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IN THIS EDITION |
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ACTION ITEMS |
Superintendents and charter school directors are invited to participate in the monthly audio conference call hosted by Commissioner Brenda Cassellius. The next call is scheduled for Wednesday, January 20, 9:30-10:30 a.m. A notice providing dial-in instructions will be sent to you on Tuesday. Comments to offer and/or questions you would like to ask are encouraged.
Conference Call Schedule: February 17, March 16, April 20, May 18, June 15. All calls are from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.
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Governor Dayton’s Council on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday cordially invites you
to this annual event honoring the life and contributions of Dr. King. This year marks the
Council’s 30th anniversary and the celebration theme is “The Power of Telling Your
Story: 30 Years of Us.” The 2016 statewide celebration is free and open to the public.
Please extend this invitation to your students and staff.
The YOUTH RALLY will be held 9–10 a.m. at the Ordway Concert Hall. It will be hosted by Shanell McCoy, with performances by: Kalpulli KetzalCoatlicue, Irreducible Grace Foundation, Maria Isa, Toki & Miss Britt. See the flier.
The Re-enactment March will begin at 10:15 a.m. at the main entrance of the Ordway, and will be lead by Music Artist Mari Harris!
The Event Program begins at 11 a.m. and concludes at 1 p.m.
Parking will be available for $3.00 per vehicle at the St. Paul College Ramp, 235 Marshall Avenue, beginning at 8 a.m. Attendees will be given a free bus pass to use to connect to the Ordway via Route 21.
Free transit passes will be available to use from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on January 18 courtesy of Metro Transit. You may print out transit passes, or pick them up at the following locations:
- Office of the Governor, St. Paul
- Hallie Q. Brown Community Center, St. Paul
- Minneapolis Urban League, Plymouth Avenue
- Sabathani Community Center, Minneapolis
Visit the Governor Dayton’s Council on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Celebration on Facebook.
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On December 31, the U.S. Department of Education issued a Dear Colleague letter asking educational leaders throughout the nation to ensure that their schools are learning environments where students are free from discrimination and harassment based on their race, religion, or national origin. “A focus on these protections, while always essential, is particularly important amid international and domestic events that create an urgent need for safe spaces for students,” wrote former Education Secretary Arne Duncan and Acting Education Secretary John B. King in the letter. Duncan and King also urged school leaders to “anticipate the potential challenges that may be faced by students who are especially at risk of harassment — including those who are, or are perceived to be, Syrian, Muslim, Middle Eastern, or Arab, as well as those who are Sikh, Jewish, or students of color.”
In Minnesota, the Safe and Supportive Schools Act provides a framework for establishing a safe and supportive learning environment for all students in the state and the School Safety Technical Assistance Center is ready to support districts in this work. The center can be reached by email at MDE.SSTAC@state.mn.us or by phone at 651-582-8364. For resources to address bias-based bullying, discrimination and harassment, visit the School Safety Technical Assistance Center website.
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The Minnesota Department of Education is accepting applications from Minnesota school districts who wish to collaborate on improving student and school outcomes as part of the Innovations Pilot Project.
To participate in the Pilot Project, two or more school districts must collaborate with school staff and receive formal approval from their school boards to form a partnership. The Innovations Pilot Project must provide innovative education programs and activities and share district resources by doing at least one of the following:
- Providing challenging programmatic options for students.
- Creating professional development opportunities for educators.
- Increasing student engagement and connection and challenging learning opportunities for students.
- Demonstrating efficiencies in delivering financial and other services.
No additional funds are provided for the Innovation Pilot Project.
Download the Innovation Pilot Project application form. Signed applications must be received by Thursday, February 18, 2016, 4:00 p.m. Central Time. Email one signed copy to mde.innovationpilots@state.mn.us. Applications will be reviewed by an advisory committee. If you have any questions, contact Cindy Shevlin-Woodcock by February 2, 2016, at 651-582-8604 or mde.innovationpilots@state.mn.us.
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The Minnesota Student Survey (MSS) opened January 4 and will be available until May 31, 2016. All MSS district contacts received an email on Thursday, December 3, with a registration link. If you did not receive this email, please check your junk folder for an email from notify@quickbase.com. You must register at least three weeks prior to your desired administration date. Three webinars will be conducted to demonstrate the registration system: January 27, at 1 p.m.; Tuesday, February 16, at 1 p.m.; and Thursday, March 3, at 10 a.m. Access MSS webinar registration links.
As required by the Minnesota Legislature, the department must post school-level data about school safety, student engagement and connections at school on the Minnesota Report Card. These data are taken from the Minnesota Student Survey. If a school does not participate in the survey, this section on the Minnesota Report Card will not report any results.
Find more information regarding the 2016 Minnesota Student Survey. If you have questions about the registration process, please contact Wilder Research at 651-280-2747 or mss@wilder.org. If you have other questions about the MSS, please contact the department at 651-582-8488 or mde.studentsurvey@state.mn.us.
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The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) is gathering information on available resources and supports for Minnesota paraprofessionals. As part of that task, we are conducting a paraprofessional survey to gather information on currently-available professional development opportunities for them.
Please share this information and the survey form with your paraprofessionals. The survey should take no more than five minutes to complete. Respondents will not be identified. Multiple participants can use the same computer and participants may stop, save the survey and return to it later. The MDE paraprofessional survey is due by January 29, 2016. This information has also be sent to special education directors so that paraprofessionals in all educational settings will receive information on this important survey.
For more information, contact Barb Sisco at 651-582-8226 or barbara.sisco@state.mn.us.
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The Minnesota Department of Health has not received a completed Annual Immunization Status Report (AISR) from a number of schools for the 2015-16 school year. Every year, schools are required by Minnesota law to complete a report summarizing the immunization status of all K-12 students. For those schools that have not yet reported, the data must be submitted via online application by February 19, 2016.
Data from the AISR for the 2015-16 school year will be posted to the MDH immunization website in the spring. To access and complete the AISR online, visit the MDH AISR website. Step-by-step instructions are available in the User Guide.
School Immunization Data on the MDH Website:
Immunization and exemption percentages are available by county, district, and school. Data from the 2012-13, 2013-14, and 2014-15 school years are currently available.
If you have questions about the AISR, please call Lisa Harris at 651-201-3523 or send an email to health.aisr@state.mn.us.
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GRANT OPPORTUNITY |
The Minnesota Department of Education has $322,664 awarded from the United States Department of Agriculture CFDA 10.579 program titled “National School Lunch Program Equipment Assistance for School Food Authorities” available to Minnesota school food authorities (SFAs).
This funding may be used to purchase new equipment that will assist SFAs to serve healthier meals which meet updated meal patterns, with emphasis on serving more fruits and vegetables in school meals, improving food safety and efficiency, and expanding access and participation.
This opportunity is open to Minnesota SFAs who participate in the National School Lunch Program. SFAs with 50 percent or more enrolled students that are eligible for free and reduced-priced meals as of October 1, 2015, will receive priority points.
The grant period will be from July 1, 2016, through December 31, 2016. Equipment requests must be at least $5,000. SFAs can request up to two grants but must not exceed a total of $25,000 per SFA.
The grant opportunity documents (instructions and application) are available on the department’s grant opportunity site. Grant questions are due by February 9, 2016, 4 p.m., Central Standard Time. Applications are due by March 1, 2016, 3:30 p.m., Central Standard Time.
For more information, please contact Melissa Elder or 651-582-8410.
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PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES |
The Minnesota Department of Education and the Regional Centers of Excellence are pleased to offer a Minnesota Early Indicator and Response System (MEIRS) Training Webinar for superintendents, principals, school psychologists, counselors, and other staff who will use the data to plan interventions. A team is encouraged to participate. The MEIRS data is pulled for students in sixth and ninth grades. The objectives of the training are to review the definitions of MEIRS variables, understand the benefits of Early Indicator and Response Systems, review Minnesota’s 2014 graduation rate, understand the value of the tool, review the seven-step MEIRS implementation cycle, and discover where to locate effective strategies. To learn more about MEIRS data before the webinar, please visit the MDE MEIRS Web page.
NOTE: Access to the MEIRS secured site will be provided to the district designee upon successful completion of the training and receipt of the authorization from the superintendent.
Register for MEIRS Training Webinars.
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The Minnesota Department of Education and Consul Alberto Fierro of the Mexican Consulate in St. Paul are offering an information session for the Mexican visiting teacher program on Thursday, January 21, 9 –11 a.m., in Conference Center B, Room 17.
The department and Roberto Garcia of the Education Ministry of Spain in Chicago will hold an information session for the Spanish visiting teacher program on Monday, January 25, 9 –11 a.m., in Conference Center B, Room 17.
Both of these visiting teacher programs exist to provide native Spanish-speaking teachers to teach language and culture in immersion, dual language and other programs for which native-level language is required and local teachers are not available at present. Attendance at the informational meeting is not a commitment. Please contact ursula.lentz@state.mn.us if you plan to attend.
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The Minnesota Department of Education School Safety Technical Assistance Center will be holding a one-day conference focused on implementing the Safe and Supportive Schools Act on Friday, January 22, 2016, at Hamline University in St. Paul from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The “Minnesota Safe and Supportive Schools Conference: Addressing Bullying in Schools” is designed for Minnesota school administrators, educators, school support staff, parents, student leaders, education stakeholders and community members. The conference will help participants build on their knowledge about bullying prevention and creating positive school climates.
U.S. Department of Education Office of Safe and Healthy Students Director David Esquith will deliver the keynote “The Challenges, Emerging Issues, and Promising Practices in Improving School Climate” to open the conference. American Institutes of Research Vice President David Osher, an expert in creating safe and supportive schools, will speak in the afternoon.
Workshops on a variety of topics will be held throughout the day. Seven hours of CEUs will be offered for Minnesota teachers, nurses, and social workers. MDE has applied for CEUs for school administrators. The conference cost is $30. Find more information and register on the PACER website. Scholarships are available for students; please contact Heather Hirsch (Heather.Hirsch@state.mn.us) to apply. The center is hosting the conference in partnership with PACER’s National Bullying Prevention Center and Hamline University’s School of Education.
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ITEM OF INTEREST |
The Minnesota Board of Teaching has taken the following licensure actions:
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Munoz, Danielle D. (FF# 452946) On January 8, 2016, the Board of Teaching adopted a Stipulation Agreement and Consent Order in which Ms. Munoz agrees not to teach or seek the renewal of her teaching license.
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Demars, Christina M. f/k/a Christina Thorne (FF# 440715) On January 8, 2016, the Board of Teaching adopted Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, and Order denying Ms. Demars’ application to renew her teaching license until she can meet other requirements of the Board.
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