2021 Open Enrollment Continues Through November 18
Select your insurance benefits for 2021 during Open Enrollment, October 29 through November 18, 2020. Learn about your benefits, new rates, a new optional vision plan, changes to the well-being program, health assessment and more on the SEGIP Open Enrollment website. Watch an introduction to Open Enrollment.
Agency Updates Related to COVID-19 Work
Executive Order 20-94: Clarifications to Guidance
On Nov. 5, Governor Walz signed Executive Order 20-94, which offers clarifications and a few technical fixes based on feedback to our Safe Learning Plan for the 2020-21 School Year and 2020-21 Planning Guidance for Minnesota Public Schools in the following areas:
- Who qualifies for no-cost school-age care for children of critical workers.
- Access to mental health and telehealth resources and services.
- Prioritizing in-person services for students whose IEP calls for intensive services that cannot be provided in a distance learning setting.
- Encouraging districts and charter schools to exhaust all efforts to reach and engage truant students and their families before referring them for legal action by county support systems during this school year.
- Teaching and learning expectations for students who are learning in-person and those who are learning via distance learning.
- Mask requirements in school buildings and how to work with students who are able to wear a face covering but refuse to do so.
- Building additional teacher preparation time into the school day for distance and hybrid learning.
- Special education transportation – expanding existing flexibilities that allow school districts and charter schools to expand transportation capacity to meet public health and safety requirements.
- Allowing students who age out of developmental delay services during the peacetime emergency to continue to receive them during the peacetime emergency.
- When districts and charters can count planning days as instructional days.
Date for Implementation of Additional Teacher Preparation Time Clarified
Executive Order 20-94 requires school districts and charter schools to use 30 minutes of instructional time per day to allow teacher preparation time for any teacher providing distance or hybrid instruction (whether as part of the school’s model or because of the student option for distance learning), in addition to any preparation time which the teacher is entitled to by statute. We understand that such an adjustment requires time for our schools, which is why on Friday, Governor Walz signed Executive Order 20-95 to clarify that school districts and charter schools should implement this provision as soon as practicable, but no later than Nov. 30, 2020.
Clarifying Guidance for Shifting Learning Models and Implications for Activities and Athletics
October 27, Deputy Commissioner Heather Mueller shared a message with all superintendents and charter school leaders to help clarify step five of the five-step process they use to determine learning models. With being two months into the school year, school districts and charter schools were working through step five of the Safe Learning Plan which has always been part of the guidance process.
It's Fraud Awareness and Prevention Week
Governor Tim Walz has proclaimed November 15-21 Fraud Awareness and Prevention Week in Minnesota. During this week, we’re dedicated to raising awareness about fraud and helping all MDE staff learn more about fraud prevention, detection, and reporting. At MDE, we got an early start on fraud awareness, prevention and reporting during our all-staff meeting on Friday, Oct. 30, with a training from Justin Burt in the Office of Inspector General in the U.S. Department of Education.
Training everyone in our agency on fraud prevention, detection, and reporting techniques focused on the need to proactively fight fraud will help safeguard MDE assets and resources. Fraud awareness is a critical step in deterring fraud. All staff play a role in preventing and detecting fraud – it’s not just the auditors’ jobs. It is equally important that MDE staff, particularly supervisors and senior managers, receive regular fraud training. We want to ensure that all staff feel empowered to raise questions about irregularities because this is one of the most effective strategies our department can use to reduce fraud.
For more information on reporting suspected fraud, please see the Reporting Concerns of Fraud, Waste and Abuse guide. Additional information and resources can be found on MDE’s Risk Management and Internal Control SharePoint Site.
–Katrina Jones, Internal Control Risk Manager
Veterans Day is November 11
On Veterans Day we remember all who have served our country in the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, Navy and Space Force. Minnesota National Guard has created a three-minute video for educators to use when talking about Veterans Day with their students. Additionally, the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs has created a 30-minute video to honor Minnesota’s Veterans, instead of their annual live event. This video will be available on the MDVA website starting November 11.
MNIT Microsoft Teams Tips and Tricks Tutorials
Visit the MNIT Microsoft Teams Tutorials webpage to learn tips and tricks for navigating various features of Microsoft Teams, such as: Using Posts and Chats, Sharing and Editing a Document, and How to Set Up and Send Notifications.
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Shout-Outs to MDE Colleagues Who Go Above and Beyond |
Shout-Out to Cindy Heitman in Communications!
I would like to send a huge shout-out to Cindy Heitman for all of her assistance and guidance over the past weeks in accessibility! It has been greatly appreciated.
–Christina VanDell, State Program Administrator Principal
Shout-Out to Jackie Stiehl!
Shout-out to Jackie Stiehl – she passed the Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competency (CPACC) exam.
–Lisa Burton, Nutrition, Health and Youth Development
A Shout-Out to the School Climate Team!
Craig Wethington, Lisa Hoogheem, and Heather Hirsch teamed up to apply for the 5-year federal Project AWARE (Advancing Wellness and Resiliency in Education) grant. Working with and across divisions and agencies, the School Climate Team will be collecting data, facilitating trainings, and evaluating continuous efforts to expand and enhance mental health services in Minnesota schools.
“Ultimately, we are seeking to support all schools in increasing the quality of their comprehensive school mental health system to increase awareness of mental health issues among students, provide training for school personnel and other adults who interact with students to detect and respond to mental health issues, and connect students and their families to needed mental health services,” says Lisa Hoogheem, student supports specialist and School Climate Team member. The Project AWARE grant team will partner with three districts to provide mental health education; staff development on evidence-based programs like Youth Mental Health First Aid, Sources of Strength, Bounce Back, and Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools; and enhance direct mental health services for students and their families. The three partner districts are Intermediate District 287, Redwood Areas Schools, and North St. Paul-Maplewood Oakdale.
A team walking the talk of multiple strategies contributing to health and wellness in their own collaboration, Craig, Heather, Nancy Riestenberg, Lisa, Sabrina Winkleman, and Sarah Weiss regularly model restorative practice circles, attentiveness to social and emotional learning, mental health and well-being, and honoring identity and voice in all interactions.
–School Support Division
New Employee
Sarah Ramler-Olson, Office of Early Learning
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.
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