Calhoun Named New Regional Director; Chiaramonte Hired as HR Manager

The Agency Planning Council (APC) wants to provide clear and timely communication to you as work continues on leadership assignments and program supports for 2013-14. 

As you know, we have based decisions on the feedback we’ve had from regional planning councils, agency staff, district staff, our observations and our collaborative work with the Department of Education and the statewide AEA system. 

Some of the themes: 
• District and agency staff members are requesting additional technical support for special education. 
• District and agency staff members are requesting greater access to regional directors. 
• We want to maintain consistent support to regions and districts to the greatest extent possible. 

To help address these themes, we will be adjusting responsibilities for some regional director assignments. 
• Keri Steele will continue in Region 1, working directly with Earlham, I-35, West Central Valley and Winterset. Her agency-wide responsibilities will shift from supporting the work around serving students with significant disabilities and vision services to more generally supporting special education across the Agency. Her title will be Regional Director/Assistant Director of Special Education.
• Angie Calhoun, currently the Director of Special Education at the West Des Moines Schools, will join the Agency and serve in Region 2. She will also support the work of serving students with significant disabilities and vision services. 

Tony Chiaramonte has been hired for the Human Resources Manager position effective July 1, 2013. He has been with Heartland AEA for two years serving as a Human Resource Generalist. Tony is certified as a Professional in Human Resources and has a bachelor's degree from the University of Northern Iowa. In Tony's new role he will supervise the Agency's human resources staff and continue to support several functions including employment inquiries/advertising, recruitment/staffing and onboarding. The Agency will not be filling the vacant FTE as a result of this position change. Tony will continue to report to Laura Gillon, Executive Director of Human Resources. 

APC will continue to use The Connection to update you about any decisions regarding leadership assignments and responsibilities.