Fall 2008

Wow!  S.M.A.R.T. is on fire!  This past summer we trained more educators than ever – 489 to be exact.  With an average summer of 300 trained, we KNOW that more schools are getting S.M.A.R.T.!

We also trained 24 more teachers from Wisconsin and Minnesota in late October at a Minneapolis workshop and mentoring is off to a great start for many of our schools. It’s made it a challenge for us to visit all S.M.A.R.T. schools without state funding this year, but we recognize how crucial that follow-up mentoring is so we’re working hard to line up support from regional foundations to help provide some amount of mentoring.

We are proud to have had the support of many funding leaders across the state last year, including the Northwest Minnesota, Northland and General Mills Foundations.  If for some reason your school is not aware of our grant writing process and would like to be included in future proposals, contact the MLRC office at 612-706-5549.

For those of you interested in re-training or sending additional staff to the S.M.A.R.T. training, another workshop is planned for March, 2009 here in Minneapolis. Now’s the time to register as the school-year workshops fill quickly AND to take full advantage of the Early Bird Registration fee rate.

Here’s to a continued S.M.A.R.T. Year!

P.S. MLRC Workshop Coordinator, Amy Deden, is already starting to establish workshop dates for summer of 2009.  If your school or district is interested in hosting one in your area, contact Amy at 612-706-5549!