2026-27 Executive Board
President
Jill Johnson
is in her 20th 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, Shawnee Mission East HS, and is currently teaching at Indian Hills MS. 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 5th year as NEA SM President.
Co-Treasurer
Jon Dirks
is a math teacher at Indian Woods Middle is a math teacher at Indian Woods Middle School. He is beginning his 20th year in education, 19 of them have been in Shawnee Mission. He is a building rep at Indian Woods and has been a member of the 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 8th year teaching in SMSD and 7th 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 8th year teaching in Shawnee Mission, but her 20th year teaching overall. Her 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 11th grade at SM South and Hayden is in 8th 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 ninth 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!
Middle School Rep
Christina Lange
has taught for 29 years and 25 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.
Certified Minority Rep
Kyle Davis
Is a science teacher at Indian Woods Middle School. This is Kyle’s 2nd year in the district, but he spent the previous five years teaching in Chicago’s Belmont Cragin community. As an educator, Kyle advocates for the movement toward strong SEL instruction and the use of restorative discipline practices in schools. As one of the ethnic minority representatives, Kyle strives to amplify the voices of marginalized students and educators within the district. Outside of the classroom, Kyle loves to spend time with his wife. Tate, and two cats, Alphie & Ross. He loves fitness, science documentaries, and the Philadelphia Eagles.
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.
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Vice President
Amber Pagan
is in her 2sst year of teaching, 10th in SMSD, and 7th year teaching PreK at Nieman Elementary. She has been involved with NEA-SM for 9 years and has held the office of Elementary Representative, Secretary, and is now serving as Vice President. She also serves as the KNEA board member for Ad Astra Uniserv and KNEA Racial Justice Leadership Committee. She also served as the resolution’s 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 fourth year as a member organizer. She has two kids, Zylen (15) and Zander (12). She loves watching movies and spending time with her amazing kids.
Co-Treasurer
Danielle Howze
Is in her 16th year teaching and her fourth 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 BlueBird Fiber and one of her favorite pastimes is spending time with him and her son, JD (3 years). She is also an avid board gamer, and runs the board game club at Indian Woods.
High School Representative
Richard Belloti
Richard Bellotti is in his twentieth year of teaching, and his ninth in the Shawnee Mission School District. He is a mathematics teacher at Shawnee Mission Horizons High School and previously taught at Westridge Middle School. He has a husband and a 14 year old Maltese named Shira. He is a Disney Adult who enjoys tabletop gaming and helps organize Dungeons and Dragons events at local gaming conventions.
Elementary Rep
Bridgette Moore
is starting her 5th year at Arrowhead Day School having previously working at private day schools in the Kansas City area. Previously she has taught in English in Taiwan and worked in an Even Start Program in Rochester, New York. She is an Elementary school representative and has attended both the state and national RA as well as the NEA Leadership summit. When she is not teaching, she volunteers with 90.9 the Bridge, JoCo Pride, and Punk Rock Saves Lives. She can’t imagine teaching anywhere besides a day school as our kids are the most creative and interesting.
Elementary Rep
Amanda Jessee
is a 5th and 6th grade teacher in Shawnee Mission since the last millennium (1998)! She is currently one of NEA-SM’s elementary school executive board representatives and Westwood View Elementary’s building rep. Amanda also attended the 2023 Leadership Summit in San Francisco and was a delegate at the 2022-2026 KNEA representative assemblies. Amanda has also attended the 2024-2026 national representative assemblies. Her favorite people are her husband, Brady, and kids, Caty and Zane. You can often find her playing board games with family and friends!
High School Rep
Danielle Russell
Danielle has been teaching Social Studies for 14 years. She began her career in Puerto Rico before returning to Kansas to teach at Trailridge Middle School. Eventually, she made her way back to her alma mater, Shawnee Mission South High School, where she has spent the past seven years teaching Geography, U.S. History, and ELL.
An active member of NEA-SM, Danielle has grown into several leadership roles, including building representative, secondary executive board member, and recruiter. She thrives in a multilingual classroom and is passionate about creating a welcoming, inclusive environment for students from all cultural backgrounds.
Outside of the classroom, Danielle is married and the proud mom of two young children, Leila and Ari, as well as a spirited black lab named Elwood. She enjoys spending time in nature, camping, traveling both in the U.S. and abroad, cheering on KU basketball, competing in dock dog events with Elwood, and being with friends and family.
Educational Support Professional Rep
Kia Pascal
has been a Para Educator for 6 years in the Special Education department at SMNW. Honestly, I was very frustrated with many things, not the least of which was the lack of union access to Classified Staff. I have teacher friends and relatives in California and each of them at one point or another asked me if I had joined the Union to address my grievances. I had been told that the union in Kansas was for Certified positions only, so imagine my surprise when I found out that was not true! I immediately joined SM KNEA and have been doing my best to dispell the misinformation about it ever since. As a Member Organizer and the SM ESP Representative, I'm determined to make meaningful changes for all staff. As a parent of a child in SMSD schools, I see there is a lot of room for improvement for staff and families alike. Joining the union has given me renewed purpose, transformed my despair and hopelessness into righteous anger and determination to help classified staff and make real changes that benefit everyone in the district.
Retired Representative
Leslie Dado
has been involved in SMSD since I was a Kindergartener. I am a Shawnee Mission North Graduate, a parent of two Shawnee Mission South Graduates and a Classified Employee at Nieman, Comanche and Shawanoe for 17 years. I am now substituting and supporting NEA and SMSD in many buildings.​
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
