The regular meeting of the Heartland AEA Board of Directors was held on December 11.
Public Forum
No one was present to speak to the Board.
Discussion Items
Exira and Elk Horn-Kimballton CSD Reorganization Process and Planning
Mr. Rick Engel, legal counsel for Heartland AEA, discussed the reorganization process with board members. The Agency will be involved with the reorganization of the Exira and Elk Horn-Kimballton Community School Districts. The Exira district lies within the Agency’s borders and the EH-K district lies within Green Hills AEA’s borders. He discussed the roles and responsibilities of each of the AEA boards during the merger process.
Communication Tools for Board Members
Ms. Courtney Croatt and Ms. Claire Sowder, the Agency’s communication specialists, discussed communication tools available to board members. The tools can help board members communicate the services Heartland AEA provides to parents, students and educators. Some of the tools available include brochures, PowerPoint presentations, media tip cards and short length videos about the AEA system. Ms. Croatt and Ms. Sowder are also working with the AEA lobbyists to help build advocacy for the AEA system among Iowa legislators.
Closed Session
The Board then went into closed session at 4:01 p.m. to discuss the 2013-14 negotiations process. They returned to public session at 4:58 p.m.
Discussion Items Continued
2011-12 Audit with Pittman & Company, L.L.P.
Mr. John Pittman, accountant with Pittman & Company, reviewed the results of the Agency’s 2011-12 audit. In the auditor’s opinion, Heartland AEA has complied with all requirements and conformed to U.S. generally accepted accounting principles for the year ending June 30, 2012.
AEA, Department of Education and District Collaboration
Dr. Vincent updated Board members on the collaborative work of the AEA and Iowa Department of Education. Invitations have been extended to local school representatives across the state to join the work of the collaboration team. New members will begin attending in December. In January they will begin work on priority focus areas and role clarifications.
Board Policy Work
Board members were given new drafts of the 100 and 200 series of the Board Policy Manual. The entire manual is currently being updated and revised by members of the Board Policy Task Force. Many of the policies have been eliminated or were moved to the staff handbook as they are more procedural than policy. The task force hopes to have the entire manual revised by July 2013.
Board Committee Reports and Updates
Association of Educational Service Agencies (AESA) Annual Conference - Mr. Halliburton, Dr. Bridgewater and Mr. Turnquist highlighted some of the sessions they attended at the AESA Annual Conference held in early December. They found the sessions on innovation, the common core and how to work with students in poverty the most informative and interesting. One of the sessions was facilitated by four AEA Chief Administrators and discussed the collaboration between the AEA and Department of Education.
Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB) Annual Convention - Many agency board members attended the IASB Annual Conference in November. They said it was well planned and very informative.
Project Science Education Mobile Instruction (SEMI) Trailer
Mr. Kurt Subra, chief financial officer, updated board members on the progress of the selling of the trailer. A public notice for bids was posted in November, but no bids were received. For many of the interested organizations, the trailer was either too expensive or the bidding deadline was too short. Some of the organizations still have an interest in purchasing the trailer, and Mr. Subra will work with them directly.
Chief Administrator Comments
• If a board member has not attended a professional development conference this year, the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development (ASCD) Conference will be held March 16-18 in Chicago. Please contact Ms. Ugolini for registration.
• The Agency has been unable to fill the vacancy for Director District 6. Board members will send names of possible candidates to Mr. Turnquist.
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