Metro ECSU's edNews - March 2022 🌻

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Subject: Metro ECSU's edNews - March 2022 🌻

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edNews - March 2022, Vol. 29, No. 3

Metro ECSU - 2 Pine Tree Drive, Suite 101, Arden Hills, MN 55112

Metro ECSU Executive Director: John Schultz

edNews editor: Colleen Feller

Join our amazing team! Check out Metro ECSU career opportunities

YAC is Back!

Three hundred enthusiastic 4th-8th grade students attended SBC's Young Authors Conference (YAC) on March 18. Students and presenters were very excited to return to the first in-person YAC since 2019. Local authors, poets, performers, and creative writing teachers led sessions on a great variety of topics including flash fiction, spoken word, character development, storyboarding, poetry techniques, and visual storytelling.

march young authors conference students in sessions

Ready for a field trip in May?

Come to the Young Authors Conference! Students in grades 4-8 attend a keynote and three breakout sessions. A book fair, live music, and open mic are also part of the day. Space is available for school groups and individuals on May 24, 25, or 27. YAC is held at Bethel University in Arden Hills.

“This reminded me that anything is truly possible if you put your mind to it.”

-2022 YAC student

Register today!

Six Metro Senior High KB Teams are State Bound!

senior high knowledge bowl state qualifiers

The 2021-2022 Senior High Knowledge Bowl season is down to the last meet! We started the season with 80 teams and now we're down to the final six. Blaine, Chanhassen, Chaska, Edina, Minnetonka, and Saint Thomas Academy will travel to Cragun's in Brainerd on April 7-8 to compete for the MN State Knowledge Bowl AA Championship!

SHKB Coordinator, Madi Grove, will post a link to check scores throughout the meet on the SHKB website as it becomes available closer to the date.

Teamwork, brain power, and fun = Middle Grades KB!

middle grades knowledge bowl students competing

This season, over 400 middle school students competed in the 2021-2022 Middle Grades Knowledge Bowl season. It was an exciting season with masks, fun themes, and tough questions. Students and coaches alike were happy to be back to in-person KB meets at 8 different metro middle schools. The season finished with our Regional meets with trophies, ribbons, and raffle prizes up for grabs.

We are excited for everyone to join us again for the 2022-2023 season in the fall! Interested in starting a team next school year? Katie Wenzel, MGKB Coordinator, will help you with everything you need to know! Contact Katie at katie.wenzel@metroecsu.org or 612-638-1554.

Justice Page Middle School wins Excellence in Resilience Engineering award at National FCC Competition!

A team of 8th graders from Justice Page Middle School in Minneapolis took first place at the Minnesota Future City Competition (FCC), which was held on January 22 at Dakota County Technical College. The team, El Cusco Perdido, then competed in the National Future City Competition (held virtually this year) in February and learned on March 23 that they won the National Excellence in Resilience Engineering award, sponsored by UL. Congratulations!

future city competition team el cusco perdido special award

Next year's Future City theme: Climate Change

Registration for the 2022-23 Minnesota Future City Competition will open this spring. Next year's competition will challenge students to design futuristic cities that can withstand climate changes and flourish. Future City is open to students in grades 6-8. Interested in launching FCC at your school in the fall? Contact Colleen Feller, MN FCC Coordinator, to learn how the program works.

future city competition 2023 climate change

Add 2023 SBC event dates to your calendar!

Save the dates for Success Beyond the Classroom's 2023 programs

Students shine at Twin Cities Regional Spelling Bee!

Pictured left to right: 2nd place - Isabel Casique of Scott Highlands Middle School in Apple Valley; 1st place - Moksh Kanukurthy of Valley Crossings Elementary School in Woodbury; 3rd place - Mikayla Kangas of Minnetonka Middle School East in Minnetonka.

Metro ECSU is pleased to have served for our sixth year as the Twin Cities Regional Spelling Bee sponsor. On March 15, 2022, 44 spellers from the metro area competed in the Metro ECSU Regional Spelling Bee, a qualifier for the Scripps National Spelling Bee, in Washington, D.C. Congratulations to our first-place winner, Moksh Kanukurthy of Valley Crossing Elementary School in Woodbury! We wish Moksh luck at the National competition!

Next year's Twin Cities Regional Spelling Bee will be held in spring 2023. Additional details will follow as they become available. For more information about the Scripps National Spelling Bee, please visit spellingbee.com

A big thank you to our 2022 additional sponsors: Barbette, Blue Plate Restaurant Co., Encyclopedia Britannica, Hexco, Merriam-Webster, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, and Saint Paul Saints.

For more information about the Twin Cities Regional Spelling Bee, or if you would like to sponsor or make a donation to the 2023 Bee, please contact Angela Skrade at 612-638-1528.

Metro ECSU welcomes new Health Services staff

Public health work funded by an MDH COVID-19 Workforce Grant begins in earnest

Metro ECSU is excited to begin work funded by the MDH COVID-19 Workforce Grant. This funding affords us the opportunity to support school health services with their COVID planning, response and recovery through June 2023. This herculean effort requires additional staff, some of whom have already come onboard.

In February, Mary Heiman started as the Health Service Coordinator. She has had a long and successful career in school nursing, working at Minneapolis Public Schools and Edina Public Schools. Currently, she is the Minnesota Director for the National Association of School Nurses; she is a past President of the School Nurse Organization of Minnesota. Mary is an extremely talented and passionate nurse and leader, and we are lucky to have her join our team.

In March, we saw the addition of Anna Warn, another licensed school nurse, and Princess Tokpah, who recently completed her graduate program in Public Health. Both women come with a wealth of experience, knowledge, and eagerness to dive right in. In the weeks ahead we will be adding more staff and services to the program.

Since the start of the grant, we have hosted two youth vaccine clinics and we are pre-planning several clinics in collaboration with schools across the metro to provide curbside vaccinations once a COVID-19 vaccine is approved for the next age group. This is just a small part of the work ahead; we are excited to have such talented and dedicated staff to assist in this effort.

A group of Metro ECSU staff and volunteers at a COVID-19 vaccine clinic.

Metro ECSU staff, along with Dakota Child and Family, Community Care Clinics of Minnesota, Brooklyn Center School District, and dedicated volunteers held another youth vaccine clinic in March.

For more information, contact Bianca Virnig, Metro ECSU Health and Safety Specialist, at 612-638-1512.

Metro ECSU: Your Twin Cities metro area site for ParaPro Assessments!

Paraprofessionals who assist with classroom instruction must meet state requirements beyond a High School diploma, or its equivalent. One option to satisfy this demand is passing the ParaPro examination, an assessment designed to fulfill requirements of the federally legislated No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, which measures the math, reading, and English skills of practicing or aspiring paraprofessionals, as well as their ability to apply these skills and knowledge when assisting in a classroom setting.

The ParaPro Assessment is a timed, computerized exam, consisting of 90 multiple-choice questions. The questions must be answered within a two and one-half hour time period, and scoring is scaled, based on 75 of the 90 questions. Minnesota requires a minimum score of 460 to pass the examination. Testing is offered at Metro ECSU on a weekly basis, Tuesday- Friday, with both morning and afternoon appointment times available.

Metro ECSU, through a joint venture with Educational Testing Service (ETS), is proud to be the only public ParaPro exam administration site in the immediate Twin Cities metro area.

To learn more about the exam process, or to schedule an exam appointment, contact Angela Skrade at 612-638-1528.

Promoting Positive Learning Environments Through PBIS - Applications still being accepted for Cohort 18!

As schools and districts throughout Minnesota continue to transition between learning models, it is even more important to establish, teach, and reinforce expectations for learning. SW-PBIS (School-Wide Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports) is a framework or approach for assisting school personnel in adopting and organizing evidence-based behavioral interventions into an integrated continuum that enhances academic and social behavior outcomes for all students.

SW-PBIS establishes consistent adult actions. Positive, predictable adult behavior provides a felt sense of safety and promotes a sense of belonging. When we feel safe and connected - our learning potential is unleashed!

Each August, accepted Minnesota school teams prepare for the start of their school year with PBIS Cohort Training. As of August 2021, there have been 17 Cohorts of Schools, located in 280 Districts across Minnesota. That breaks down to 829 schools (40% of Minnesota schools) trained in PBIS and over 380,000 students served!

Teams can apply for Cohort 18 SW-PBIS training (Summer 2022-Spring 2024) on the Application for School Training webpage.

Is PBIS a part of the culture at your school or district? Contact your Regional Implementation Coordinator for the Metro, Lauren Sparr at 612-638-1534, or visit the MN PBIS website to learn more!

Curious about Esports?

Join Jake Utities, Minnesota Varsity League Director, for a virtual info session on April 26 from 3:00-4:30pm.

There are 50 high schools in Minnesota participating in the Minnesota Varsity League. You may have read about the new esports venue coming to the Mall of America.

Perhaps you've wondered...

What is esports?
Why would a school want an esports program?
Isn’t this just more screen time?
How are esports tied to student achievement?
What kind of research is out there about esports?
How is this different form a gaming or coding club?
How do esports build community?
What are the social-emotional benefits?
Can a school choose which games to offer?
Do families have to purchase the games and game systems?
What kind of computer or game system is needed?
Do any schools in Minnesota have labs that have the computers/game systems available for esports teams?
What does the coach do?
How do teams practice? Are they physically in the same room?
Is this league just for high school students?
When are the competitions?

Here's your chance to learn! This virtual event is a collaboration between Metro ECSU and the Minnesota Varsity League. It is free and open to all educators in the Twin Cities metro area! Register to receive the Zoom link.

Cooperative Purchasing Connection will save you time and money!

The competitive sealed solicitation is lengthy, time consuming, and expensive -- that's why Cooperative Purchasing Connection (CPC) does it for you!

When CPC undergoes the competitive sealed solicitation process, it's as though you have gone through the process yourself. That's why our procurement coordinator conducts extensive research into every contract, why our evaluation committees come together several times before recommending that a vendor be awarded a place on the CPC contract, and why we make our contract audit packets publicly available on purchasingconnection.org

See for yourself! Just navigate to a vendor's CPC profile page and look on the right side of the page for a link to their audit packet!

Or - even easier - give us a call at 888-739-3298 or send us an email at info@purchasingconnection.org

The staff at Metro ECSU wish you a fantastic spring!

edNews is a quarterly publication of Metro ECSU, the Minnesota Service Cooperative that serves the districts and schools in the Twin Ctiies metro region.

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Subject: Metro ECSU's edNews - March 2022 🌻