The Henton Headlines

The Henton Headlines: April 29, 2021

THE HENTON HEADLINES
April 29, 2021
Here’s the scoop for the week…

Webinar with Senator Tina Smith & Commissioner Heather Mueller:

On Monday, May 3, at 9:00 am the Minneapolis Foundation is hosting a virtual meeting with Senator Smith and Commissioner Mueller who will discuss the $1.272 billion in new funding for Minnesota schools provided by the American Rescue Plan.

Please register here. The agenda and Zoom meeting details will be sent on Thursday, April 29th before the event. Your business/finance managers are also invited to attend.

Special meeting of the MASA Board of Directors to select MSHSL Representatives:

The Board of Directors will meet at 1:00 pm on Tuesday, May 4, to consider the recommendations of the MASA Executive Officers for two representatives to serve on the MSHSL Board of Directors. The Executive Officers met and considered nine letters of interest from superintendents seeking to serve as the Class A representative and four letters of interest from superintendents for the Class AA position. The Executive Officer recommendations will be sent to the Board of Directors next week.

Once all applicants have been notified of the outcome of the meeting, a notice will be sent to MASA members announcing the representatives.

Leadership Matters:

"Persistent people begin their success where others end in failure." - Edward Eggleston

Detailed information may be found at
https://www.mnasa.org/whats-new.html
and the MASA Calendar.

April	April Military Child Month
April 29	Region 1 Virtual Capitol Visit
April 30	DUE: MDE Federal Title Grant Applications
May 1	DUE: MDE GEER and ESSER Applications
May 2	Orthodox Easter
May 3	MDE: Virtual Town Hall on the American Rescue Plan
May 3-7	National Teacher Appreciation Week
May 5	Cinco de Mayo
May 5	MASA Equity and Excellence in Education Network (1 - 2 pm)
May 6	MASA Master Class (10 - 11 am)
May 6-12	National Nurses Appreciation Week
May 11	“Take Five” Communication Workshop Series (Noon - 1 pm)
May 12	MASA Leaders of Color Affinity Group Meeting (9:30 - 10:30 am)
May 16	Observation of Shavuot begins
May 17	DUE: MDE Carl Perkins (submissions begin)
May 17	DUE: MDE Test WES (Post-test Edit) - late May to mid-June
May 17	DUE: MDE Renewal of school nutrition application - end of month
May 18	“Take Five” Communication Workshop Series (Noon - 1 pm)
May 19	“Take Five” Communication Workshop Series (Noon - 1 pm)
May 21-22	MN Aspiring Superintendents’ Academy
May 26	“Take Five” Communication Workshop Series (Noon - 1 pm)
May 27	“Take Five” Communication Workshop Series (Noon - 1 pm)

The Henton Headlines: April 22, 2021

THE HENTON HEADLINES
April 22, 2021
Here’s the scoop for the week…

MASA equity and race equity initiative:

The Equity and Excellence in Education Network, “Triple E,” is a new offering by MASA. Dr. Katie Pekel of the University of Minnesota and Mr. Sebastian Witherspoon of Equity Alliance co-facilitated one session of the Triple E effort and they have worked with MASA staff to create a Triple E Steering Committee to help guide the work. We look forward to working with Katie and Sebastian well into the future and are grateful for the MASA Foundation's support of this crucially important work.

A big thanks to the following MASA members who have committed to serve on the steering committee:

Tyrone Brookins, Assistant Superintendent, South Washington County Schools 

Renee Corneille, Superintendent, St. Anthony-New Brighton Schools

Michael Favor, Assistant Superintendent, Roseville Area Schools & soon to be Superintendent, Intermediate School District 917

Annette Freiheit, Superintendent, Winona Area Schools

Matt Hillman, Superintendent, Northfield Schools

Rochelle Johnson, Superintendent, Cass Lake-Bena Schools

Chris Lindholm, Superintendent, Pequot Lake Schools

Cindy Olson, Executive Director, Arrowood Regional Computing Consortium

Renae Ouillette, Executive Director of Student Services, Lakeville Area Schools

Yeu Vang, Assistant Superintendent Office of Multilingual Learning, Saint Paul Public Schools

The next meeting of the Triple E Network will be held on May 5 from 1-2 pm and is open and free to all interested members. Look for registration information to be coming soon!

Congratulations to MASE who has received a prestigious award!

The Minnesota Administrators for Special Education (MASE) has received the 2021 Council of Administrators of Special Education (CASE) Exemplary Unit Award. This is a well-deserved honor and MASA extends its congratulations to MASE President Sarah Mittelstadt and Executive Director John Klaber along with all the members of MASE and the MASA staff who support the organization.  We are overjoyed that your hard work has resulted in this honor! Read the news release online.

The winter 2021 “Minnesota Safe Learning” survey results coming to your inbox on April 28

The second in a series of surveys of educators, families, and students conducted by the Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) in coordination with other education organizations and MDE has closed. Results are being finalized and superintendents, principals, and school board chairs can expect to receive the overall results next Wednesday. 

Individual school district reports of results will be available upon request, unlike the first iteration results which were automatically sent to all superintendents whose districts had more than five respondents. 

Another survey will be conducted in May and another in October resulting in longitudinal data over time. Should you have questions you would like to be considered for the next iteration of the survey, please send them to me and I will forward your thoughts to those creating the survey.

Leadership Matters: 

"Never interrupt someone doing what you said couldn't be done." - Amelia Earhart

Detailed information may be found at
https://www.mnasa.org/whats-new.html
and the MASA Calendar.

April	April Military Child Month
April 29	Region 1 Virtual Capitol Visit
April 30	DUE: MDE Federal Title Grant Applications
May 1	DUE: MDE GEER and ESSER Applications
May 2	Orthodox Easter
May 3-7	National Teacher Appreciation Week
May 5	Cinco de Mayo
May 5	MASA Equity and Excellence in Education Network (1 - 2 pm)
May 6-12	National Nurses Appreciation Week
May 11	“Take Five” Communication Workshop Series (Noon - 1 pm)
May 12	MASA Leaders of Color Affinity Group Meeting (9:30 - 10:30 am)
May 16	Observation of Shavuot begins
May 17	DUE: MDE Carl Perkins (submissions begin)
May 17	DUE: MDE Test WES (Post-test Edit) - late May to mid-June
May 17	DUE: MDE Renewal of school nutrition application - end of month
May 18	“Take Five” Communication Workshop Series (Noon - 1 pm)
May 19	“Take Five” Communication Workshop Series (Noon - 1 pm)

 

The Henton Headlines: April 15, 2021

THE HENTON HEADLINES
April 15, 2021
Here’s the scoop for the week…

Did you know Governor Walz has proclaimed April as the Military Child Month?

Here is a link to a brief article with some ideas on how you might honor students in your schools who have a parent serving in the military: https://www.presspubs.com/quad/news/honoring-our-smallest-heroes/article_6e703744-9ca8-11eb-ad34-6764e671d2ea.html

LAST CALL: Are you interested in becoming one of the two MASA representatives on the MSHSL BOARD?

Letters of interest for the two MASA representative openings on the MSHSL Board of Directors are due by the end of the day, Friday, April 16, 2021.  Please address your letters to the MASA Board of Directors and Executive Director.

*Added feature to Henton Headlines*

Each week there will be a section at the bottom of the Headlines dedicated to upcoming “Dates to Consider.” There will also be a link to the MASA calendar that is easily accessible from the main page of the MASA website. If there are dates you think we should add, please let me know.  A huge thanks to MASA staff member Jeanna Vohnoutka who maintains the calendar!

Leadership Matters: 

"Uncertainty is a permanent part of the leadership landscape. It never goes away." - Andy Stanley 

Detailed information may be found at
https://www.mnasa.org/whats-new.html
and the MASA Calendar.

April	April Military Child Month
April 13	Observation of Ramadan begins
April 15	DUE: MDE Seclusion Report Quarter 3 (January 1-March 31)
April 15	MASA Foundation Board Meeting (1 - 3 pm)
April 21	Rama Navami Celebration
April 21	Great Start Cohort
April 22	Administrative Professionals' Day
April 20	Orthodox Good Friday
April 20	MASA Women’s Leadership Network (10 - 11 am)
April 20	DUE: MDE STAR (Staff Automated Reporting)
April 22	MASA Master Class (10 - 11 am)
April 29	Region 1 Virtual Capitol Visit
April 30	DUE: MDE Federal Title Grant Applications

 

The Henton Headlines: April 8, 2021

THE HENTON HEADLINES
April 8, 2021
Here’s the scoop for the week…

Call to action will be coming...

I will be sending a “Call to Action” email regarding the need to contact your legislators about the basic funding formula.  I am not ready to say when that is as the work of the legislature is progressing and the timing of our advocacy is important. Key legislators will need to hear from members of all MASA component groups across the state. 

*The House Omnibus Bill has an increase of 2% for each year of the biennium. The Senate Omnibus Bill has zero for both years.  Each omnibus bill has various pots of money for other areas-many of which we support and are grateful to see included.  That said, as we know money on the formula is essential so we will need all hands on deck to let our representatives know our position on the formula.*

Reading and TedTalk on addressing racism:

One of our members has shared the following link and information about Dena Simmons who recently left Yale’s Center for Emotional Intelligence to start her own non-profit. She is a brilliant scholar and a very good writer. She also has an impressive TedTalk. 

https://inservice.ascd.org/if-we-arent-addressing-racism-we-arent-addressing-trauma/

Are you interested in becoming one of the two MASA representatives on the MSHSL BOARD?

Letters of interest for the two MASA representative openings on the MSHSL Board of Directors are due by the end of the day, Friday, April 16, 2021.  Please address your letters to the MASA Board of Directors and Executive Director.

Have you voted for MASA Executive Officers and Representatives for the Board of Directors?

There have been a number of reminders to vote sent to you by Dave Christians and I am happy to report that voter turnout is higher than it has been for years-thank you!  If you have not voted, please continue to do so as some of the races are oh so close! Check to see if you are eligible to vote here.

Leadership Matters: 

Danny Steele (@SteeleThoughts) Tweeted:

Every school has essentially the same mission: “Preparing kids for their future… “ What matters, though, is not the quality of words in the frame, but the quality of relationships in the building.

The Henton Headlines: April 1, 2021

THE HENTON HEADLINES
April 1, 2021
Here’s the scoop for the week…

Repost of MDE resources of support as the trial of Derek Chauvin moves forward, as we grieve the loss of those to mass murder and learn of the violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders:

On Monday, March 29, Dr. Heather Mueller shared the following resources “...as a starting point” in helping to support your students, families, staff, and communities:

• Resources to Help Educators, Adults Respond to Racism, Violence and Trauma and Support Students.
• Resources for Educators during the Trials of the Former Officers Involved in the Death of George Floyd.

Additional resources are available on MDE's Responding to Trauma and Tragedy webpage.

While the resources Dr. Mueller shared were in response to the trial of Derek Chauvin in the death of George Floyd, they may also be valuable as we remember other recent tragedies and their effects on our entire learning communities. 

As we know, Derek Chauvin’s trial in the death of George Floyd is the first of three. Thus, there will be a protracted period of time when you may need to support your learning communities with the many resources found at the sites above.

Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me or MASA staff if we might also be of assistance. Your needs are equally important as the needs of your school communities and these are deeply emotional times.

Letter to MDE regarding the next round of federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA):

Late last week Dr. Mueller asked the education organizations for input on how the state might allocate funding from the ARPA to school districts. I sought input from the MASA Board of Directors and with assistance from colleagues at MASBO, AMSD and MSBA drafted a response and sent this letter to MDE on March 30. The aforementioned organizations are also signatories. Let’s hope allocations and guidance are released to school districts very soon. Please feel free to use this information in your advocacy efforts.

Justice Page and President Kashkari to speak at MASA Fall Conference

In order to learn more about the Page Amendment to the state constitution, we have invited Justice Page and President Kashkari to join us in Duluth on September 27, at 1:00 pm. MASA has not yet taken a position on the amendment and wants to ensure members have the opportunity to learn more, directly ask Justice Page and President Kashkari questions, and discuss with colleagues their thoughts on the proposed amendment.

Deadline for letters of interest to be considered for the MASA/MSHSL representatives:

Letters of interest for the two MASA representative openings on the MSHSL Board of Directors are due by the end of the day, Friday, April 16, 2021.  Please address your letters to the MASA Board of Directors and Executive Director.

Leadership Matters: 

Simon Sinek (@simonsinek) Tweeted: Leadership is not an expertise. Leadership is a constant education.