Regional Meetings to be Held Dec. 12

Regional meetings will be held for regional staff members on Monday, December 12. See below for times and locations for each region.

Region 1
8:30 a.m. to noon at the Guthrie Community Center, 209 State St., Guthrie Center

Region 2
8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the River Valley Golf Clubhouse, 2297 Valley View Trail, Adel

Region 3
8:30 a.m. to noon at the Indianola Church of Christ, 1112 East Iowa Ave., Indianola

Region 4
8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Smokey Row, 1910 Cottage Grove, Des Moines

Region 5
8:00 a.m. to noon in Conference Rooms 13A/B at the Johnston Regional Education Center

Region 6
8:30 to 11:30 a.m. in Conference Rooms 3, 4, & ICN Room at the Johnston Regional Education Center

Region 7
8:30 a.m. to noon in the conference rooms at the Ames Office

Region 8
8:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the Cross Cafe at Lutheran Church of the Cross, 1701 8th St. SW, Altoona

Des Moines-Area Education Blueprint Town Hall Meetings Dec. 10

Gov. Branstad and Lt. Gov. Reynolds have scheduled education town hall meetings on Saturday, December 10. The first meeting will be at 11:00 a.m. in the DMPS Central Campus Multi-Purpose Room (1800 Grand Avenue, Des Moines). The second meeting will be a parent roundtable and will focus on how to increase parent involvement to improve achievement. It will be held at 1:00 p.m. in the Community Room at the West Des Moines Public Library (4000 Mills Civic Parkway, West Des Moines). The events are free and open to the public and provide a great opportunity to learn about the plan that was released in October and to provide your feedback.

Wellness Committee Prepares to Roll Out Wellness Plan; First Task “Know Your Numbers”

As the Wellness Committee prepares to roll out the first part of the Wellness Plan at the regional meetings in December, there are a couple of things you can do to get ready.

First, as part of Phase 1 of the Wellness Plan, the Committee wants you to “Know Your Numbers.” Part of knowing your numbers means you will need to schedule your routine physical (if you haven’t had one in the 2011 calendar year) before February 15th.

Once you have your physical, you’ll take your numbers (total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, TC/HDL ratio, triglycerides, glucose, blood pressure, height, weight and waist circumference) and input them into the Well-Being Assessment on your Personal Wellness website through Wellmark. More information on this will be coming in December, but for those who have to call your doctor well in advance to schedule physicals, now is the time to do it.

The second thing you can do is register for access to your health information through Wellmark’s website by going to the Wellness Tab on your Employee Dashboard and clicking on the link that says “Register for the Wellmark Website.” Once you register, you will have access to your personal information, such as copies of your Explanation of Benefit forms, how much of your deductible and out-of-pocket maximums you have met and much more information. You will also be ready to explore the website during the regional meetings if you have registered ahead of time. (Central Office staff should register too. More information will be coming to you in the absence of a regional meeting.)

At your December regional meeting, your wellness coordinators will help you become better acquainted with how to access your information through Wellmark and how to enter your numbers into your well-being assessment.

If you have any questions, contact the Wellness Coordinator for your region (listed below), and remember, more information is coming, so don’t miss your regional meeting!

Wellness Coordinators
Each region has one designated Wellness Coordinator who has volunteered to coordinate wellness events and programs for their region.
Region 1 - Corrine Breitsprecker
Region 2 - Bess Wood
Region 3 - Karen Junko
Region 4 - Cheryl Risen
Region 5 - MaryAnn Strawhacker
Region 6 - Sandy Anderson
Region 7 - Robin Olberding
Region 8 - Bryce Chidester
Shelter Care - Christina Allen
Central Staff - Doug Schuster
HR Support - Kathy Martin and Tony Chiaramonte

Upcoming December Payroll Timelines

Due to the upcoming agency holiday schedule, staff members paid from a timesheet must have their December 1-15 timesheets completed, approved by their supervisor and submitted to the Payroll Department by the end of the day on December 21 in order to ensure they receive pay at the end of the month. Agency offices will be closed on December 29 and 30; as a result, payday will be December 28. Please contact Steve Jordan, Payroll Specialist, at ext. 14908 or Michelle Westcott, Payroll Specialist, at ext. 14422 if you have any questions.

For Staff Members Funded With 100% Federal Funding: First Semester A-87 Certification

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. For employees who are funded 100% with federal funding, there are Circular A-87 audit requirements we need to meet in order to document appropriate expenditures. If you are in the fully funded group, on December 7 you will receive an e-mail from aea11_online_systems_WF with the subject A87 Certification Notice - Action Required with a link to the certification page. The process is very simple and is the same as last year.

If you are new to this process or need a refresher, below is a link to a PowerPoint presentation that explains the background for Circular A-87 and the steps Heartland is taking to meet the A-87 requirements. Please watch the 5-minute video by clicking on the link below. Keep in mind that the video was created in March 2011. Although some of the dates and timelines in the video are old, the process and the purpose of the A-87 certification are still the same.

Video link: https://aea111.eduvision.tv/Default.aspx?q=3SfVi13wT7TQcvi960rMNg%253d%253d
Password: a87aea

You will need to click on the play button in order to start the video. As the video will explain, employees who are fully funded from one grant will need to certify every six months that they are performing duties allowed under the federal grant.

Please contact Brian Whalen, Business Manager, at bwhalen@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14005 if you have problems or questions. The Business Office appreciates your prompt completion of the certifications and your assistance in helping us comply with this reporting requirement.

Let Your Facebook Friends Know Where You Work!

Many of you have Facebook accounts and several of you list Heartland as your place of employment. On some profiles, however, the active link goes to a non-established company page that in past years Facebook put in as a placeholder. Why not link it to the real deal? Facebook allows you to link your place of employment in your profile information to your company’s official page. When your friends click on your “Employer” information, they will be taken to Heartland’s official page and can learn about our agency and what we do! Below are easy steps you can take to link Heartland’s page in your profile information if you wish.

1. Go to your Facebook page.
2. Click “Edit Profile” on the right-hand side.
3. Click “Education and Work” in the list on the left-hand side.
4. In the “Employer” field, type @Heartland Area Education Agency.
5. Click “Add job.”

It is important you write the @ sign in front of Heartland Area Education Agency. If you like our page already, you will see Heartland’s page come up in a drop down menu. If you haven’t liked our page yet, it’s a great time to do so! “Like” us at http://facebook.com/heartlandaea!

Thank you (for even doing this small thing) for your support in our agency’s efforts to educate the public about the great things our agency does. If you have upcoming events, classes, workshops or services that you feel should be highlighted on our page, please contact the Communications Department at comms@aea11.k12.ia.us.

Please Don’t Use Envelopes With Outdated Logo

There are still envelopes being mailed out that have the outdated “H” logo on them. Given that the Agency has had a new logo since 2007, there shouldn’t be any materials going out to the public with the former logo on them. Please recycle any envelopes with the old logo, use them for interoffice mail, or better yet, put a label over the old logo. Click here to download a template for logo labels. These labels can be used on anything that still has an outdated logo on it.

December 2011 School Leader Update

Click here to download the December 2011 issue of the School Leader Update from the Iowa Department of Education.