Definitions:
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA): Federal bill that provides stimulus money to local education agencies and the area education agencies.
Heartland ARRA Committee: A committee that reflects all agency workgroups to give and review suggestions for the ARRA monies.
District Services Council (DSC): The council provides direction and guidance for implementation of policy within programs and services in teaching and learning. They make decisions within the scope of their responsibility and makes recommendations to Executive Council.
Operations Support Council (OSC): The council provides direction and guidance for implementation of policy in all agency operations such as human resources, budget and finance, technology, and facilities. They make decisions within the scope of their responsibility and make recommendations to Executive Council.
In the last few weeks, the ARRA committee has met three times to review possibilities for use of stimulus monies that have been brought forward by the DSC, OSC, Staff Advisory Council and Partnership Director Council as well as individual ideas sent in to the Executive Council.
Recently, Laura Gillon and several partnership directors listened to feedback from several discipline workgroups. It is apparent that caseloads/workloads are of great concern for staff. We have added those concerns into the discussion for use of the stimulus monies.
In addition, Heartland has been asked by the Department of Education, who received no money from the ARRA, to provide monies to a pool to address some statewide issues. One of these is the statewide coordinator of the Iowa Core Curriculum that is reflected in the budget documents reported in this issue of The Connection. Also, the Joint Directors of all the Area Education Agencies are looking to pool monies to address other statewide issues. These decisions are being made outside of Heartland and not by the ARRA Committee. The Agency has also been approached by some districts about working with them in certain areas.
Dr. Kilcrease has indicated that we need to take our time so that we make the right decisions. We want to use the monies so that we can affect student achievement and be in a better place or build capacity after the monies are gone. This is best done by reviewing staff members’ thoughts thoroughly and being transparent in how decisions are made.
As new information and decisions around these monies occur, we will share it with staff, so continue to check your e-mail for these updates.
Please continue to share your thoughts and concerns with your partnership director or supervisor or you can send them to Maxine Kilcrease at mkilcrease@aea11.k12.ia.us, Laura Gillon at lgillon@aea11.k12.ia.us or Steve Prall at sprall@aea11.k12.ia.us.
Committee Member Rosters
ARRA Committee:
Grace Bargstadt – Partnership Directors
Terry Mendell – Parent Educator Coordinators
Dustin Gean – Facilities
Dave King – Finance
Chris Pierson – Human Resources
Randy Allison – Special Education
Sharon Kurns – Professional Development
Kristi Upah – Agency-wide Discipline Groups
Dave Tilly – Assessment
Cindy Yelick – Teaching and Learning
Arletta Dawson – Internal Technology
Rhonda Balch – Program Assistants
Sheila King – District Services
Mariann Culver – Assessment
Misty Christensen – Special Education Program Assistants
Brenda Gustafson – Communications
Terri Barnes – Executive Assistant
Jenny Ugolini – Board Secretary
Cindi Ballard – Regional Secretaries
Wendy Robinson – Learning Development and Support
DSC members:
Laura Gillon, Chief of Staff
Sharon Kurns, Director of Professional Leadership and Learning
Dave Tilly, Director of Innovation and Accountability
Sheila King, Director of District Services
Randy Allison, Director of Special Education
Cindy Yelick, Director of Teaching and Learning
OSC members:
Steve Prall, Chief of Operations
Arletta Dawson, Director of Technology
Chris Pierson, Director of Human Resources
Dave King, Director of Finance and Business Services
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