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ESU 6 News You Can Use

May, 2023 News You Can Use from your ESU 6 Admin & Team

ESU 6 NewsYou Can UseMay, 2023 News You Can Use from your ESU 6Admin & Team

ESU 6 seeks applicants for summer School District Technology Intern Position

ESU 6 is seeking applicants for a new paid Summer Internship opportunity: The School District Technology Intern will focus on system administration and will support our school district technology team in various tasks.


For a detailed job description, go to https://sdene.tedk12.com/hire/ViewJob.aspx?JobID=13

Interested applicants, apply today!

ESU 6 Announces LETRS Certified Training Opportunities for 23-24

Just a reminder that if you have teachers who are planning to be part of our LETRS Cohort 2 group, please contact Megan Hammer ASAP. Materials will be ordered this summer and shipped directly to your school districts. These sessions provide educators with the confidence and capability to teach language and literacy skills in a methodologically sound manner to every student.
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DVLG consortium adopts new filtering product

At the DVLG meeting on Friday May 5th members approved moving forward with purchasing Linewize School Manager (with the hardware appliance), Classwize, and Monitor. Schools are moving forward with a new way of filtering their devices. While this will require new servers to be installed at 33 locations, there is new classroom

management software which allows teachers better capability to view and control district-managed student devices in their classroom as well as containing a student monitoring system to help reduce and intervene early on issues ranging from bullying and harassment to potential self-harm.

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ESUs 5 & 6 team up for combined Spring Superintendents' meeting

ESUs 5 & 6 convened an annual combined Superintendents’ meeting on April 19 at NASB headquarters. Invited guests included representatives from the State Board of Education (Kirk Penner), NASB (Colby Coash, John Spatz, and Matt Belka addressed the group), and UNL (Dr. Don Johnson and Dr. Scott Sturgeon). The concluding speakers were a panel of school attorneys from KSB and Perry Law addressing a wide range of legal issues in schools.
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ESU Administrator participates in Rural Education Leaders summit

ESU 6 Administrator Dr. Skretta was one of 10 invited participants to serve as the first Fellowship cadre for the West Texas A&M Rural Community Leaders Summit held in Amarillo, TX in April. The purpose of the Summit was to capture leadership experiences, guidance, and judgment in ways that inform research on the challenges and opportunities facing rural Americans, especially as these issues relate to education.

ESUs are a noteworthy part of the "PACKAGE" bill from Education Committee

The Legislature's standing Education Committee has advanced an omnibus bill, a highly amended and much-appended version of LB705, the lottery funds distribution bill, through two rounds of full floor debate and it now awaits final reading. At last count the "Christmas Tree" bill from the Committee has parts or key language from at least 25 different bills.


While there are myriad provisions of the new education legislation that will impact K-12 education in many different ways, ESUs are prominently noted in numerous ways. In fact, in the 113 pages of Committee amendments to LB705, educational service units or the ESUCC (Coordinating Council) are mentioned 21 different times. Key provisions relating to the work of ESUs in the legislation nearing final passage before landing on the Governor's desk include:


  • Providers of trainings for the Behavioral Intervention Training and Teacher Support Act
  • Responsibility for annual reporting from ESUCC to Legislature on behavioral awareness training in NE schools
  • Eligible grantee organizations (ESUs) for the Mental Health Training Cash Fund
  • Funding support for qualified distance education courses coordinated through the ESUCC
  • ESUs identified as eligible entities / grantees or to administer grant awardee services for the school safety grant funding components of LB516 incorporated into LB705


The current session is a long (90-day) session, which is scheduled to conclude by June 9.

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Instructional Materials - Professional Development Network work continues

Dr. Skretta was an invited participant to the IMPD Advisory Committee meeting at NDE in April. The purpose of the IMPD Advisory Panel is to “…offer multiple perspectives and bring context to the important work of HQ instructional materials adoption and implementation.” Erika Cook from Instruction Partners presented some very exciting findings from the Math Acceleration work and its impact on improving mathematics achievement in Nebraska. The ESU 6 PD team is committed to the important work of assisting districts in their adoption and implementation of high quality instructional materials to ensure rigorous, grade-level, and standards-aligned content to support student learning.
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ESU 6 Production Delivers the Goods!

ESU 6 is your one-stop shop to meet all your customized design needs while attaining value, efficiency and timeliness in completion of major and multifaceted production projects. Elisa Taylor and Carla Rardin of our Design and Production team provided a quarterly department report to the ESU 6 Board in May.


View the full report and the amazing work of our talented design and production pros at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y9Oxj3IJ496cqJaHRoeHQoXu0lne8GRN/view

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Did you know? Headspace App includes SLEEPCASTS!

Stressed out and struggling to get good, restorative sleep? Check out the soothing sleepcasts or some sleep music from the Headspace app (FREE for EHA Wellness participants). Sleepcasts help create a relaxing, peaceful environment for sleep.

To sign up for the FREE Headspace app:

  1. Log onto your EHA Wellness account at www.ehawellness.org

  2. Click on the Headspace logo

  3. Use your EHA Code (example: AA123456) to create your account

  4. If you haven’t yet, while you are logged in, sign up for Sound Sleep!

Questions? Email EHA Wellness at contact@ehawellness.org

EIS - Effective Instruction Series - Announced for 23-24; MENTORING component added!

We are proud to announce a NEW Mentor Program has been incorporated as part of our Effective Instruction Series (EIS) for the 2023-2024 school year. Mentoring was highly requested by schools during our District Needs Assessment visits this spring, and we feel that including mentoring as part of EIS will be a great opportunity to provide additional support for our newest teachers. Our hope is that each First-Year teacher in EIS will be matched with a mentor who teaches a similar grade level or contact area and who is NOT at their school.
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PRT 6 convenes annual meeting

Planning Region Team 6 had their annual meeting on May 5th. The annual meeting specifically addresses child find activities, year round services, and goal setting for implementation of

evidenced based practices in early intervention.

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Lead Nebraska Educator Pipeline initiative featured in NCSA Today

Lead Nebraska, supported through an NDE Educator Pipeline grant, is an ed-leadership development program for teacher leaders with aspirations to move into administrative roles and responsibilities and to pursue educational leadership graduate studies. The partnership between ESU 6, NCSA, and UNL Educational Administration ushered 18 ESU 6-based teacher leaders through a series of full day seminars each focused on different facets and themes of effective leadership practice. The seminars were hosted by NCSA and Dr. Scott Sturgeon, UNL, was the chief instructor for each session. The first cohort has concluded, and a second group will be identified for Spring, 2024 with nominations opening in the fall. See the full story at https://issuu.com/ncsa-home/docs/ncsa_today_spring_2023_web/20
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Project Search Celebrates Graduation, featured in York News Times

Three Project SEARCH graduates received their high school diplomas on May 10. They
represent Milford and York Public Schools. Read the York News Times feature story on Project Search graduation at https://yorknewstimes.com/news/local/project-search-graduates-equipped-for-the-workforce/article_227a08ac-f2db-11ed-a61a-1f005209377b.html

Threat Assessment Training Opportunities Announced for 23-24

Threat assessment and management evolved from practices used to assess and manage potential risk of violence. This K-12 school team training will help your school form or enhance the team that will focus on identifying, assessing and managing the risk/threat of violence posed by students, staff, and community members toward the school community. Schools are encouraged to participate with a team. ESU 6 will serve as a host site for Level 3 Threat Management on April 19, 2024 and this training will also include a Zoom option. Search and register all upcoming workshop options through the ESUCC PDO site at https://esupdo.org/Workshops/WorkshopList.aspx

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NDE seeking educators for summer assessment work

  • Summer work begins May 31- NDE TLA has a need educators for all work (i.e., Content & Bias review, Item Writing, Standard Setting) for all content areas. Please see the Assessment webpage for more information on these opportunities: https://www.education.ne.gov/assessment/nscas-test-development-applications/

  • We are conducting a full standard setting for ELA and Math, plus a Science validation

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NCE (CTE) conference registration is open!

The NCE Conference is a professional development learning opportunity featuring national and state CTE leaders. The conference’s focus will be on addressing current and ongoing themes related to CTE instruction. Learn more at https://nceconference.com/.
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NDE submitting ESSA plan amendment in June

A required amendment to the current ESSA plan detailing changes to federal accountability will be submitted to the USDOE in June. The integration of student discipline data as required by Nebraska statute LB 79.760.06 will begin with the 2022-23 accountability cycle. The 2022-23 school year will serve as a baseline year for data collection and reporting only.
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Dr. John Skretta, ESU 6 Administrator

Dr. Skretta is the Educational Service Unit #6 Administrator. ESU 6 serves almost 1,000 teachers and its 16 public school districts educate over 14,000 students annually. Dr. Skretta serves as the direct liaison and contact for consultation and support to school district superintendents and oversees the provision of core and elective service areas by the ESU 6 Directors and their respective departments. Dr. Skretta serves on the Information Resources Committee and chairs the Legal Committee of the ESUCC.

Email: john.skretta@esu6.org
Location: 210 5th Street, Milford, NE, USA
Phone: 402-761-33341
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Educational-Service-Unit-6/100029671490046/
Twitter: @jskretta

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Educational Service Unit #6

ESU 6 serves the educational needs of our 16 member school districts in five different counties, offering students and staff a comprehensive program of services, including:


  • Professional Development
  • Student Services
  • Technology
  • Production and Design

The highly qualified team members of ESU 6 will work directly with you and your staff to determine how we can tailor services to best meet your school's needs. ESU 6 is here to ADVOCATE, COLLABORATE, & COMMUNICATE with educators and systems across the ESU 6 area. ESU 6 Staff and Specialty Areas Can be Found on our Website at www.esu6.org

Website: http://esu6.org/
Location: 210 5th Street, Milford, NE, USA
Phone: 402-761-3341
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Educational-Service-Unit-6-290406225968
Twitter: @esu6pd