Our Mission
To provide services and leadership, in partnership with families, schools and communities, that improve the learning outcomes and well-being of all children and youth.

Our Goals
• Increase learning growth for students
• Decrease the gap in achievement
• Increase annual graduation rates
• Increase gateways to post-secondary success

Reminder: All-Staff Meeting Set for Sept. 12 – See Map & Additional Information

Location:
Palace Theater at Adventureland 

Time:
7:30 to 9:00 a.m. – Benefits/Wellness Fair, continental breakfast
9:00 to 11:30 a.m. – All-Staff meeting 

• The Benefits/Wellness Fair will be held from 7:30-9:00 a.m. before the start of the meeting. This flyer gives you information on who is participating and what they will have to offer. 
• Wear your agency colors – purple or green – for our group photo at the end of the meeting outside near the Adventureland train station! 
• Please make every attempt to fill the chairs at every table. Please do not move chairs around from table to table, either. We would like to avoid what happened last year when we had to scramble to get more chairs out. 
• We’ll have a photo backdrop available to take selfies with your co-workers to show your “Impacting Lives, Building Futures” spirit! 

Directions: 
Coming from I-80: 

• Turn Left on to Adventureland Drive. 
• Turn Right into the Adventureland Park Entrance. 
• Continue through the unattended parking gate. (Parking will be free.) 
• Park in the first or second parking lot to your left. 
• Enter through the furthest gate to the right (if you are looking at the park). 
• If you continue to walk straight after entering the park, the Palace Theater will be right in front of you.

EyesOpenIowa Fall Training Opportunities

EyesOpenIowa: Your connection to adolescent sexual health, the statewide teen pregnancy prevention agency is here to help school districts with trainings and curricula to meet Iowa Code section 279.50. Our work is funded in partnership with the Department of Human Services. This flyer lists EyesOpenIowa training events for this fall. 

The dissemination of information from external organizations by Heartland AEA does not imply sponsorship or endorsement of the information. It is being passed on to our stakeholders for its educational value.

All-Staff Meeting Highlights – Flu Shots, IPERS & Life Insurance

Flu Shots
Save time by getting your flu shot at the Benefits/Wellness Fair at the All-Staff Meeting! Visiting Nurse Services of Iowa will be providing flu shots—all you need to do is stop by their table and roll up your sleeve—it’s THAT easy! No doctor’s office, no charge! 

IPERS
IPERS (Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System) will now have a table at the Benefits/Wellness Fair to answer your burning questions about retirement benefits! 

VOYA – Supplemental Life Insurance 
Due to employee requests through our Benefits Survey, the Agency found a provider, VOYA, to offer supplemental life insurance that you can purchase for yourself, your spouse or your children. At the All-Staff Meeting VOYA will have an individualized packet for each eligible employee that can help you understand and determine if you would like to participate in this option. Stop by their table to pick your packet up, along with VOYA freebies! Actual enrollment will be Nov. 1-30 but plan ahead by going through your packet that VOYA has created specifically for you.

Be Aware of Scent Sensitivity

As most of our staff head back to work in schools and offices, we wanted to send out another friendly reminder asking all staff members to be aware of the perfumes, colognes, deodorants and lotions you wear and the flowers, plants, etc. you bring into the office and the schools in which you work. Many people are sensitive to scents and can even have dangerous reactions to strong scents. 

While we don’t expect everyone to stop wearing perfume or lotion or stop bringing items to the office, we just ask that you be aware of these activities and how they may affect co-workers, students and visitors at our offices. Remember that it’s not always easy for people to have these types of conversations with each other, so please take a second to think about how you may be affecting others around you.

Reminder: Next Step Challenge Through Live Healthy Iowa

For the third year, Heartland AEA will be participating in the Next Step Challenge through Live Healthy Iowa. Heartland AEA Wellness will cover the cost of participation, which is $10 per person, and agency teams of 2-10 people can compete. 

BONUS: The members of the teams that finish first and second in the challenge will each receive a FitBit! What a great incentive to get moving! 

Here’s what you need to do: 

1. Get your 2-10 person team together and nominate a team captain. 
2. The team captain will then go to www.livehealthyiowa.org, click on the area that says “start a team” on the right side of the page and enter LHIHAEA11 as the Group ID to register his/her team. 
3. The team captain will register all of his or her team members, selecting ‘LHI Pedometer’ from the promotional item drop down box for each team member who needs a pedometer. 
4. Team members will then log their steps through the Live Healthy Iowa website. 

The contest will start Sept. 8 and run through Oct. 17, so get a team together and sign up before Sept. 7! Teams can band together to track each other’s steps and challenge each other to do more. Let’s see this competition get fierce! 

If you have any questions about the program or about registering, contact Tony Chiaramonte, Human Resources Manager, at tchiaramonte@heartlandaea.org or ext. 14534.

Updated Information About Iowa’s Alternate Assessment

This letter is a follow up to an Iowa Department of Education email dated May 14, 2014 regarding changes to Iowa’s Alternate Assessment for the 2014-2015 school year. For the 2014-2015 school year, Iowa will administer two different assessments: the Iowa Alternate Assessment Science Alternate Assessment (IAAS) for students in grades 5, 8 and 11 and the Dynamic Learning Maps ELA & Math Alternate Assessments for students in grades 3-8, 10 and 11.

Special Technology Edition of The Connection

A special edition of The Connection was sent out to staff on Aug. 29. If you haven’t already done so, please take some time to read this important information. Since technology plays such a vital role in our agency, we wanted to provide staff with an extra communication devoted solely to this topic. Please give special attention to all the content we’ve included, as many sections require staff action.

Have You Set Up Your Zoom Account Yet?

Zoom was included as a special section of the Technology Connection, and the content is being repeated here. 

Immediate Action Required! 

Every regular full-time and part-time agency staff member has received an invitation via email to create a Zoom account. This is a necessary step to assure we all have have access to this powerful, easy-to-use video conferencing tool. Zoom is being widely adopted by Iowa’s AEAs, including Heartland AEA, and the Iowa Department of Education. Zoom has the potential to save the Agency and our staff a great deal of time and money, and it is one of the core tools that we will expect all employees to know how to use. If you haven't already done so, please create your Zoom account by Sept. 15, 2014. If you inadvertently deleted your email invite, please contact Lance Wilhelm at lwilhelm@heartlandaea.org. 

This tutorial video provides an excellent overview of Zoom and its basic features. This Zoom instructions document, created by Julie Sypersma, includes directions on how to create your Zoom account and install the application on your computer or iPad. It also contains links to videos that provide more details about how to use Zoom. 

Using Zoom, you will be able to host video conferences of up to 25 connections. The instructional videos show how to invite people to videoconferences, and these people do not have to have Zoom licenses or accounts. (For example, you might want to conference with the special ed teachers in a given district.) If you need to host a larger online meeting, contact Lance Wilhelm for more options. Other features of Zoom include: 

• Screen Share your desktop or application window (annotate over screen) 
• Group or private chat 
• Record your meeting 
• Manage participants 
• Schedule video meetings ahead of time or invite people on the fly with an email or meeting ID 
• Instant meetings in your personal virtual meeting room 
• Interface with your Google contacts (when you login with your Google ID) 
• Remote control another computer