Click here to read the Agency’s Inclement Weather policy, which has been recently updated. Changes to the policy include:
• All Staff: The Temporary Remote Workplace Program can be used in extraordinary circumstances with supervisor approval.
• For Staff Members Who Complete Timesheets: The additional option of unpaid time has been added. Typically unpaid time can only be taken if a staff member has used all other paid leaves. In an inclement weather circumstance, staff members have the option to take unpaid leave, even if they have other leaves available.
If you have any questions about the Inclement Weather Policy, contact Chris Pierson, Assistant Director of Human Resources, at cpierson@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14400 or Nola Bond, Director of Human Resources, at nbond@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14318.
Communicating Office Closures
The Agency is also changing the way it communicates about office closings for inclement weather and other emergency situations to make sure the information is communicated correctly, consistently and in a timely manner. Trying to get our message out through TV and radio stations was proving to no longer be effective, so we have decided to forgo contacting those outlets when offices close. The Agency will move forward with the following four venues to communicate about office closures:
SchoolReach
This is an online system that is able to send voice messages to staff when there is an office closure. When used, the service will call selected phone numbers in our employee contact list and will deliver a recorded message. The service will deliver the message to both live answer and answering machines. No answers (phones ringing over 40 seconds) and busies will be automatically retried twice in 15 minute intervals after the initial call.
We will contact only those staff members who are assigned to offices that close. For instance, if the Newton and Indianola offices are closed, we will make one call to the staff members assigned to both offices to let them know of the office closure. Staff in other offices won’t automatically receive a call. The calls that SchoolReach makes will be generated by the Agency’s Communication Department; they will not come directly from a person at SchoolReach.
Click here to go to a web form that shows the phone number(s) that we currently have in your Human Resources file. If the number(s) listed isn’t current, please update it and/or add another number. If you provide us with both a home and cell phone number, we will call you at both numbers in the event of an office closing. If the information that is currently listed for you is correct, please click the Submit button on the form to confirm.
PLEASE NOTE THE FOLLOWING ABOUT SCHOOLREACH:
When SchoolReach places a call, if your phone has caller ID, the ID will display the Agency’s main number (515) 270-9030. When you get a call from the system, there will be a short pause at the beginning of the message. This usually is only a few seconds pause. Answer your phone as you normally would with “hello” and hold for the message to begin. Multiple “hellos” will delay the message. Please inform all family members who may answer your phone of this process.
If you rely on your answering machine to screen calls, the system will detect that your machine has answered and will play the recorded message to your machine. The phone will ring for up to 40 seconds. Make sure that your machine answers after four rings or you may miss the message.
At the end of the message you will be prompted to “press any key” to hear the message again. This can be helpful if a child answers the phone and hands it to a parent, who can then have the message repeated in its entirety.
What can be done to avoid any problems in message delivery:
• Do not say “hello” more than once. If the system detected your answer incorrectly, all noise will reset the three-second counter.
• If, after you answer, the message does not immediately play, cover the mouthpiece of the phone to cutout all background noise. The message should begin after three seconds.
Please make every effort to provide Human Resources with current and accurate phone information any time there is a change to ensure that you do not miss important information. Your phone data will be used exclusively by Heartland to communicate important information to you; it won’t be accessible to anyone else.
Website
We will continue to post closing information on the front page of the Agency’s website (www.aea11.k12.ia.us) at the top of the Latest News section.
Cancellation Hotline
We will continue to record closing information on a “cancellation hotline” that staff members can call into at (515) 270-0405 ext. 14041. When you call in you will hear a recorded message that says the date and which offices are closed if there are closings. If there are no closings the message will reflect that.
Social Media
We will begin to post closing information on the Agency’s Facebook & Twitter accounts (www.facebook.com/heartlandaea & twitter.com/HeartlandAEA).
Communicating Professional Development Class Cancellations
If a professional development class is canceled, the cancellation will be communicated via the agency website, cancellation hotline and social media. We will no longer use TV and radio to communicate these cancellations.
If you have any questions about inclement weather communications, please contact Courtney Croatt, Communications Specialist, at ccroatt@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14474.
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