 |
- Home
- About
- MESPA Exec Committee and Elections
- Executive Committee Candidates
- NAESP State Rep
NAESP State Represenative
Bret Domstrand
School: Marion Lake Elementary Where: Lakeville, MN Division: South Suburban Past Leadership Positions
What is your vision for the position on the Executive Committee, and how do you plan to bring this vision to fruition during your term? The MESPA Board only works as well as the people who work for it. The Executive Committee role requires capacity and vision. We are volunteers who choose to run for this role in addition to our jobs as principals. As a member of the Executive Committee, I would continue to work with the MESPA Board to grow our membership, provide stellar professional development, and support our principals across the state. I value the relationships I’ve made through my involvement on the MESPA leadership team. A critical part of the Executive Committee's role is to lead and plan our professional development. This includes Winter Institute, Fall Leadership, numerous PD sessions, and quarterly leadership meetings. We must listen to our members and drive our PD to focus on what our principals need in their daily work. I am proud to say I have successfully helped create and plan several PD courses that exist today. More than just PD, a Board Director must be creative, flexible, and a team player. I am committed to continuing to support our principals in their increasingly challenging roles. Our ability to understand the issues our principals face and to have resources to support them is key to keeping us a premier organization. How do you envision your role on the board as ensuring representation and inclusivity for all MESPA members? Leadership begins with understanding the diverse perspectives and experiences of our members. MESPA represents a wide range of school leaders, each with unique job expectations. Whether it's a principal from a rural school with a few hundred students or a metro school with 600-800 students and additional support, understanding their needs to feel connected to MESPA is crucial. My experience is just one among many. I envision actively listening to more members and ensuring their voices are heard in our meetings and decision-making processes. Part of my vision is knowing when to listen. Creating space for all in our PD planning, sessions, and advocacy is a great place to start. As an NAESP State Representative, I understand the importance of speaking for the voices not present at the table. We may not fully comprehend everyone’s experiences, but we can ensure that we create spaces where all voices can be heard. When we engage with our legislators, we must advocate for the impact of their decisions on our schools. The last part of inclusivity is bringing in our new members. They need to see how they can contribute to MESPA and benefit from it. I feel lucky to have had several principals ask me to join my division leadership team when I started. I learned so much from that experience. What past professional experiences have uniquely prepared you for a leadership role on the MESPA board of directors? I have served on the legislative committee, chaired the financial awareness committee, served as the South Suburban President, and as the NAESP State Representative on the MESPA Board of Directors. Each of these roles has taught me so much about the experiences of our principals across the state. Whether helping principals plan for their financial futures and family care or understanding our MN legislative priorities, each group has scaffolded my understanding of the complexities of school leadership. Serving on each of these committees has expanded my knowledge and leadership skills. I bring those experiences to the Board with great enthusiasm and passion. I love getting to know our principals and working with them. I also love leading with a team of dedicated principals who want to make a difference in the lives of our principals and the families we serve. I have helped lead several changes at MESPA. We added the early career principal’s seminars along with the resources. We modified the retirement committee to the financial awareness committee, changing the focus from what to do when leaving the job to making the most of the financial and legal decisions while working. This focuses on all members at all stages of their leadership careers. What key issues affecting principals and schools would you prioritize when engaging with legislators on behalf of MESPA? I have been to Washington, DC, and spoken at the Capitol with our representatives. Legislators need to understand that education is not what it used to be. We need to understand that legislation MUST be fully funded. It is incredibly frustrating when our representatives acknowledge education's underfunding while writing bills that require additional support. Whether navigating the non-exclusionary discipline legislation or the READ Act, providing funding and resources to implement them properly is the only way to do it properly. As an NAESP State Representative, I advocated for the full funding of special education. I lobbied to keep Title funding in place without letting it be gutted. I spoke actively to funding support staff that help our schools run. In addition, we asked for funding to support the mental health of students and staff. This role requires people who can communicate complex needs in short amounts of time. I understand that this role is not just about talking with legislators but also the aides who work for them. They often create the language that goes into the legislation. I use my knowledge to communicate clearly when I meet with them. What steps will you take to foster collaboration and build strong relationships among all MESPA members? Engagement! I will be fully engaged and committed to our members. I love serving our principals and their schools. When I meet with principals from all parts of the state, I find many similarities in what we do every day. The commonality is that our principals are in this job for the kids they serve. We all have that common bond. Every member has an experience to share. Embracing that belief is one of the ways I plan to build and keep strong relationships. Another avenue to foster collaboration and relationships is to make space for new people in our organization. We have to keep lifting up our newer members to keep MESPA relevant. We want our members to see how our organization's PD, legal support, and knowledge make MESPA critical to any leader. We must lift up our members and bring our resources to them. Those types of steps help cultivate relationships that last a lifetime. | Sarah Lightner
School: Groveland Park Elementary Where: St. Paul, MN Division: St. Paul Past Leadership Positions Check years
What is your vision for the position on the Executive Committee how do you plan to bring this vision to fruition during your term? My goals as an Executive Committee member are twofold. First, the board and our members should reflect principals in the state and ultimately be reflective of the students and families we serve. Secondly, I would like our team to provide robust, supportive and instructional professional development to our members. My strength as a leader is getting the right people in the room by clear communication, supporting current members and reaching out to new folks and ensuring our meetings provide a good take away such as community building or professional development. Through this work, I know we can continue to get the right people- a group that reflects our amazing community- in the room. How do you envision your role on the board as ensuring representation and inclusivity for all MESPA members? Relationships are crucial to representation and inclusivity. In our St. Paul division, I make a concerted effort to create connections with a wide range of principals. We extend personal invitations to our meetings both in-person and via email. We listen to what are the desires, struggles and strengths of our community. We have also been clear about what benefits we have gained through MESPA. Our relationships and responsiveness have helped us broaden our membership to a more diverse group of principals. I will continue in those practices in our greater MESPA community. What past professional experiences have uniquely prepared you for a leadership role on the MESPA board of directors? My commitment to political and legislative work has always been a key component in my personal and professional life. I served as precinct chair for my local political party as well as serving as the legislative committees for the Minnesota School Social Work Association (MSSWA) and MESPA. While serving on MSSWA’s committee, I helped organize our Day on the Hill as well as crafted our legislative priorities. I have served as an educational leader in both suburban and urban schools and I grew up mostly in small town Iowa as the daughter of an elementary teacher and principal. I experienced how schools play a crucial role in each of those communities and each community has specific strengths and concerns and yet there are commonalities across settings. My leadership opportunities through the St. Paul Division has provided me with an amazing opportunity to work with a very diverse group of amazing principals. St. Paul is a state leader in Culturally Responsive Teaching and equity work. As a white woman principal, I am constantly working to be a more culturally responsive leader and colleague. What key issues affecting principals and schools would you prioritize when engaging with legislators on behalf of MESPA? First and foremost, we need highly trained and well paid staff in our buildings. Throughout the state, we struggle to find staff to teach and support our students. We continue to need creative and innovative programs to train teachers and support staff to teach all of Minnesota’s students. Our state needs to continue to look at how we fund our schools to ensure equitable access and experiences for all students. MESPA is and should continue to be a voice in the conversation regarding the funding formula and how Title I, Special Education and other funding is distributed. Lastly, the past years have brought mandates to have increased the workload and stresses on our principals and teachers such as the READ Act and changes to disciplinary procedures. We are all committed to having highly trained educators and strong schools. The principal voice lends itself to seeing the bigger picture and how these changes could affect our school communities. It is crucial that the principal voice continues to be a part of legislative conversations to ensure strong, sustainable policies. What steps will you take to foster collaboration and build strong relationships among all MESPA members? One of my favorite parts of the principalship is making connections and building relationships. I love getting to know people, what brings them to this space and what steps can we take to make this space even better. I would love to attend division meetings at Leadership, Institute, virtually or even in person, if possible. The current and past leadership has been encouraging and welcoming in such a way to make me want to be more involved in MESPA. I want to extend that care and connection, as well. We all do amazing work in our buildings and communities and together we can channel that work to best support each other. |
