

Meeting time:

3:00 - 4:30pm

The Bicultural Liaison Professional network is designed to support Liaisons and Interpreters that work in a school setting. Bicultural Liaisons serve as bridges between staff and families. By building a strong community of professionals, the network will work to solve current issues and provide professional development opportunities for attendees. Register here

Affinity Group: Staff of Color

Meeting dates:

November 3
January 26
May 18

Meeting time:

4:30 - 6:00pm

This network for staff of color and others interested in these conversations will support ongoing dialogue on issues impacting professional and career development for staff of color, while creating a space for staff of color to gain insights and support from others around the metro.

Register here

FutureForward: Networking for High School Students

FutureForward is a new program to Metro ECSU this year for Minnesota schools. Originally started through the Southeast Service Cooperative, FutureForward is an online tool to help you think differently about workforce development. It connects classrooms to careers and life to learning. Business professionals provide skill-based opportunities through guest speaking, informational interviews, internships, site visits, and more.

Educators and students are provided with a streamlined method of connecting with local business professionals who want to share their expertise with students that are curious to learn more about a potential career field. This Career and Technical Education platform offers students the opportunity to find their passion and excel in their field. Students who are thinking about a career in agriculture can work with their teacher to connect to a local seed company to be a guest speaker or host a site visit.

FutureForward is a great tool for any age, but we are currently focusing on high schools for our first year.

For more information and to learn about costs to participate, go to www.futureforward.org or contact Madi Grove

Register today for Success Beyond the Classroom's fantastic student enrichment programs!

Young Authors Conference (YAC)

In person: March 18, 2022 and

May 24-27, 2022

Location: Bethel University

Virtual: Feb. 1 - March 30, 2022

This field trip for 4th-8th graders has been described as a life-changing experience. Students learn new strategies, ideas, and skills from Minnesota professional writers. Curious about this year's keynotes? Ready to register? Visit the YAC website to learn more.

Knowledge Bowl

Looking for an after-school, academic, team competition? Then Knowledge Bowl (KB) is here for you!

Middle Grades KB

This year we are happy to announce that the 2021-2022 Middle Grades Knowledge Bowl Season will return to being in-person (with the option of virtual as our safety back-up). Teams of 6th-8th graders compete in meets between November 2021 and February 2022 at participating schools across the Twin Cities. Students are invited to flex their knowledge of everything from math and science to current events, history, and language arts. Learn more and register for MGKB!

Senior High KB

SBC staff is in the process of planning the best route (in-person or virtual) for Senior High Knowledge Bowl meets. Up-to-date information about the season can be found on our website: successbeyond.org/shkb

Future City Competition (FCC)

Middle school STEM teachers: Your 6th-8th graders are invited to design a waste-free city that exists 100 years in the future. Future City is a project-based, cross-curricular experience. Students work in teams to research their city concept, create a project plan, write a research essay, build a model, design a slideshow, and develop a video presentation.

Learn more and register.

The Creatives are Back in Action!

The Creativity Festival (grades 3-5) and CreativeCon (grades 5-8) will exercise your students' creativity, strengthen their problem-solving skills, and ignite their imagination. Students attend three outstanding breakout sessions and a dynamic opening performance.

Creativity Festival:

March 8 & 9, 2022

CreativeCon:

March 10, 2022

Location: Ted Mann Concert Hall, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

Learn more and register!

Metro ECSU proudly sponsors the Scripps National Spelling Bee for Twin Cities students

The Metro ECSU Regional Spelling Bee is scheduled to take place on Tuesday, March 15, 2022. The venue will be determined shortly. At this time, we are planning for an in-person competition for school champions, but will base our final decision on format in accordance with public health guidelines closer to our regional bee date. If we are unable to host our event in-person, we will once again use the Scripps online format.

Metro ECSU is proud to serve in our 6th year as sponsor of the Scripps National Spelling Been in our community. Whether our bee is held in-person or virtually, the champion of our local competition will represent our region in the 2022 Scripps National Spelling Bee. Bee week will take place Memorial Day week, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in the Washington, DC area.

Make sure to register your school at

www.spellingbee.com

Once again Scripps will honor the $175 enrollment fee with no price increase through the final registration deadline of December 31, 2021.

Questions? Contact Angela Skrade

We are pleased to continue providing this fantastic opportunity to metro area students!

It's back! Dyslexia 101

Metro ECSU is partnering with The Reading Center to offer professional development to Minnesota educators. Thanks in part to funding by Mayo Clinic, The Reading Center is again able to offer our five clock hour Dyslexia 101 course for FREE to Minnesota educators until April 2022. Dyslexia 101 is a great course for classroom teachers, reading specialists, paraprofessionals, and administrators who want to learn more about the characteristics of dyslexia, reading instruction in line with the science of reading, and effective classroom accommodations. The course is now on the easy to use Canvas platform. Upon competition a certificate of attendance will be issued. We ask that when you register, you complete the course within 60 days. Learn More

The Reading Center Dyslexia Institute of Minnesota

2021-22 Environmental Health & Safety News

Note: In an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, monthly health and safety meetings will be held virtually at this time. Meetings are generally held the first Thursday of each month from 9:00 to 11:30am.

October topic: Why School HVAC Systems Aren’t Making the Grade: Getting to the Bottom of Underperforming Mechanical with ICS

Hear from the experts on Oct 7^th at 9:00am!

Zoom Meeting Link

Meeting ID: 820 3470 8921

Passcode: 810356

Interested in joining Metro ECSU's Health & Safety/Building Management Assistance Program?

Contact Bianca Virnig, Facilities and Environmental Health and Safety Specialist, 612-638-1512 or bianca.virnig@metroecsu.org

The Minnesota Department of Education’s Early Learning Services division has released a report documenting the underenrollment in school-based early learning programs and kindergarten in school year 2020-2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The report includes impacts on children, families, and educators and recommendations on how to mitigate the risks and challenges. Because the ECLDS is retrospective, it will take a year or two before the pandemic’s effects on Minnesota’s public programs and services are evident in the ECLDS’s reports and charts.

Cooperative Purchasing Connection Wins National Award for Relationship Excellence

Cooperative Purchasing Connection (CPC) has received a national award for relationship building through the Association of Educational Purchasing Agencies (AEPA).

CPC is the trusted cooperative contract procurement partner for education communities, municipalities, and nonprofits. CPC maintains a portfolio of competitively solicited contracts that Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota schools and organizations have come to rely on for service, relationship, and great value. AEPA is a national cooperative of education purchasing professionals from 29 states, managing national contracts with vendors in dozens of buying categories.

Each year AEPA members vote to recognize outstanding contribution by AEPA member states and vendor partners. The CPC team received the award for Relationship Excellence at the AEPA Spring 2021 Annual Meeting, held virtually on April 20, 2021.

The Relationship Excellence award recognizes excellence in stakeholder engagement strategies that proactively support opportunities for co-discovery, intimacy, trust-building, collaboration, brainstorming, solution development, and other activities that support the mission of AEPA.

For more information, please call us at 888-739-3289, email The CPC Team or find us online.

As your education cooperative purchasing partner, we’re always happy to help.

The CPC Team left to right: Lisa Truax, Mary Juliot, Julia Dangerfield, Melissa Mattson, Lori Mittelstadt, Jerome Evans, and Jane Eastes.

Free Access to Evidence Based Practice Teaching Tools Available to ALL Minnesota Educators

Thanks to joint efforts of the Statewide MN Low Incidence Projects and the MN Evidence Based Practices Grant, all MN educators are eligible for FREE ACCESS to the STAR Media Center and SOLS for the Classroom for the current school year! These teaching tools were developed for students with special education learning needs and can be used both in the classroom and remote learning.

SOLS for the Classroom is an online, interactive program that includes leveled curriculum, extensive scripted lesson plans, theme-based and routine-centered activities, and more!

Here is what one MN educator who used SOLS last year said “SOLS helped me plan my lessons for students across large and small group instruction and individualized instruction. It helped me meet a range of student needs. We loved the visuals and videos!”

Visit the STAR Autism Support website to request your Media Center and SOLS accounts. You can also view a free recorded tutorial on using SOLS for the Classroom.

Please share this exciting opportunity with other educators. We don’t want anyone to miss out on these amazing tools.

Questions? Contact Tami Childs

2021 Virtual Charting the Cs Conference: An Opportunity to Encourage, Engage, and Enrich

The 2021 Charting the Cs Conference has joined the bandwagon and moved to a virtual platform for the first time. The November 4, 2021 conference theme is Reunited and It Feels So Good.

The plan is to bring special educators together to continue learning about low incidence disabilities with the goal of increasing the implementation of high leverage practices, which benefits all students.

The Charting the Cs’ focus, Cooperation, Communication and Collaboration, has a long and robust history of providing educators with just-in-time resources and support.

During the first pre-conference webinar, Joan Breslin-Larson reflected on the conference’s evolution from invitation-only, professional development for assistive technology in the 1990s to the implementation of a cross-categorical approach to special education in the early 2000s.

In 2009, with the support of the Low Incidence Community, Charting the Cs became a statewide cross-categorical conference, bringing together educators from all low incidence disability areas to strengthen and enrich instructional practices that provide Minnesota students with greater access to education.

Historically, the conference also included valuable networking opportunities for educators who might be the only one in their licensure area working with a large number of students.

Just as students who have low incidence disabilities might be one of few or the only one in their district, educators who work with these students experience the similar challenge of isolation. This year’s Charting the Cs leadership planning committee chose an accessible virtual platform with networking in mind, especially after a year of significant challenges and isolation with remote teaching.

We hope all who join us will continue to feel encouraged, engaged, and enriched in their professional community and development! Visit the Charting the Cs Main Conference website to learn more and register.

Triple-Decker Coaching

If the MN Centers of Excellence for Young Children with Disabilities (MNCoE) decided to pack up all-things-coaching and head out on the road, only a triple-decker bus would do.

First, MNCoE Professional Development Facilitators (PDFs) would welcome ECSE leaders, Innovation Implementation Teams (Evidence-based Quality Intervention Practices, Pyramid Model, Classroom Engagement Model), and Internal Coaches aboard with an invitation to Cognitive Coaching^SM conversations.

Within this research-based model of coaching, PDFs use States of Mind and reflective questions to support leaders and educators as they explore the thinking behind their practices.

A few steps up to the middle deck, Innovation Teams, Internal Coaches, and Coaches would be settling in for Practice-Based Coaching Cycles. Within this research-based, collaborative partnership framework, planning goals and action steps, engaging in focused observations, and reflecting on and sharing feedback about teaching practices is the norm.

Topping off our triple-decker bus, Early Intervention providers would be using a Coaching Interaction Style to support caregivers in reflective conversations that promote new and expanded learning opportunities for infants and toddlers.

While each ‘coaching deck’ has a primary purpose and audience, many of the skills and strategies overlap and traffic between decks wouldn’t be at all unusual.

Though no triple-decker coaching bus actually exists to bring us together, MNCoE’s work to connect, support, and empower coaches will still be available statewide with two NEW offerings this year:

Statewide Behavior Coach Networking Series

Behavior Coaches are invited to attend monthly virtual sessions designed to address commonly asked questions throughout the state, provide professional development opportunities on hot topics, and connect coaches who are using Prevent-Teach-Reinforce with Young Children (PTR-YC).

Virtual Coaching Connection Cohorts

Both Behavior and Internal Coaches are invited to join one of two statewide cohorts: Expanding the Coaching Framework or Addressing Equity in Coaching. These interactive, semi-structured sessions will include self-reflection, small group conversation, case studies, action planning + review, and resource exploration.

For more information, contact the Region 11 MN COE team

Learning Recovery, Equity, and Student Well-Being Professional Development Opportunities

Learning Recovery

How is your district supporting teachers to address gaps in learning for all students? How are you identifying and planning for those gaps? How are you maximizing instructional time?

If this is an area need for your school, there is a great option available to Minnesota educators this fall: Foundations of Learning Recovery

Teachers are registering now to participate in this state-wide cohort.

Contact Jennifer McLachlan for more information at 218-541-5109.

Equity

In the wake of the social and political events of 2020, our teachers and school leaders are challenged now more than ever to ensure that all students are having an equitable educational experience. In addition to these issues of unrest, COVID-19 has also had a disproportionately negative impact on lower-income and historically marginalized demographic groups. While we can all agree that equity should be top of mind, it can be very difficult to understand what we can ACTUALLY DO as educators to make a difference for all of our students.

Let us help you and your educators create an equitable, inclusive learning environment for all of your students! Join our information session on October 18th at 3:30pm to hear more! Contact Jennifer McLachlan for more information at 218-541-5109.

Student Well-Being

In 2021, our teachers are being asked to do more than they have ever been asked to do before. We know the critical role that teachers play in the lives of our students - way beyond simply meeting their academic needs. While our teachers can’t be expected to be full-time social workers, research clearly indicates that we must first meet our students’ emotional, physical, social, and psychological needs before we can begin to truly address their academic needs.

Providing support for teachers in mastering a few key skills will positively impact culture, climate, and academic performance in their classrooms. For example, teachers can work towards:

(1) building positive relationships with students

(2) developing a climate of respect and rapport among students

(3) addressing the well-being of individual students.

Is student well-being a priority for your district? Let’s schedule a brief chat to talk about how our Student Well-being offering can benefit your teachers and students!

Contact Jennifer McLachlan for more information at 218-541-5109.

Metro ECSU staff enjoyed a retreat day in September. We are energized for a new school year and wish you the same!

edNews is a quarterly publication of Metro ECSU. Editor: Colleen Feller

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Subject: Metro ECSU's edNews - Fall 2021🍂

New School Year. Great Opportunities.

Julie Frame retires from Metro ECSU after 34 years

Dr. John Schultz named next Metro ECSU Executive Director

Register today for Success Beyond the Classroom's fantastic student enrichment programs!

It's back! Dyslexia 101

2021-22 Environmental Health & Safety News