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Administrative Programs & Services
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 This is IT2 2015: Our Annual Technology Conference will be March 5 and 6, 2015 at the Pipestone Area Schools in Pipestone. The conference will kick-off at 4pm on Thursday, March 5 with our Pre-Conference Workshops -- and continue on Friday, March 6 with the main conference. For the past 8 years, our Technology Conference has brought local and nationally recognized education technology talent into the spotlight for all types of audiences in education including teachers and administrators alike. This year, our conference will be moving to Pipestone Area Schools to accommodate a necessary timeframe change to allow for administrators to attend both the MASA Conference and This is IT2! For full conference details, visit our conference website: www.swsc.org/techconf2015.
32nd Annual School Business Staff Conference: The conference will be held on Tuesday, April 14th. We are just finishing up the session line-up and will have registration open soon. We have a full day planned with up to eight breakout sessions being held simultaneously. The conference is a great opportunity for district staff and administration to hear firsthand from MDE, PERA, auditors, school district specialized attorneys, as well as SW/WC SC Staff. An extra bonus is the opportunity to visit and share information with the schools that attend. A change that recently surfaced is the location. It will now be held at the SW/WC SC, in addition to a few areas in the Market Street Mall. We ran into a scheduling conflict and have had to re-locate the conference. We've held it here before so we know it can be done! Once registration is up and ready to go, you will find the conference information at www.swsc.org/workshops
Cooperative Purchasing Update
- SMART Boards - There are a very limited number of SB680 SMART Boards remaining in inventory at Tierney Brothers. When their current inventory of those boards is sold, the SB680 will no longer be available. The replacement will be the SBM680 which is a dual touch interactive 77 inch SMART Board. The price on the SBM680 boards will be substantially higher than the SB680. To check availability of a SB680, contact Shareen.Neumann@swsc.org or 507-537-2279.
- Managed Print Reaches New Tiered Discount Level - Great news for members who are using our managed print agreement with Bennett Office Technologies. Shareen is very pleased to announce that we have recently reached the 4% tiered discount level. Our members who signed up with Bennett for Managed Print Services under our agreement will now receive 4% discount on their monthly invoices. If you would like more information about our preferred vendor agreement with Bennett Office Technologies for managed print services, please contact Shareen.Neumann@swsc.org or 507-537-2279.
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Educational Programs & Services
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Finding the Pot of Gold at the End of the Special Education Rainbow: Make plans to attend an all-day workshop that will cover a wide range of special education topics including MARSS, Sped Finance 101, EDRS, UFARS, Fiscal Monitoring, Third Party Billing, and STAR Reporting. The workshop will be held at the SW/WC SC office in Marshall on March 17th (St. Patrick's Day!) and presented by numerous Service Cooperative staff. We hope that you will join us for this informative day! Registration Link Workshop Flyer If you prefer to attend via ITV, please contact Marilyn Labat at Marilyn.labat@swsc.org to make arrangements. Behavior Conference - Meeting the Challenge, Uniting Behavior Analysts & Educators: Join us in Brookings, SD on Monday, May 13th ... or Tuesday, May 14th in Redwood Falls ... for a day with Key note Speaker Dr. Merrill Winston and breakout sessions focused on Early Childhood Pyramid Data, Discipline in Schools, Classroom Management, Evidence Based Intervention, Working with Parents, Establishing Rules, Experimental Analysis in Schools and Behavior Changes Across Classrooms. Register at www.swsc.org/workshops. 2015 Down Syndrome Regional Conference: Held in April in Sioux Falls. Sponsored by New Directions Downs Syndrome Association. Click for more information.
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Science & Nature Conference - Save the Date: On May 13, 2015 we will be holding our 21st Science & Nature Conference at SMSU in Marshall. This is the perfect opportunity for schools to schedule their end of the year field trip for students in grade K-8. KELOLANDS Meteorologist, Grant Smith will be the keynote speaker and will also be teaching small group sessions. There are some amazing sessions this year for students to check out like: remarkable reptiles, oscilloscopes, buzzing bees, cryogenics, un-mixing colors, makerspace, rocket building, from sap to syrup, firefighting and much more. Brochures will be available on the website at the end of the month. www.swsc.org/scienceandnature
Creative Writing Contest: This year's Creative Writing Contest brought in 393 entries from 288 students, in grades 3-12, from 17 school districts; it also includes a number of individual student entries. The judging process is underway; first by SMSU's Creative Writing students and then the final judging will be done by SMSU professors. Results will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on Sunday, April 26 at SMSU in Marshall.
Spelling Bee: The Regional Spelling Bee was held on February 11, 2015 at the Redwood Community Center in Redwood Falls. Thirty-one 5th thru 8th grade students participated from 27 school districts. The competition consists of a written round and three oral rounds in which all students participate in. The spell down portion is held after the scores of the written and oral rounds are combined. The top 15 student come back to compete with each other to see who will be the top four spellers moving on the Multi-Region State Spelling Bee
held in Fergus Falls on February 23, 2015.
1st Place - Kalea Appel - 7th grade - Worthington
2nd Place - Spencer Lilienthal - 8th grade - GSL Public/First Lutheran
3rd Place - Zoe Vorbach - 6th grade - Holy Redeemer/Marshall
4th Place - Davis Moore - 8th grade - Worthington
Alternate - Alyssa Boynton - 8th grade - Murray County Central
"A Garden 4 Every School" Grant Opportunity: This is a program initiated by Jeffers Foundation to help promote interest in School Garden projects in Minnesota. Visit the Jeffers Foundation website, where you find a wealth of useful information in helping you start and maintain a school garden project. They visited and documented several School Garden Programs in schools  throughout Minnesota, both established programs and first year programs. Information on those programs is on their website. For elementary schools interested in starting a school garden project, Jeffers Foundation is offering $500 starter grants to 20 schools throughout the state to help with initial startup costs. Please consider completing the attached Application Form and returning it
no later than March 7, 2015. Applications will be reviewed and grants awarded no later than March 20, 2015.
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Southwest Prairie Regional Center of Excellence
There are many different activities and trainings being offered through the Regional Center of Excellence, including: Transition to Postsecondary Education and Employment Toolkit (PSST), Dropout Prevention Toolkit: MEIRS, and Planning for Students' Success Student Learning Goals Workshop Series.
Stay up to date with RCE news and events at www.swsc.org/SWPrairieRCE. For more information, contact Melany Wellnitz, Director, at melany.wellnitz@swsc.org.
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