Monday, March 22, 2010

Additions to Last Week’s Calendar Announcement

The events and meetings listed below have been scheduled and are listed on the internal and external public Kerio calendars. Some of these events weren’t included in last week’s Connection article related to calendar events.

5 Day Autism Training
AEA Board of Directors

Agency PD Committee

Alternate Assessment Work Session

Art & Science of Classroom Management

Assessment and Instruction of Behavior

Assistive Technology Team
Behavior/Autism Team Meeting

Best Practices in Gifted Ed; Site Visit Prep

CBAT

Central Office Meetings

CNAC

Coordinated Council for Learning Supports

Counselor Academy II
Counselor Academy III

Cultural Competence Council

Cultural Competence Workgroup

Curriculum & Instruction

Curriculum Network
Developing More Curious Minds; Questioning and Inquiry

Direct Instruction for Early Childhood Students

Discipline Day

Discipline PA

Diverse Learner's Resource Fair and Conference

Domain Day

Early Childhood Leadership

EC Consultants/Teachers Discipline Day

EC Transition Training

Educational Technology Team

Effective Programming for Students with Autism

ELL Advisory/Networking

ELL Assessment

ELL Team

External Leadership Planning

Formative and Summative Evaluation Training

Gifted Academy Year 1

Gifted Academy Year 2

Gifted Academy Year 3

Gifted and Talented Roundtables

Governor's LGBT Conference

IA Talented and Gifted Conference
ICAM Scoring

ICE/CBE Task

IDEA Indicator Training

IDM
IDM for Advanced Proficiency

IGDI Training

Instructional Coaching Work Group

Internal Leadership Academy

Internal Leadership Planning

Introduction to Gifted Education
Iowa Association of School Boards

Iowa Association of Speech and Hearing
Iowa Core Network

Iowa PT Conference

ITEC

Mandt Initial Training

Mandt Re-certification
Math CAB

Math Core

Mentoring Matters

Monitoring Progress Training

Mosaic Diversity Conference

New Employee Orientation

New Gifted & Talented Teacher Orientation

New Staff Training
New Teacher IEP Training & IEP/internal new staff

Operations Meetings

Our Kid's Summer Institute

Parent Partnership

Partnership Director Council

PBS & Supplemental & Intensive Cycle

PBS Training

PD Advisory

PECs

PLLC

PLLT

Professional Development Team
Reading Core
Regional Office Meetings

Regional Support (psychs, consultants, SSWs)

Regional Support (SLPs)

SAC II

SAC III

School Psych Leads

Science CAB

Secondary Transition Training
Senior SSW
Senior/Lead Consultants
Shelter Care
Shelter Care Leadership Team

Site Visit Training

SLP Leads

Special Education PAs

Sped Clerks

Sped Consultant Leads

Staff Development in Gifted Programs

State Directors

Superintendent Advisory Council

Support Staff PD

Superintendent Meetings

TIC/TOC and TICCL

Transition Consultants

Transition Times ICN

Transitions Book Study
Veteran Teacher IEP Training

World Food Prize Hunger Summit

March 2010 Board of Directors Meeting Recap

The March meeting of the Heartland AEA Board of Directors was held on March 9, 2010.

Public Forum

No one was present to speak at the public forum.


Board Recognition

Ms. Sharon Kurns spoke on behalf of Dr. Dennis Wulf, superintendent of the Norwalk Community Schools, who has been a great partner to the Agency and has contributed significantly to the professional development of leaders within the Heartland area. Dr. Wulf was unable to attend the meeting, but Ms. Kurns will share the Board’s sentiments for his work and effort in the area of leadership development.

Discussion Items
28E Agreement for DMACC Intercampus Mail Delivery

Mr. David King spoke briefly about the intercampus mail agreement between Heartland AEA and Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC). Heartland’s van delivery system will be expanded to include interoffice mail delivery between the buildings at DMACC. In return, DMACC will reimburse the Agency $40,000 annually for these services. This is a partnership that will work well for both entities.


Regional Education Centers

Mr. Steve Prall gave an overview of the Agency’s facility projects.

• Knoxville Regional Office -- A redesign of the current facility was completed since no other co-location opportunities were available in the Knoxville area. This new layout will increase efficiency and space utilization.

• Newton Regional Education Center -- Final negotiations are underway to lease space at the Iowa Telecom building (formerly Maytag) in Newton. Iowa Telecom recently contracted with R & R Realty to finalize the lease agreement and has recommended space on the first floor of the building instead of the second floor to accommodate evening and weekend access. This should not disturb the timeline by more than a few weeks.

• Woodside Regional Office -- The Woodside office will close at the end of its current lease, June 30, 2010. Staff will be relocated to the Johnston office at an annual cost savings of $150,000. Co-location opportunities are being explored at the Neveln Center in Ankeny for an inexpensive alternative for practitioners to meet and collaborate. The cost would only be approximately $5,000 a year.

• Johnston Regional Education Center -- The 6500 Planning Committee submitted recommendations that focused on service delivery and improvements to safety and health issues (HVAC, carpet, roof, server room and plumbing) at the 6500 building. The committee continues to work with the Agency’s architect on remodeling plans and specifications. It is anticipated that a final plan will be brought to the June Board of Directors meeting for approval and construction is slated for September-December 2010.
The cost of all construction and remodeling projects is estimated between $1.5 and $1.8 million. Some of those funds will come from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

Van Lease Contract

Mr. David King gave an update on the Agency’s 4-year van lease agreement. The lease agreement expired last year; however, renewal of the contract was postponed to give time to study distribution routes, the number of routes, if a different type of vehicle was needed and if the frequency of deliveries needed to be modified. For several months, these factors were reviewed, and as a result of the findings, a request for proposal (RFP) was sent to six different vendors. Ruan Truck Leasing submitted the lowest bid at a lease cost of $575 per month per vehicle with a maintenance cost of $.05 per mile. The contract is being modified so it aligns with the original specifications listed in the RFP before final approval is given.


Update on Agency Initiatives and Program Planning

Ms. Laura Gillon reviewed the process that Cabinet is using to move forward on the Agency’s four initiatives. A continuous model has been created that can be used every year to review past and current decisions. This model is also being used to make decisions around the Agency’s impending budget reductions. Currently Cabinet is between gathering input and making decisions as it deals with the financial crisis. Input has been sought from stakeholders who were asked what worries them the most when it comes to the budget reductions. Their input was prioritized into a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis that will be used to make decisions and develop an action plan. This process really helps honor stakeholders and keeps focus on the four initiatives.


Closed Session

The Board entered into closed session at 7:08 p.m. and returned to open session at 8:45 p.m. The Board then entered into closed session at 8:45 p.m. to discuss the 2010-2011 negotiations process and returned to open session at 9:35 p.m.


Action Items

Closed Session Recommendation – Negotiations

The Board approved the Memorandum of Understanding on transfer language.

28E Agreement for DMACC Interoffice Mail Delivery
The Board approved the 28E Agreement with DMACC to deliver its interoffice mail.


Van Lease Contract

The Board approved the van lease contract with Ruan Truck Leasing pending finalization of the contract documents.

Iowa Core Curriculum Update

Leadership for the Iowa Core Year Two, Day Three sessions are quickly approaching. There are still opportunities to register if you have not already done so. The session will focus on updates for the six outcomes, future plans, information about collaborative teams and their role in outcome 6 and time for teams to engage in implementation planning. A team needs to register for and attend just one Day Three session, as the content will be repeated at each location. Please note that each is a full day session.

Date:
Thursday, April 8, 2010

Time:
8:30 a.m.‐3:30 p.m. with lunch on your own

Locations:

Third Reformed Church, 708 East 13th Street, Pella

Activity Number:
DR287099991013


First United Methodist Church, 307 W. Ashland Avenue, Indianola

Activity Number:
DR287099991014


Botanical Center, 909 Robert D. Ray Drive, Des Moines

Activity Number: DR287099991015

OR


Date:
Monday, April 12, 2010

Time:
8:30 a.m.‐3:30 p.m. with lunch on your own

Location:
Zion Lutheran Church, 4300 Beaver Avenue, Des Moines

Activity Number:
DR287099991016


OR


Date:
Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Time:
8:30 a.m.‐3:30 p.m. with lunch on your own

Locations:

Carrollton Inn, 1730 US Highway 71 N., Carroll
Activity Number:
DR287099991017


Oakwood Road Church, 2400 Oakwood Road, Ames

Activity Number:
DR287099991018


Zion Lutheran Church, 4300 Beaver Avenue, Des Moines

Activity Number:
DR287099991019


Participants must register for the session they plan to attend using the Universal Registration system. If you have questions, please contact Linda Biermann Hoobin, Teaching and Learning Consultant for the Iowa Core, lhoobin@aea11.k12.ia.us, or ext.14327.

AEA Legislative Report

Click here to download the weekly legislative report from AEA Government Relations Specialist Wayne Haddy.