2024 Executive Board
President
Jill Johnson
is in her 18th year teaching Math in SMSD, and has taught at many schools throughout the district including Shawnee Mission North HS, Antioch MS (where the CAA now stands), Hocker Grove MS, Indian Woods MS, and currently is teaching at Shawnee Mission East HS. Jill has been involved in NEA SM since her first day as a teacher and has held the offices of Treasurer-Elect, Treasurer, Vice President, Lead Negotiator and is in her 3rd year as NEA SM President.
Co-Treasurer
Jon Dirks
is a math teacher at Indian Woods Middle School. He is beginning his 19th year in education, 18 of them have been in Shawnee Mission. He is a building rep at Indian Woods and a member of the IBB Negotiations team. He has taught 3rd grade, 6th grade, and 7th and 8th grade math. His wife, Amanda, is also a teacher in the district. They have two kids who attend SMSD schools.
Communications Chair
Erin Bahnmaier
is in her 7th year teaching in SMSD and 6th year at Comanche Elementary. She serves as the building representative for Comanche Elementary Elementary school. In her spare time she liked to go to the movies with her husband Nathan and enjoying a good book.
Elementary Rep
Amanda Dirks
is a 1st grade teacher at Crestview Elementary. This is her 6th year teaching in Shawnee Mission, but my 19th year teaching overall. My role in NEA-SM is elementary rep and a building rep. She is married to Jonathon Dirks, who is a math teacher at Indian Woods. They have two children- Haley and Hayden. Haley is in 10th grade at SM South and Hayden is in 7th grade at Indian Woods. They love to go on cruises and spending time together at Worlds of Fun and the pool. In the fall, they enjoy cheering on the Chiefs.
Elementary Rep
Megan Hergenrader
is a special education teacher at East Antioch Elementary. This is Megan’s eighth year in the district and has served as a NEA-SM Building Elementary Representative for the past four years. Megan has been on various district and building level committees, including her building leadership team. Megan will serve for the next year on the Executive Board as one of the Elementary Representatives. She strives to create an inclusive and equitable environment for all students and staff. Megan enjoys spending time with family & friends, exploring new places, crafting with her Cricut, watching sports, reading on her Kindle, and finding new shows to binge watch!
High School Rep
Kasey Orlik
is a special education teacher at Shawnee Mission West. She previously taught 8th grade social studies at Westridge Middle School. She is a building rep, executive board member, and serves on the IBB negotiations team. She has a husband, 4-year-old son, 1 year old daughter, and adorable French bulldog named Ottoman Empire (Otto). She enjoys binge watching shows, listening to horror podcasts and reading horror novels in her spare time.
New to The Profession
Mikaela Lange
is a General Music Teacher at Mill Creek Elementary School. She is beginning her 2nd year teaching. Mikaela will serve for the next year as the New to the Profession Rep. In her free time, she plays her cello, hiking around Colorado, and enjoys attending any K-State sporting event. Both of her parents are also active NEA-SM members, and she cannot wait to expand her reach in NEA as the years come.
Middle School Rep
Christina Lange
has taught for 28 years and 23 of those years in SMSD. She started her teaching career in Junction City Middle School where she taught 7th grade Math. Then moved to Shawnee Mission in 2000. She taught 8th grade Math at Mission Valley Middle School until 2003 and then moved to Shawanoe Elementary where she was the Title Math Teacher until 2015. She joined the Trailridge Middle School staff in 2015 and has been teaching math there ever since. She has been a member of NEA since she started teaching, but really stepped up her involvement in NEA when she joined the Trailridge staff. Her husband, Mark Lange, is an active NEA member and teaches at West High School. She has two daughters, Mikaela(New to the Profession Board Member), and Carissa(K-State student working on a Social Work degree). She is super excited to represent Middle School teachers on the executive board this year and looks forward to sharing your ideas with the board.
UniServ Director
Linda Sieck
taught Spanish at SM East from 1992-2022 and served as NEA SM President from 2015-2022. As
the Ad Astra Uniserv Director, Linda works closely with leaders and members in Shawnee Mission,
De Soto, and Gardner-Edgerton. She works alongside the Executive Board members in an advisory
capacity, supporting their efforts to build an even stronger union. Linda loves spending time with her
family and vacationing at the beach.
Vice President
Amber Pagan
Amber Pagan is in her 20th year of teaching, 9th in SMSD, and 6th year teaching PreK at Nieman Elementary. She has been involved with NEA-SM for 8 years and has held the office of Elementary Representative, Secretary, and is now serving as Vice President. She also serves as the Vice Chair of Ad Astra Uniserv and KNEA Racial Justice Leadership Committee. She also served as the resolutions commissioner for KNEA and was a part of the committee for 3 years. Amber served on the negotiations team for NEA-SM and was the lead negotiator for one year. She is passionate about recruiting new members and is in her third year as a member organizer. She has two kids, Zylen (13) and Zander (10). She loves watching movies and spending time with her amazing kids.
Co-Treasurer
Danielle Howze
Is in her 14th year teaching and her second year teaching 7th grade math at Indian Woods in Shawnee Mission. In the past she has taught HS math, 5th grade, 4th grade, 6th grade SEI and 6th grade. She has taught in both Kansas and Arizona. Her husband is a Cyber Security Manager for TransUnion and one of her favorite pastimes is spending time with him and her son, JD (18 months). She is also an avid board gamer, and runs the board game club at Indian Woods.
Secretary
Nolan Lewis
Is a kindergarten teacher at Mill Creek Elementary. He has also taught 2nd and 4th grade and has spent his entire 11-year career at Mill Creek Elementary. He is the building rep. at Mill Creek, secretary, a member of the IBB negotiations team, a member of the negotiations PLC committee, a member of the temporary leave committee, and a member organizer. Outside of work, Nolan enjoys exploring the outdoors, reading, and watching whatever local game is on.
Elementary Rep
Laura Holland
is a FIrst Grade teacher at John Diemer and have been in Shawnee Mission for 11 years. She got involved with NEA when she was in college and has been involved ever since. She served as a building rep for Omaha Education Association 5 of the 7 years she taught there. She has also been a building rep for 8 years and spent the last 7 years on the NEA Shawnee Mission Executive Board as an Elementary Representative.
In my spare time, she and her husband of 30 years enjoy spending time with their 6 children, spending time on the lake, reading and training our 2 dogs.
Elementary Rep
Amanda Jessee
is a 5th and 6th grade teacher in Shawnee Mission since the last millennium (1998)! I am currently one of NEA-SM’s elementary school executive board representatives and Westwood View Elementary’s building rep. I attended the 2023 Leadership Summit in San Francisco and was a delegate at the 2022 and 2023 KNEA representative assemblies. Her favorite people are my husband, Brady, and kids, Caty and Zane. You can often find us playing board games with family and friends!
is in her 25th year teaching in SMSD. She currently teaches 7th grade science at Indian Woods Middle School. In addition to her teaching role, Genie is an assistant volleyball coach at IW and the Jewish Student Union sponsor. She has previously taught at Hocker Grove, Rising Star and Mill Creek. She has also served on the Executive Board as an Elementary Rep and currently serves as a KPAC Commissioner for Senate District 21.
Genie has been married to Terry for 19 years, and they have two children. Eva is a senior at SMNW and Noah is a freshman at SMNW.
Ad Astra Board Member KNEA
Genie Scruton
High School Rep
Danielle Russell
has taught Social Studies for 14 years. She began her career teaching in Puerto Rico then came back to Kansas to teach at Trailridge Middle School for 6 years. She returned to her alma mater Shawnee Mission South HS and has been teaching Geography and US History for the past 6 years. She has been involved in NEA-SM as a member and grown into leadership as a building representative, secondary executive board member, and a recruiter. She loves teaching about history, different cultures, current events and sharing travel stories. She is married with two littles, Leila, Ari, and a black lab named Elwood. Outside of school she loves to spend time in nature, camping, traveling within the US and abroad, watching KU basketball, competing dock dogs with Elwood, and spending time with friends and family.
Minority Rep
Dr. Janet Carter
is a Spanish Teacher at Shawnee Mission West High School. Dr. Carter is a passionate educator who believes in supporting public education. She has served on various building and district leadership teams and also serves as a building representative. In her spare time, she enjoys traveling, cooking, photography, and writing.
Retired Representative
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Administrative Assistant
Betty Woods
is the KNEA Administrative Assistant for Ad Astra Uniserv. She handles the memberships and paperwork between KNEA and NEA Shawnee Mission. She is also the Admin Asst for the KNEA student program, Aspiring Educator, and our REACH program. In her free time, she likes to read fiction suspense/murder books and make quilts. If you have any questions, you can email her at Betty.Woods@knea.org
Levels of Support
National, State & Local
