Staff Lounge, 67

Minnesota Department of Education sent this bulletin at 06/22/2020 08:14 AM CDT

June 22, 2020

Check-in From Communications Director Wendy Hatch

With all the chaos and uncertainty of the last couple of months, I didn’t realize until I sat down to write this that I had passed my one-year mark at MDE.

When I first started, I was only supposed to be at MDE for six months in a temporary position. Now, after accepting the communications director position in April, I am excited to be leading the department’s communications and media relations strategy.

As I reflect on the time when I first started at MDE, I was (and I still am) excited about this opportunity not only because it brought me back to my hometown of Roseville, but because I now had the chance to help shape the public education system that so personally touched my life.

Growing up, my dad’s blue collar job took him away on frequent, long businesses trips which left my mother, a (then) recent immigrant from Taiwan, home alone with my brother and me. At the time, English was still very difficult for my mom and she worried how she would help us with our school work if our dad, a native Minnesotan and English speaker, wasn’t home to help us. I will never forget night after night watching my mom pour over my homework with a Chinese-English dictionary in hand so she could help me work through my assignments.

Besides my extremely dedicated parents, I also had the most wonderful teachers and coaches who urged my family to continue speaking Mandarin at home, who challenged me to meet my full potential, and helped me think about my future so I could be the first person in my family to graduate from college. It was these dedicated adults in my life who helped turn the girl who struggled with English and could never pass a spelling test into a communications director.

I also know that I’m really lucky.

The murder of George Floyd and COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the deep inequities in our society and in our education system. As we are navigating how we meet this moment for our students, families, and educators, I ground myself in the reason I came to this work in the first place: to create a better, more equitable public education system for all.

One of the benefits of being in the communications department is that you get to work with every single division in the agency. Over my year working at MDE, I have met so many dedicated public servants from such a variety of backgrounds but we all have the same goal: to create a better, more equitable public education system for all.

While we are not sure what the next year will bring at MDE or even what the start of the school year this fall will bring for our students, there is one thing that I know for sure – I am grateful to work alongside each of you so we can make a better tomorrow for Minnesota students, together.

Employee Spotlight: Teresa Taylor Director, Equity and Opportunity Division

While Teresa Taylor has earned degrees from three universities, at one time she also dropped out of college to tour with a musical artist around the world. Learn who Teresa went on tour with.

Human Resources Offers Summer School Sessions to Help Your Career

Summer is a great time to learn new things and focus on career development! Join Human Resources in four, free lunch-and-learn sessions about core HR topics to help you thrive in your current role, and advance your career at MDE!

Upcoming Sessions

Creative Writing (Resumes): Wednesday, June 24, 12-1 p.m.
Public Speaking (Interviews): Thursday, July 9, 12-1 p.m.
Arts and Science (Job Audits): Tuesday, July 21, 12-1 p.m.
Business Administration (Hiring Process): Thursday, Aug. 6, 12-1 p.m.

New Leave Year for Family and Medical Leave Begins July 1

If you need Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) here is what you should do:

Notify Jennifer Cole, Human Resources Specialist, 30 days in advance or as soon as practicable that you need FMLA leave. She will provide information regarding the process and the necessary paperwork to apply for FMLA leave.
Wait to submit FMLA medical certification forms to MDE Human Resources until MDE Human Resources requests them. Agency Human Resources will request medical certification at the time the employee gives notice of the need for leave for a serious health condition, or at the time the leave of absence for a serious health condition begins. This ensures the FMLA certification paperwork is connected to the reason for the leave request or absence, and ensures MDE Human Resources can accurately determine the employee’s eligibility for the protections granted under law. For additional information, please visit the leave page on Inside MDE, or contact Jennifer Cole in Human Resources.

New Employees

Megan Arriola, Government Relations

Separated Employees

Juan Diaz, Government Relations
Kendra Luehr, Commissioner’s Office
Alexa Ravetti, School Support

Retired Employees

Karen Millar, Board of School Administrators

Communications Corner

Write with Style

The MDE Style Guide: Version 8 is now available! Our style guide is designed to help you as you write and edit department documents to ensure MDE's communications are consistent and accurate throughout the agency. Check out the MDE Style Guide intranet page documents section for the latest PDF and HTML versions, and a revision list to see all the changes made. We incorporated several new sections.

A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota Chosen for Statewide Book Club and One MDE Book Study Cohort

The One Book | One Minnesota statewide book club invites Minnesotans to read A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota.

The book consists of essays by 16 of Minnesota’s best writers who provide perspectives on what it is like to live as a Native person or person of color in Minnesota. The book is available now for free on Ebooks Minnesota. Learn more about the statewide book club and its events. The program is presented by the Minnesota Center for the Book, in partnership with State Library Services, a division of the Minnesota Department of Education.

One MDE Book Study Cohorts Begin this Week

A Good Time for the Truth: Race in Minnesota is the first title for the new Book Study Cohort at MDE. The Book Study Cohort is a new diversity, equity and inclusion initiative around building cultural awareness and racial inequities. The book study is a form of professional and personal development that engages colleagues in reading and discussing a selected book, guided by questions that are designed to prompt critical thought and dialogue. Our MDE Book Study Cohort is in partnership with the One Book | One Minnesota. The book study cohorts at MDE filled up fast and are at capacity.

Updates Related to COVID-19 Work at MDE

Governor Extends Peacetime Emergency

Governor Walz signed Executive Order 20-75 on June 12 extending the COVID-19 peacetime emergency through July, 13.

Guidance For Minnesota Public Schools Photo of Students in classroom

MDE and MDH Release Guidance for 2020-21 School Year Planning

MDE and the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) on June 18 released guidance to help school leaders plan for the 2020-21 school year.

The guidance asks school leaders to create three different contingency plans based on three possible scenarios that the virus could put us in – in-person learning for all students, hybrid learning, and distance learning. Read MDH Fall Planning Guidance. Read MDE Fall Planning Guidance.

MDE’s Return to Work Plan and Guidance

Employees should plan to primarily continue to telework through the summer as much as possible. The MDE return to work plan was emailed to you and will be posted soon on Inside MDE. For more information, please read the COVID-19 Preparedness Plan Training for MDE. If you have a need to work in the office on a regular basis even once a week for tasks that cannot be performed at home be sure to work with your supervisor. If you have any questions please reach out to Facility Supervisor Brian Durand, or myself.

–Human Resources Director Tammy Funk

Don’t Trust Anyone and other Tips to Help You Secure Your Home Network

Don’t trust anyone seems like extreme advice, but it is reasonable when considering your email. Hackers, scammers, and fraudsters continually find new ways to trick users with clever emails. For every email that hits your inbox, you should verify the sender email address and not just the displayed name. And, it should raise a red flag anytime you follow a link from an email, and it sends you to a login page. Instead of following links provided, navigate to the site manually, or from your own bookmarks.

Working from home introduces new challenges and risks to your workday. Along with not trusting anyone regarding your email, we have other tips for improving the security of your home network as well as tips for working from home. Read more of our security tips.

–Michael Virnig, Information Security Analyst, MNIT Services

June is National Safety Month!

Given the current state of the world, safety is more important than ever. The state of Minnesota remains committed to saving lives and preventing injuries, in the workplace, at home and on our roadways.

Week three of safety month focuses on ergonomics. The design of your computer workstation is important in the office environment, at home or wherever you find yourself working. How you organize your work area and perform your work has a big impact on reducing awkward postures and reduces the risk of injury. Whether working at home or in a traditional office setting, here are some ergonomic tips that you can use to make you more comfortable.

Read about ergonomics and review other safety messages on the Safety Information for You from our Agency page.

Wanted: Your Stories and Shout-Outs

There is a lot of amazing work going on throughout the agency to support our school communities, our communities and each other during this time. If you have a story to share, or want to give a shout-out to one of your colleagues who has truly stepped up during this unprecedented time, please tell us! We will try to use a few of those stories in a future issue of Staff Lounge. Send your feel good story or shout-out to the communications team.