events

Paraeducator Online Training includes: 140 self-paced courses covering general education and special education environments. Courses that are organized into bite-sized units and are perfect for training days. Posttests at the end of each course that are automatically graded. Training and assessments to highly qualify your paras and meet Title I requirements. Transcripts and course certificates that paraeducators can access to document their training. Content that aligns with CEC standards for paraeducator and is endorsed by CASE. Research-based content written by experts in the field. Dual format courses: Video-based and Text-based versions available!

Synergy & Leadership Exchange is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to fostering collaboration to advance the development of ethical citizens, providing educational resources, and celebrating achievement and best practices in Minnesota schools, businesses, and communities. Your tax-exempt donation to Synergy & Leadership Exchange supports the Gathering of Champions, Minnesota Schools of Character & Promising Practices program, Minnesota Ethical Leadership Awards, Character Recognition Awards, Reach for the Stars catalogue and much more!

Synergy & Leadership Exchange is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to fostering collaboration to advance the development of ethical citizens, providing educational resources, and celebrating achievement and best practices in Minnesota schools, businesses, and communities. Synergy is a membership organization that asks members to commit to actively advocate for and create school cultures that value academic achievement while supporting the development of the whole person. It seeks to provide expanded opportunities for students to excel while supporting teachers, schools and classrooms in this work. In addition to membership fees, donations, service revenues and earnings from several endowments, Synergy raises funds and in-kind contributions to underwrite its work of fostering collaboration with business, family, community and faith organizations for the development of ethical citizens, facilitating student and educator recognition programs and supporting academic enrichment opportunities.

SCSC Writing Contest entry fees. To learn more about the writing contest and submit your entry, visit www.mnscsc.org/writing-contest.

This three-part workshop teaches powerful ways to integrate the best practices of learning leadership into real-world scenarios. Through three intensive workshops, individuals will learn, apply, and reflect on methods of facilitation, adult learning theory, and consensus-building. The workshops will be held on September 22, November 10 and January 26. Each session lasts about 3 hours followed by a working lunch. There will be time for teams to work with one of the facilitators after each session. Workshop sessions will start at 9:00 a.m. and end by 1:00 PM including lunch. There will be support for leaders who “practice” some of the skills between sessions. Districts can send individuals or teams to the workshops. There are options for participants to attend virtually. Workshop sessions will be recorded and made available to participants to bring back to their districts.

Minnesota’s Regional Center of Excellence in conjunction with Minnesota’s Regional Service Cooperatives and Minnesota’s Department of Education will again provide another year of facilitating a Professional Learning Community for Principals in the South Central Service Cooperative’s region. This learning community is intended to be a bedrock of support for principals based on a trusting, supportive and collaborative environment. Topics will be framed within the scope of instructional leadership and drawn from the groups based on need, interest and impact. Such topics could include the principal’s role in carrying out a district’s mission, addressing equity issues, advancing change, aligning the curriculum and instruction to standards, working with school leadership teams to advance initiatives, addressing equity and school culture, and meeting the obstacles that come with multiple hats, the complexity of need, excessive expectation and too little time. The choice of topics is aimed at supporting continual improvement directly aligned to the day-to-day context of the principal’s efforts while moving in a sustained direction. We plan to spend time every session on “Overcoming Human Barriers to Provide an Equitable Education.” This is intended to be a group of principals for principals! The cohort will meet seven times between early October 2022 and early May 2023. Each meeting will be from 10:00 am-1:00pm at the South Central Service Cooperative (SCSC) with time for check-in, new learning (10:00am-12:00pm), and learning from each other opportunities during lunch (12:00pm-1:00pm). There is a $75 registration fee. LUNCH is included. Meeting DatesWednesday, October 5Wednesday, November 16Wednesday, December 14Wednesday, January 11Wednesday, February 22 Wednesday, April 5 Wednesday, May 3 Please contact Kip Lynk at klynk@mnce.org or kip.lynk@swwc.org with any questions. Winter weather note: SCSC will be closed if Mankato School district closes due to winter weather.

Structured Teaching is the foundation to classroom engagement. It is creating systems for students to be independent and increases the level of engagement by providing the visual clarity and structure to the student day, segments of the day (such as teaching time, independent work) and to the work the student needs to complete. It focuses on generalization of skills in other environments allowing the student to function independently with visual and structural prompts versus requiring a person to provide verbal prompts. Utilizing the elements of Structured Teaching sets the stage for staff to implement other evidence based practices and best practice instructional methods for people on the ASD spectrum and other disabilities. Goals:-Gain an understanding of the components of structured teaching strategies-Identify the three basic elements of structure and their benefit to students-Understand how to use structure to design a daily schedule, work system, and tasks Link to program flyer.

Join us for the Work-Based Learning Community of Practice!

The Regional Technology Directors Community of Practice is open to anyone who is tasked with managing educational technology environments in the public or private sectors in South Central Minnesota. The Regional Technology Directors meet four to five times per school year to share information, problem solve and receive updates from national, State and regional education and governmental agencies. This Community of Practice is sponsored by the South Central Service Cooperative and the SOCRATES (the South Central Regional Area Telecommunications System).Lunch is provided.Planned meeting dates are: October 12, 2022, December 7, 2022, February 8, 2023, and April 19, 2023. There is a virtual meeting option for participants that are not able to attend in person. Email Dave Paschke dpaschke@mnscsc.org to receive a virtual meeting link.

Communities of practice harness the power of the group, helping leaders make connections that foster collaborative problem solving and professional growth. Our intent is to have three regularly scheduled (Community of Practice) meetings for school nurses each year that support leadership and professional growth initiatives and provide opportunities for communication and collaboration. This years dates: Oct 13th, Jan 19th, April 20th

Surf the Murph will be held on October 22. The race will be held at Murphy-Hanrehan Park. This is a suburban course through a beautiful park. All races are on trails with two miles of single track, although the south end of the course runs like a single track due to the horses. All races will start at 15501 Murphy Lake Road, Savage, MN. These events are to be competitive and fun. Registration Registration: June 1 - August 31 Late Registration: September 1 - 30 SWAG: To be determined. Shirt sizing is unisex. Refunds and Bib TransfersNo refunds or bib transfers will be issued for any reason.

This conference gives students an academic enrichment experience that allows them to delve deeper into the science and nature topics they love. It is designed to expose students to a vast variety of topics and delivers highly educational sessions. To see a brochure of sessions, visit www.mnscsc.org/science-nature. Sessions are nearly at capacity. We are currently working to add additional sessions.

Students in grades K–12 are invited to join us at Mankato East High School for a regional chess tournament, Saturday, Oct. 29, 8–11:30 a.m.! This contest will recognize the top winners of each age / grade division. Awards presentation will follow final rounds. Snacks provided for players. Costumes encouraged for this fall tournament!

Dates: November 2-3 2022Check-in Time: 8:00 am – 8:30 amTraining Time: 8:30 am – 3:30 pm

Dates: November 4 2022Check-in Time: 8:00 am – 8:30 amTraining Time: 8:30 am – 3:30 pm

The Regional Technology Directors Community of Practice is open to anyone who is tasked with managing educational technology environments in the public or private sectors in South Central Minnesota. The Regional Technology Directors meet four to five times per school year to share information, problem solve and receive updates from national, State and regional education and governmental agencies. This Community of Practice is sponsored by the South Central Service Cooperative and the SOCRATES (the South Central Regional Area Telecommunications System).Lunch is provided.Planned meeting dates are: October 12, 2022, December 7, 2022, February 8, 2023, and April 19, 2023. There is a virtual meeting option for participants that are not able to attend in person. Email Dave Paschke dpaschke@mnscsc.org to receive a virtual meeting link. Winter Weather NOTE: South Central Service Cooperative (SCSC) building will be closed if Mankato Public Schools close due to weather.

Students in grades K–12 are invited to join us at Mankato East High School for a regional chess tournament, Saturday, Jan. 14, 8–11:30 a.m.! This contest will recognize the top winners of each age / grade division. Awards presentation will follow final rounds. Snacks provided for players.

Communities of practice harness the power of the group, helping leaders make connections that foster collaborative problem solving and professional growth. Our intent is to have three to four regularly scheduled (Community of Practice) meetings for school counselors each year that support counselor leadership and professional growth. Scheduled dates include: September 21, 2022, January 25, 2023, March 29, 2023. The Counselors Community is open to all school counselors and agencies that support K-12 students and school counselors. Lunch is provided. There is a virtual meeting option for participants that are not able to attend in person. Email Dave Paschke dpaschke@mnscsc.org to receive a virtual meeting link. Winter Weather NOTE: South Central Service Cooperative (SCSC) building will be closed if Mankato Public Schools close due to weather.

The Regional Technology Directors Community of Practice is open to anyone who is tasked with managing educational technology environments in the public or private sectors in South Central Minnesota. The Regional Technology Directors meet four to five times per school year to share information, problem solve and receive updates from national, State and regional education and governmental agencies. This Community of Practice is sponsored by the South Central Service Cooperative and the SOCRATES (the South Central Regional Area Telecommunications System).Lunch is provided.Planned meeting dates are: October 12, 2022, December 7, 2022, February 8, 2023, and April 19, 2023. There is a virtual meeting option for participants that are not able to attend in person. Email Dave Paschke dpaschke@mnscsc.org to receive a virtual meeting link. Winter Weather NOTE: South Central Service Cooperative (SCSC) building will be closed if Mankato Public Schools close due to weather.

South Central Service Cooperative is proud to host this opportunity for area students in grades 6–8 to demonstrate their skills in mathematics. Through a partnership with Mankato Area Community Education and Recreation and Math Olympiads for Elementary and Middle Schools (MOEMS), SCSC will offer the Math Mania Tournament. Teams of five students will participate in individual, team and playoff rounds of competition surrounding mathematical thinking and problem solving. Coaches are provided sample problems in advance of the competition and solutions for reviewing with teams afterward. Team and individual awards will be presented at a ceremony following the competition. Schools or other youth groups are invited to form teams, or students can register individually and will be placed on teams for the competition. We look forward to seeing all our “math maniacs!" Want to participate virtually? Contact Mary Hillmann for more information.

Dates: February 28 2023Check-in Time: 8:00 am – 8:30 amTraining Time: 8:30 am – 3:30 pm

Dates: March 1-2 2022Check-in Time: 8:00 am – 8:30 amTraining Time: 8:30 am – 3:30 pm

Communities of practice harness the power of the group, helping leaders make connections that foster collaborative problem solving and professional growth. Our intent is to have three to four regularly scheduled (Community of Practice) meetings for school counselors each year that support counselor leadership and professional growth. Scheduled dates include: September 21, 2022, January 25, 2023, March 29, 2023. The Counselors Community is open to all school counselors and agencies that support K-12 students and school counselors. Lunch is provided. There is a virtual meeting option for participants that are not able to attend in person. Email Dave Paschke dpaschke@mnscsc.org to receive a virtual meeting link. Winter Weather NOTE: South Central Service Cooperative (SCSC) building will be closed if Mankato Public Schools close due to weather.

The Regional Technology Directors Community of Practice is open to anyone who is tasked with managing educational technology environments in the public or private sectors in South Central Minnesota. The Regional Technology Directors meet four to five times per school year to share information, problem solve and receive updates from national, State and regional education and governmental agencies. This Community of Practice is sponsored by the South Central Service Cooperative and the SOCRATES (the South Central Regional Area Telecommunications System).Lunch is provided.Planned meeting dates are: October 12, 2022, December 7, 2022, February 8, 2023, and April 19, 2023. There is a virtual meeting option for participants that are not able to attend in person. Email Dave Paschke dpaschke@mnscsc.org to receive a virtual meeting link.

Students in grades K–12 are invited to join us at Mankato East High School for a regional chess tournament, Saturday, Jan. 14, 8–11:30 a.m.! This contest will recognize the top winners of each age / grade division. Awards presentation will follow final rounds. Snacks provided for players.

Dates: August 1 2023Check-in Time: 8:00 am – 8:30 amTraining Time: 8:30 am – 3:30 pm

Dates: November 3 2023Check-in Time: 8:00 am – 8:30 amTraining Time: 8:30 am – 3:30 pm

Dates: March 5 2024Check-in Time: 8:00 am – 8:30 amTraining Time: 8:30 am – 3:30 pm