Happy 2024, MNEA Connects Listeners!! We are happy to bring another year of podcasting to you! 

MNEA Legislative Director, Otto Fajen, and Samantha Hayes, MNEA Director of Professional Practice, discuss Otto’s experience in witnessing and finding common ground in the Missouri Legislature. Everything from term limits, to language and issue frames, to redistricting, to the impacts of the media and social media is discussed. And, of course, the appointment of Dr. Eslinger as DESE’s next commissioner is thrown into the mix!

Curious about the book that Samantha references? See A Search for Common Ground: Conversations About the Toughest Questions in K-12 Education

Stay informed with Education policy in Missouri by signing up for Otto’s weekly Legislative Update here!

MNEA Members: Interested in being a part of the resolutions committee or becoming a host or guest on MNEA Connects? Follow this link: http://bit.ly/3kvyEFb or contact Samantha Hayes.

Happy 2024, MNEA Connects Listeners!! We are happy to bring another year of podcasting to you!

MNEA Legislative Director, Otto Fajen, and Samantha Hayes, MNEA Director of Professional Practice, discuss Otto’s experience in witnessing and finding common ground in the Missouri Legislature. Everything from term limits, to language and issue frames, to redistricting, to the impacts of the media and social media is discussed. And, of course, the appointment of Dr. Eslinger as DESE’s next commissioner is thrown into the mix!

Stay informed with Education policy in Missouri by signing up for Otto’s weekly Legislative Update here!

MNEA Members: Interested in being a part of the resolutions committee or becoming a host or guest on MNEA Connects? Follow this link: http://bit.ly/3kvyEFb or contact Samantha Hayes.

MNEA Legislative Director, Otto Fajen, talks about the upcoming, 2024 Missouri legislative session, including his thoughts, predications, and #hashtag (hint: see title). 

MNEA Members: Interested in being a part of the resolutions committee or becoming a host or guest on MNEA Connects? Follow this link: http://bit.ly/3kvyEFb or contact Samantha Hayes.

SDNEA member and local leader, Lindsey Weatherby, hosts an episode with Colin Davitt, Director of Imagination and Wonder at Lindbergh School District, to discuss ChatGPT in Schools and how it can be a beneficial tool for educators and students alike. 

MNEA Members: Interested in being a part of the resolutions committee or becoming a host or guest on MNEA Connects? Follow this link: http://bit.ly/3kvyEFb or contact Samantha Hayes.

If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact Samantha Hayes at 800-392-0236 or [email protected] 

MNEA Legislative Director, Otto Fajen, gives the history and general format of the MNEA Resolutions and explains how they help him in his work at the Missouri capitol.

MNEA Resolutions

NEA Resolutions (NEA Webpage for Resolutions here)

MNEA Members: Interested in being a part of the resolutions committee or becoming a host or guest on MNEA Connects? Follow this link: http://bit.ly/3kvyEFb or contact Samantha Hayes.

Welcome to MNEA’s monthly “Top Takeaways from the Missouri State Board of Education”!

Top Takeaways from the October 2023 State Board meeting

➡️Greg Kester, Potosi MNEA Member, Recognized as 2024 Missouri Teacher of the year!

➡️Dr. Margie Vandeven, Missouri Commissioner of Education, Stepping Down

➡️Local Control returns to Riverview Gardens & Normandy Schools Collaborative

➡️New Charter School Approved for St. Louis

➡️State board No Longer seeking standards status for CORE Skills

➡️State Board Changes Position on Voluntary Open Enrollment

If you have any questions or concerns about the State Board or the report, please don’t hesitate to contact Rebeka McIntosh, MNEA Vice President, or Samantha Hayes, Teaching and Learning Director, at MNEA: [email protected] or [email protected]. 

Visit MNEA's website for the full report to get more info on each of these takeaways: https://bit.ly/3QsxiIB.

In the final installment of this three-part, member-led episode, Social Studies Teacher, MNEA member and NEA Director, Andy Slaughter, interviews Dr. DeAnna Massie, Professor at Lewis and Clark College in Illinois and NEA member, to discuss student use of social media and technology and the impact on students. This timely and very relevant discussion focuses on social media usage by students, impacts of technology usage on student behavior, and references to Dr. Vivek Murthy’s recent publication on Loneliness. 

MNEA Members: Interested in becoming a host or guest on MNEA Connects? Follow this link: http://bit.ly/3kvyEFb or contact Samantha Hayes.

Missouri NEA discusses Horace Mann’s Educator Advisory Panel Study white paper, Checks & Balance: How Financial Stress and Heavier Workloads are Accelerating the Teacher Shortage, from November 2022, with Rob Curtis ([email protected]). 

 MNEA Members: Interested in becoming a host or guest on MNEA Connects? Follow this link: http://bit.ly/3kvyEFb or contact Samantha Hayes.

In Episode 123, Samanth Hayes talks with Dr. Jason Adams, Learning Forward Missouri President and Assistant Superintendent of Learning for Webster Groves School District, about Learning Forward Missouri and their annual Conference, which will occur March 11-12, 2024 at the Lake of the Ozarks at Margaritaville Resort and Conference Center. 

“Learning Forward-MO is dedicated to improving the state of professional learning in Missouri.  [They] believe high quality professional learning for all teachers can improve the teaching and learning resulting in higher achievement throughout the state.  [They] provide an annual conference dedicated to providing new learning for teachers, professional development committees, administrators, coaches, and central office administrators to learn new skills and information to take back to their respective districts and share.”

 MNEA Members: Interested in becoming a host or guest on MNEA Connects? Follow this link: http://bit.ly/3kvyEFb or contact Samantha Hayes.

• Agenda, Minutes, and Recordings from August 15, 2023 of the Missouri State Board of Education Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

• DESE has put together a model curriculum for this training, which can be found here.

• Innovation Waiver (161.214, RSMo)

• 7 items in 5 CSR 20-100.125 (MSIP 6)

•  Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) 

• Public feedback for DESE and Workgroup

• MSIP 6 

 MNEA Members: Interested in becoming a host or guest on MNEA Connects? Follow this link: http://bit.ly/3kvyEFb or contact Samantha Hayes.

In June 2023, Otto discussed what happens when the Missouri Legislative Session ends. Now in August, as the summer comes to a close and recently-signed bills go into effect soon (August 28th), Otto discusses the Education Bills that were signed (a lot of bills that have to do with retirement), background check bills (which impacts educators), and what triggers a veto session. 

Sign up here for direct updates from Otto on major happenings at the Missouri Legislature, specifically regarding or impacting Missouri Education.

 MNEA Members: Interested in becoming a host or guest on MNEA Connects? Follow this link: http://bit.ly/3kvyEFb or contact Samantha Hayes.