Welcome back and happy new school year!
I’ve always been a pushover for back-to-school shopping deals. I love the feel of new pens and pencils, the look of a fresh notebook and the excitement of a new book bag, and I especially love the appeal of the latest organizational gadget I know is going to revolutionize my life. There is something about the school shopping tradition that helps me get excited and feel prepared for the new year.
Since that time of year is here again, I hope you’ve had a chance to engage in your own “new year” traditions, and I hope you’re just as excited as I am about a great start for the 2009-10 year. The August orientation/professional learning activities are just one of the great traditions we have at Heartland to get you ready for the year. Many of our colleagues have been working hard this summer to develop materials and make the meetings informational and interactive. I suspect the meeting planners and your supervisors have even planned in some fun activities, which are always welcome as you approach several days of meetings and the adjustment to the new year schedule.
I am looking forward to the new school year and to working with you, as well as working on behalf of the Agency and those we serve. I believe in our mission, our core values, our focus on student achievement and cultural competence and our ability to make a difference for those we serve. The future is shiny and new, like those new school supplies I enjoy so much, and we have nothing but opportunity ahead. I know each of us will make the most of those opportunities, and the children and youth, families, schools and communities we serve will be all the better for it. It is going to be a great year! Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Reminder About August Meeting Dates
All Heartland staff members should have received a letter in the mail last week outlining staff meetings for the beginning of the new school year. Highlights of the letter include the following:
• New Staff Orientation: August 4, 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Johnston Regional Education Center
• New Staff Orientation Special Education and Early ACCESS: August 5-7, 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Johnston Regional Education Center
• Regionally-Assigned Professional Learning Sessions: August 10, 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Regional Locations
• All Certified Staff Introduction to Learning Teams: August 11, 8:30-11:30 a.m., both Central and Regional Locations
• All Staff Office Meetings: August 11, 1:00-4:00 p.m., both Central and Regional Locations
• Math Academy Kick Off: August 12, 8:30-11:30 a.m., Zion Lutheran Church, Des Moines
• Math Academy Cohort One Assessment Training: August 12, 1:00-4:00 p.m., Zion Lutheran Church, Des Moines
Click here to download the letter in its entirety.
• New Staff Orientation: August 4, 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Johnston Regional Education Center
• New Staff Orientation Special Education and Early ACCESS: August 5-7, 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Johnston Regional Education Center
• Regionally-Assigned Professional Learning Sessions: August 10, 8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Regional Locations
• All Certified Staff Introduction to Learning Teams: August 11, 8:30-11:30 a.m., both Central and Regional Locations
• All Staff Office Meetings: August 11, 1:00-4:00 p.m., both Central and Regional Locations
• Math Academy Kick Off: August 12, 8:30-11:30 a.m., Zion Lutheran Church, Des Moines
• Math Academy Cohort One Assessment Training: August 12, 1:00-4:00 p.m., Zion Lutheran Church, Des Moines
Click here to download the letter in its entirety.
New Paperless Purchase Request System Debuts Today
Beginning today, August 3, 2009, the Agency is implementing a paperless purchase request system. This means the yellow purchase requisition form has been eliminated! Similar to the Leave Online system, purchase requests will now be electronically routed to the proper staff members for review and approval.
The first stop in the electronic approval process is the staff member who requested the purchase. All staff members who request a purchase need to attend to the request on their IFAS Dashboard. If not, the process will stop and the purchase order will not be created.
This is accomplished via the Workflow Tasklist. This function has been added to everyone’s IFAS Dashboard. Click here to view a video that explains how to process a purchase request on your Workflow Tasklist.
A subsequent stop in the electronic approval process is the Budget Manger. The purchase request will be routed to the budget manger(s) assigned to the general ledger account(s) on the request.
In the case where the staff member requesting the purchase is the budget manager of the general ledger account(s), the request will be routed to the budget manager’s supervisor. Click here to view a flow chart depicting the entire electronic purchase request process.
Today begins a new era at Heartland…NO MORE YELLOW SHEETS!!!
Please contact Rod Howell at rhowell@aea11.k12.ia.us or at ext. 14599 or Francis Musignac at fmusignac@aea11.k12.ia.us or at ext. 14650 with any questions.
The first stop in the electronic approval process is the staff member who requested the purchase. All staff members who request a purchase need to attend to the request on their IFAS Dashboard. If not, the process will stop and the purchase order will not be created.
This is accomplished via the Workflow Tasklist. This function has been added to everyone’s IFAS Dashboard. Click here to view a video that explains how to process a purchase request on your Workflow Tasklist.
A subsequent stop in the electronic approval process is the Budget Manger. The purchase request will be routed to the budget manger(s) assigned to the general ledger account(s) on the request.
In the case where the staff member requesting the purchase is the budget manager of the general ledger account(s), the request will be routed to the budget manager’s supervisor. Click here to view a flow chart depicting the entire electronic purchase request process.
Today begins a new era at Heartland…NO MORE YELLOW SHEETS!!!
Please contact Rod Howell at rhowell@aea11.k12.ia.us or at ext. 14599 or Francis Musignac at fmusignac@aea11.k12.ia.us or at ext. 14650 with any questions.
New “8 Hour Conversion” Column Added to Leave Reports
Your Employee Leave Balance report (found under the Individual Leave Report tab on your Dashboard) will now show a new column. The “8 hour Conversion” column will reflect the additional hours you will receive from converting your carryover amount from a 7.5-hour workday to an 8-hour workday. If you did not have any leave to carry over, you will not show any hours.The leave amounts that you earned for 2009-10 were already converted to reflect an 8-hour workday. For those of you who earn comp time, you will not receive a conversion to 8 hours for comp time since that time is earned by the number of hours you work over your regular hours.
Note: For Certified Union staff, the "8 hour Conversion" column on your leave report will be blank, as the Comprehensive Agreement requires 7.5 hours as the calculation basis for a day of sick leave.
Instructional Decision Making (IDM) Evaluation Update
At the end of the 2008-09 school year, Heartland collected implementation data on schools that participated in IDM training or were implementing IDM practices. During the week of August 3rd, over 70 schools that completed the implementation evaluation in May will be sent their building’s results on a CD-ROM. Also included on the CD-ROM is information on the scoring criteria and a README file that explains how to (a) navigate the implementation data file on the CD-ROM and (b) interpret the building and agency-wide implementation data. Each school’s data were aggregated and analyzed for all 70+ buildings to gain insight into how our schools are implementing IDM practices across the Agency. The identity of individual school performance was kept confidential in the reporting of the agency-wide results.
Alecia Rahn-Blakeslee, Brad Niebling and Shannon Harken want to thank all of the external coaches who collected data for their school(s) at the beginning of May. They know it was an extremely busy time of year, and they express their sincere appreciation to everyone for their time and commitment. They hope you found the experience beneficial as well.
If you have any questions about the IDM implementation results, please contact Alecia Rahn-Blakeslee at arahn@aea11.k12.ia.us or Brad Niebling at bniebling@aea11.k12.ia.us.
Alecia Rahn-Blakeslee, Brad Niebling and Shannon Harken want to thank all of the external coaches who collected data for their school(s) at the beginning of May. They know it was an extremely busy time of year, and they express their sincere appreciation to everyone for their time and commitment. They hope you found the experience beneficial as well.
If you have any questions about the IDM implementation results, please contact Alecia Rahn-Blakeslee at arahn@aea11.k12.ia.us or Brad Niebling at bniebling@aea11.k12.ia.us.
Visit Iowa's AEAs at the 2009 Iowa State Fair!
For the second year, Iowa's AEAs will be featured at the State Fair in a booth in the William C. Knapp Varied Industries Building. The booth will highlight information about AEA services and will provide visitors with the opportunity to share their personal AEA success stories. Heartland AEA staff members will be working in the booth on August 18th and 19th. For more information about the 2009 Iowa State Fair, which runs from August 13-23, visit www.iowastatefair.org.
Technology Update
Security Warning
In the field of computer security, phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications claiming to be from popular social Web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT administrators are commonly used to lure the unsuspecting public. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail or instant messaging, and it often directs users to enter details at a fake Web site that looks and feels almost identical to the legitimate one. Even when using server authentication, it may require tremendous skill to detect that the Web site is fake.
Several Heartland staff members recently reported receiving suspicious e-mails asking for passwords or other personal information. You should never put any personal information in an e-mail that might compromise your security. IT staff will never request any information through e-mail like username, password or anything else personal that could compromise your security or that of the Agency. Please do not respond to e-mails asking for personal information. Phishing can also come in a phone call, so just be cautious, as these attempts seem to be escalating.
Agency Phone System Reminder
Please remember that it is not necessary to call long distance between Heartland branch offices. Every staff member has a five-digit extension that can be dialed toll-free from any office. Staff extension numbers are available in the PeopleBox staff directory online.
In the field of computer security, phishing is the criminally fraudulent process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications claiming to be from popular social Web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT administrators are commonly used to lure the unsuspecting public. Phishing is typically carried out by e-mail or instant messaging, and it often directs users to enter details at a fake Web site that looks and feels almost identical to the legitimate one. Even when using server authentication, it may require tremendous skill to detect that the Web site is fake.
Several Heartland staff members recently reported receiving suspicious e-mails asking for passwords or other personal information. You should never put any personal information in an e-mail that might compromise your security. IT staff will never request any information through e-mail like username, password or anything else personal that could compromise your security or that of the Agency. Please do not respond to e-mails asking for personal information. Phishing can also come in a phone call, so just be cautious, as these attempts seem to be escalating.
Agency Phone System Reminder
Please remember that it is not necessary to call long distance between Heartland branch offices. Every staff member has a five-digit extension that can be dialed toll-free from any office. Staff extension numbers are available in the PeopleBox staff directory online.
Corrections From Last Week’s Issue
• MaryAnn Squires’ birthday is not August 26, it is November 9
• New employees:
- Katie Clark, speech-language pathologist in the Johnston office, not Guthrie Center office
- Teresa Anselme, not Ansleme
- Kimberly Pineda, speech-language pathologist in an office to be determined, not the Guthrie Center office
- Beth Soellner, speech-language pathologist assistant, not speech-language pathologist
• New employees:
- Katie Clark, speech-language pathologist in the Johnston office, not Guthrie Center office
- Teresa Anselme, not Ansleme
- Kimberly Pineda, speech-language pathologist in an office to be determined, not the Guthrie Center office
- Beth Soellner, speech-language pathologist assistant, not speech-language pathologist
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