Monday, June 13, 2011
June 2011 Board of Directors Meeting Agenda
Click here to download the agenda for the June 14, 2011 Heartland Board of Directors meeting.
AEA Legislative Report
A report from Wayne Haddy, AEA Government Relations Specialist, for the week ending June 10, 2011.
Vol. XXX No. 20
It has been awhile since a report was sent out and in reality there has been very little to report. I’d like to say there is an end in sight, but unless something changes quickly it does not appear that there is.
On Wednesday of this week House Republicans are bringing forward an omnibus bill that includes all legislative-determined budgets and language dealing with what would be considered “social issues.” The bill will provide for a two-year budget and included in that budget is a growth factor of 0% for the next fiscal year and 2% for FY 2012-13. Unfortunately the bill also includes a $20 million cut to the AEAs for each of the next two years. Unless something unexpected occurs over the next day or so we fully expect the bill to pass.
We have met with legislative leaders and have prepared a great deal of information detailing the impact of such cuts. It does not seem to have made any difference on the House side as they continue to pursue the Governor’s recommendation of $20 million.
We are also assuming at this point that the Senate will either refuse to consider this bill or will take it up, reject many parts of it and send it back to the House.
Also, on Monday (June 6) Brent Siegrist, Director of AEA Services, made a presentation on the impact of the cuts to the Senate Education Appropriations subcommittee.
Vol. XXX No. 20
It has been awhile since a report was sent out and in reality there has been very little to report. I’d like to say there is an end in sight, but unless something changes quickly it does not appear that there is.
On Wednesday of this week House Republicans are bringing forward an omnibus bill that includes all legislative-determined budgets and language dealing with what would be considered “social issues.” The bill will provide for a two-year budget and included in that budget is a growth factor of 0% for the next fiscal year and 2% for FY 2012-13. Unfortunately the bill also includes a $20 million cut to the AEAs for each of the next two years. Unless something unexpected occurs over the next day or so we fully expect the bill to pass.
We have met with legislative leaders and have prepared a great deal of information detailing the impact of such cuts. It does not seem to have made any difference on the House side as they continue to pursue the Governor’s recommendation of $20 million.
We are also assuming at this point that the Senate will either refuse to consider this bill or will take it up, reject many parts of it and send it back to the House.
Also, on Monday (June 6) Brent Siegrist, Director of AEA Services, made a presentation on the impact of the cuts to the Senate Education Appropriations subcommittee.
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.
Charitable Drive to Help Residents of Joplin, Missouri
Staff member Lisa Fleming is working in conjunction with the Salvation Army of Missouri to organize a charitable drive to help residents in Joplin, Mo. who were affected by a devastating tornado on May 22. If you are interested in donating items, including non-perishable food, baby care items, personal hygiene items, safety gear and cleaning supplies, you can drop them off from 6:00 – 9:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week at 3102 SE Grant St. in Ankeny. Lisa is leaving on Saturday morning to bring donations to Joplin. If you have questions or want more information, contact Lisa at lfleming@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14625.
Leave and Calendar Deadlines
The cutoff date to enter leave requests for the 2010-2011 fiscal year is July 5, 2011. Supervisors need to approve all 2010-11 leaves by July 8. This will allow us to calculate and display actual, rather then estimated, leave balances for 2011-2012 by the end of July.
Calendar exchange requests for 2010-2011 must be submitted and approved by June 30.
July new hires will not see their leave balances displayed until July 15, while August new hires will not see their leave balances until August 31.
Calendar exchange requests for 2010-2011 must be submitted and approved by June 30.
July new hires will not see their leave balances displayed until July 15, while August new hires will not see their leave balances until August 31.
Web Content Filtering Service to be Updated
The Agency’s web content filtering service provided by M86 Security will expire in July 2011. Five AEAs developed an RFP for web content filtering services, evaluated the responses and selected the vendor that best met the established criteria.
iBoss web content filtering (from Phantom Technologies, Inc.) had the highest points on our rating rubric, lowest cost and best webinar presentation. In addition, there are no charges for the mobile client licensing. The recommendation of iBoss is pending the successful completion of an in AEA 30-day trial.
The appliances for the web content filtering and the reporter were installed and configured with basic school user and group accounts on May 17. Network Administrator Tuan Dao is currently working with school district technology coordinators to evaluate the product. During this time if you are directed to a blocked page while trying to access a website that should not be blocked, please contact Tuan Dao at tdao@aea11.k12.ia.us or at ext. 14413.
If approved by the Agency’s Board of Directors tomorrow, and there are no major issues with the evaluation, Heartland will change its web content filtering solution to iBoss beginning July 1.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation.
iBoss web content filtering (from Phantom Technologies, Inc.) had the highest points on our rating rubric, lowest cost and best webinar presentation. In addition, there are no charges for the mobile client licensing. The recommendation of iBoss is pending the successful completion of an in AEA 30-day trial.
The appliances for the web content filtering and the reporter were installed and configured with basic school user and group accounts on May 17. Network Administrator Tuan Dao is currently working with school district technology coordinators to evaluate the product. During this time if you are directed to a blocked page while trying to access a website that should not be blocked, please contact Tuan Dao at tdao@aea11.k12.ia.us or at ext. 14413.
If approved by the Agency’s Board of Directors tomorrow, and there are no major issues with the evaluation, Heartland will change its web content filtering solution to iBoss beginning July 1.
Thank you for your patience and cooperation.
June 2011 Iowa Department of Education School Leader Update
Click here to download the June 2011 issue of the School Leader Update from the Iowa Department of Education.
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