At this week’s regional meetings, groups will be sharing their learning from this year’s learning teams. You do not need to prepare anything specific for this sharing, but if you have a product you’ve created or something else you’d like to share, you’ll want to bring it to this session.
Also, please attend the meeting for the region in which you are currently assigned this year.
Materials can be downloaded from the Intranet by Wednesday afternoon.
Operations Meeting
April 6
1:00-4:00 p.m.
Johnston REC, Conference Rooms 3 & 4
Central Office Teaching & Learning Meeting
April 7
8:30-11:30 a.m.
Johnston REC, Conference Rooms 3 & 4
Regional Meetings
April 8
8:15 a.m.-12:30 p.m. (note times)
Regions 1 & 2 - Annunciation Church, Coon Rapids
Region 3 - Adel AEA office
Region 4 - Adel Public Library
Regions 5, 6, 7 - Ames AEA office
Region 8 - St. Mary of Nazareth Church, Des Moines
Region 9 - Johnston REC, Conference Rooms 3 & 4
Region 10 – Zion Lutheran Church, Des Moines
Region 11 - Indianola AEA office
Regions 12 & 14 - Third Reformed Church, Pella
Region 13 - Lutheran Church of the Cross, Cross Creek, Altoona
Monday, April 4, 2011
Setting the Agency’s Direction Update
Updates about the Agency’s future can be found on the Setting Direction blog at http://direction.aea11.k12.ia.us.
AEA Legislative Report
Click here to download the weekly legislative report from AEA Government Relations Specialist Wayne Haddy.
Online Benefits Enrollment Opened April 1
Full-time and 96-day employees will find a new tab on their Employee Dashboard between April 1-25, 2011. This will take you into the online benefit enrollment system, where you can make your benefit selections for the 2011-2012 plan year.
Full-time employees will be asked to enroll in health, dental and medical flex spending, and 96-day employees will enroll in medical flex spending. EyeMed vision insurance will no longer be offered, although a dental discount benefit through Delta Dental will be available at no charge.
This year is an open enrollment year, which means full-time employees may bring eligible family members on to their health and dental plans. Although you may bring family members on to your dental plan each year during the annual enrollment period, Heartland only holds open enrollment for the health plan once every three years. Family members not enrolled in the health plan before April 25, 2011 will not be permitted on the plan until the next open enrollment in 2014, without a life event (change of family status).
Due to the health care reform legislation (PPACA), dependent children, regardless of marital or student status, may now stay on their parent’s health and dental insurance plan without tax consequences, until the end of the month in which the dependent child turns 26 years of age. If you have a dependent child that is under the age of 26 and not currently covered, you may be eligible to bring them on to your health and dental plans during open enrollment. Dependents who are full- time students and unmarried may be eligible for coverage past the age of 26. Contact Kathy Martin, Benefits Specialist, if you have questions about the eligibility of your dependent child.
Reminder: voluntary benefit meetings will be held at the following locations:
If you’re not able to attend one of the benefit meetings, you will be able to review the changes to the benefit plan by checking the March 14 Connection article.
Online enrollment is available until 4:00 p.m. on April 25. Technical problems encountered during enrollment may be addressed to Lori Thelen, Information Systems Manager, at lthelen@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14669. Questions about your benefits or eligibility may be addressed to Kathy Martin, Benefits Specialist, at kmartin@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14385.
Full-time employees will be asked to enroll in health, dental and medical flex spending, and 96-day employees will enroll in medical flex spending. EyeMed vision insurance will no longer be offered, although a dental discount benefit through Delta Dental will be available at no charge.
This year is an open enrollment year, which means full-time employees may bring eligible family members on to their health and dental plans. Although you may bring family members on to your dental plan each year during the annual enrollment period, Heartland only holds open enrollment for the health plan once every three years. Family members not enrolled in the health plan before April 25, 2011 will not be permitted on the plan until the next open enrollment in 2014, without a life event (change of family status).
Due to the health care reform legislation (PPACA), dependent children, regardless of marital or student status, may now stay on their parent’s health and dental insurance plan without tax consequences, until the end of the month in which the dependent child turns 26 years of age. If you have a dependent child that is under the age of 26 and not currently covered, you may be eligible to bring them on to your health and dental plans during open enrollment. Dependents who are full- time students and unmarried may be eligible for coverage past the age of 26. Contact Kathy Martin, Benefits Specialist, if you have questions about the eligibility of your dependent child.
Reminder: voluntary benefit meetings will be held at the following locations:
- April 8, 2 – 4 p.m., Annunciation Parish Hall, 723 Elm Street, Coon Rapids
- April 11, 2 – 4 p.m., Newton Public Library, 100 N. 3rd Ave West, Newton
- April 13, 2 – 4 p.m., Conf. Rooms 3 & 4, Johnston Regional Education Center
- April 14, 2 – 4 p.m., Ames AEA office
- April 15, 2 – 4 p.m., Indianola AEA office
- April 22, 2 – 4 p.m., Conf. Room 13, Johnston Regional Education Center
If you’re not able to attend one of the benefit meetings, you will be able to review the changes to the benefit plan by checking the March 14 Connection article.
Online enrollment is available until 4:00 p.m. on April 25. Technical problems encountered during enrollment may be addressed to Lori Thelen, Information Systems Manager, at lthelen@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14669. Questions about your benefits or eligibility may be addressed to Kathy Martin, Benefits Specialist, at kmartin@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14385.
Benefits Enrollment for Terminating Employees
Questions arise each year on which employees need to participate in the online benefit enrollment if they do not plan on renewing their contracts with Heartland for the 2011-2012 year.
Employees who have a 210- or 225-day contract, and who plan on terminating their employment with the Agency, should not complete the online enrollment in April. Your benefits will cease June 30, 2011.
Employees who have a 192-day contract, and who are terminating employment at the end of their current plan year, should complete online enrollment in April. You are on an August contract and your benefits go through August 31. For this reason, we need your health and dental benefit choices for the summer months. You may NOT participate in medical flex spending, so please waive those benefits.
Terminating employees with a 96-day contract should complete online enrollment by waiving your participation for medical flex spending.
All other full-time employees who are terminating employment should contact Kathy Martin, Benefits Specialist, at kmartin@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14385 regarding online enrollment and the end date of your insurance benefits.
Employees who have a 210- or 225-day contract, and who plan on terminating their employment with the Agency, should not complete the online enrollment in April. Your benefits will cease June 30, 2011.
Employees who have a 192-day contract, and who are terminating employment at the end of their current plan year, should complete online enrollment in April. You are on an August contract and your benefits go through August 31. For this reason, we need your health and dental benefit choices for the summer months. You may NOT participate in medical flex spending, so please waive those benefits.
Terminating employees with a 96-day contract should complete online enrollment by waiving your participation for medical flex spending.
All other full-time employees who are terminating employment should contact Kathy Martin, Benefits Specialist, at kmartin@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14385 regarding online enrollment and the end date of your insurance benefits.
Update on A-87 Certification Notice
Based on feedback received by Human Resources, the Business Office and LLPC, this communication is intended to clarify the intent of e-mails that were sent to approximately 190 staff members.
On Monday, April 4, approximately 190 employees received an e-mail in regard to Circular A-87 certification. The e-mail was sent from aea11_online_systems_WF with the subject A87 Certification Notice - Action Required. The Business Office was responsible for sending this request, it is not spam.
On Wednesday, March 30, an e-mail was sent to the affected employees from Brian Whalen, Heartland’s new Business Manager, which contained a video link that explains the A-87 certification process in more detail. The April 4 e-mail contained the actual Certification Notice with a link to the certification that has to be completed. Please contact Brian Whalen at bwhalen@aea11.k12.ia.us or at ext. 14005 if you did not receive the video link or have further questions.
Heartland is currently taking steps to comply with the federal grant rules identified in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-87, pertaining to documentation needed for federal expenditures. Recipients of the e-mails were identified as Heartland employees whose positions are fully funded from a federal grant. As a fully federally funded employee, Circular A-87 sets forth audit requirements we need to meet for documentation of appropriate federal expenditures. This documentation requirement is new for Heartland and all AEAs this year.
Since last fall, the Business Office has been working with every budget manager to identify and verify those employees partially and fully funded from federal sources. The determination of whether a staff member is funded from federal sources vs. state/local sources has to do with many factors, such as if you do Medicaid claiming or not, what age group population you serve, how we can maximize the use of federal funds when our state/local funds are reduced, and in some cases, because your work is based on specific federal grants. This is not an ARRA (stimulus funds) issue. The Business Office and the IFAS technology department developed an automated process to simplify certification.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we strive to comply with this new federally mandated documentation requirement.
On Monday, April 4, approximately 190 employees received an e-mail in regard to Circular A-87 certification. The e-mail was sent from aea11_online_systems_WF with the subject A87 Certification Notice - Action Required. The Business Office was responsible for sending this request, it is not spam.
On Wednesday, March 30, an e-mail was sent to the affected employees from Brian Whalen, Heartland’s new Business Manager, which contained a video link that explains the A-87 certification process in more detail. The April 4 e-mail contained the actual Certification Notice with a link to the certification that has to be completed. Please contact Brian Whalen at bwhalen@aea11.k12.ia.us or at ext. 14005 if you did not receive the video link or have further questions.
Heartland is currently taking steps to comply with the federal grant rules identified in the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-87, pertaining to documentation needed for federal expenditures. Recipients of the e-mails were identified as Heartland employees whose positions are fully funded from a federal grant. As a fully federally funded employee, Circular A-87 sets forth audit requirements we need to meet for documentation of appropriate federal expenditures. This documentation requirement is new for Heartland and all AEAs this year.
Since last fall, the Business Office has been working with every budget manager to identify and verify those employees partially and fully funded from federal sources. The determination of whether a staff member is funded from federal sources vs. state/local sources has to do with many factors, such as if you do Medicaid claiming or not, what age group population you serve, how we can maximize the use of federal funds when our state/local funds are reduced, and in some cases, because your work is based on specific federal grants. This is not an ARRA (stimulus funds) issue. The Business Office and the IFAS technology department developed an automated process to simplify certification.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we strive to comply with this new federally mandated documentation requirement.
Disc Quota in Keriomail
Do you know how much of your allotted 1GB of storage space you are currently using in Kerio? If you don’t, here is how you find out.
Click once on your e-mail address located in the folder tree on the left of the Kerio window. This will show you the “Today” page. In the bottom left hand section of the window you will see “Quota” listed. Under “Disc space” you will see a bar graph showing the percentage of space used. You will also see a number to the right of “Used” that tells you in MB how much space is currently in use.
When you reach your quota, you will no longer be able to receive any new e-mail. So it is a good idea to make sure you always have space available.
Here are some ideas for making more space available.
Anytime you send a message, a copy of the message (including the attachments) goes into your Sent Items folder. You may want to periodically delete old messages you’ve sent that you no longer need to reclaim some of your disc space.
Messages with attachments will take up more space than just a plain message. When looking though the list of messages in your Sent Items folder to delete, you might want to focus on messages with attachments first. These messages will have a red paper clip icon in the left portion of the list.
The Junk E-mail folder is where Kerio puts mail suspected to be spam. If you never clean out that folder you will be wasting space needlessly. You may want to look through the spam folder to ensure all the mail in the folder is really spam. If it is, the quick way to delete all of the mail in the spam folder is to hold down the control key on your keyboard and click on the Junk E-mail folder and choose Delete all from the pop-up menu.
Now that you’ve deleted some messages, you need to make sure you empty the Deleted Items folder. To do this, hold down the control key on your keyboard then click on the Deleted Items folder and choose Delete all from the pop-up menu. That will permanently delete all of the messages in your Deleted Items folder.
Click once on your e-mail address located in the folder tree on the left of the Kerio window. This will show you the “Today” page. In the bottom left hand section of the window you will see “Quota” listed. Under “Disc space” you will see a bar graph showing the percentage of space used. You will also see a number to the right of “Used” that tells you in MB how much space is currently in use.
When you reach your quota, you will no longer be able to receive any new e-mail. So it is a good idea to make sure you always have space available.
Here are some ideas for making more space available.
Anytime you send a message, a copy of the message (including the attachments) goes into your Sent Items folder. You may want to periodically delete old messages you’ve sent that you no longer need to reclaim some of your disc space.
Messages with attachments will take up more space than just a plain message. When looking though the list of messages in your Sent Items folder to delete, you might want to focus on messages with attachments first. These messages will have a red paper clip icon in the left portion of the list.
The Junk E-mail folder is where Kerio puts mail suspected to be spam. If you never clean out that folder you will be wasting space needlessly. You may want to look through the spam folder to ensure all the mail in the folder is really spam. If it is, the quick way to delete all of the mail in the spam folder is to hold down the control key on your keyboard and click on the Junk E-mail folder and choose Delete all from the pop-up menu.
Now that you’ve deleted some messages, you need to make sure you empty the Deleted Items folder. To do this, hold down the control key on your keyboard then click on the Deleted Items folder and choose Delete all from the pop-up menu. That will permanently delete all of the messages in your Deleted Items folder.
Update on EER: Make Sure You Have Correct Version of the Report
Last week we informed you that the new EER template and instructions for this spring available to download from the Intranet. It was brought to our attention that the templates we had received had some incorrect formatting. Because of this we needed to take down the incorrect versions and re-post the correct templates. If you downloaded the EER templates on Monday night (3/28) or early Tuesday (3/29), please discard the original version and download the correct version. If you don’t remember when you downloaded them, the easiest way to tell which version you have is at the bottom of each page. The version we will be working with is Version 2.0. Thank you for your time and patience as we work across the state to have common documents!
Reminder for Mentors
Remember that you need to connect with your new staff member for 15 hours throughout this year. You should log your contact time through SSLog. We would like to have everyone completing and logging their time before the end of the school year. If you have questions about mentoring or logging your time, please contact Rob Brookhart at rbrookhart@aea11.k12.ia.us. Thank you for all your work supporting new staff members this year.
New Autism Resources in the Library
New materials to support your learning and work with teachers and parents have been added to the library. The list of new titles is below. Click here for a mini catalog with annotations.
Inservice
- Addressing Social Communication Skills in Children and Adolescents with Asperger’s syndrome
- The Boy Inside
- Social Communication Intervention For Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Social Skills Development in School-Age Children With High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Supporting the Communication of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Turtle Books for Childrens’ Disability Awareness (set of 20 books)
- Walking in the Dark: Finding the Light in Autism
Professional Books
- The BIG book of ABA programs
- The Behavior Problems Resource Kit: Forms and Procedures for Identification, Measurement, and Intervention
- Building Social Relationships: A Systematic Approach to Teaching Social Interaction Skills to Children and Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders and Other Social Difficulties
- Early Start Denver Model for Young Children With Autism: Promoting Language, Learning, and Engagement
- Emergence: Labeled Autistic
- Genetic and Acquired Disorders: Current Topics and Interventions For Educators
- High Functioning Autism/Asperger Syndrome in Schools: Assessment and Intervention
- Practical Solutions For Stabilizing Students With Classic Autism to be Ready to Learn: Getting to Go!
- Setting Up Classroom Spaces That Support Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Teaching Social Communication to Children With Autism: A Manual For Parents
- Teaching Social Communication to Children With Autism: A Practitioner’s Guide to Parent Training
Inservice
- Addressing Social Communication Skills in Children and Adolescents with Asperger’s syndrome
- The Boy Inside
- Social Communication Intervention For Young Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Social Skills Development in School-Age Children With High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Supporting the Communication of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Turtle Books for Childrens’ Disability Awareness (set of 20 books)
- Walking in the Dark: Finding the Light in Autism
Professional Books
- The BIG book of ABA programs
- The Behavior Problems Resource Kit: Forms and Procedures for Identification, Measurement, and Intervention
- Building Social Relationships: A Systematic Approach to Teaching Social Interaction Skills to Children and Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorders and Other Social Difficulties
- Early Start Denver Model for Young Children With Autism: Promoting Language, Learning, and Engagement
- Emergence: Labeled Autistic
- Genetic and Acquired Disorders: Current Topics and Interventions For Educators
- High Functioning Autism/Asperger Syndrome in Schools: Assessment and Intervention
- Practical Solutions For Stabilizing Students With Classic Autism to be Ready to Learn: Getting to Go!
- Setting Up Classroom Spaces That Support Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Teaching Social Communication to Children With Autism: A Manual For Parents
- Teaching Social Communication to Children With Autism: A Practitioner’s Guide to Parent Training
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