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
The Payroll Department will have your 2014 Form W-2 Wage and Tax Statement ready by mid-January. Your W-2 will be available electronically through Employee Online and a paper copy will be mailed to your home address. Please help us ensure you receive your paper W-2 in a timely fashion by verifying we have your correct address on file in our Employee Online system. Please verify your information in the system by January 10, 2015.
You can verify your address through Employee Online. Login to your Employee Dashboard. Employee Online is one of the navigation tabs at the top of the page, just like the Intranet or Leave Online tabs. Once you’ve reached the Employee Online home page, click on “Home Address” in the left hand navigation section. If you need to update your address, click on the “Edit” button in the lower right hand corner of the page. It’s that easy!
If you have questions about your personal information, contact Katie Streff, Human Resources Assistant, at kstreff@heartlandaea.org or ext. 14614. If you have any questions about your Form W-2, contact Steve Jordan, Senior Payroll Specialist, at sjordan@heartlandaea.org or ext. 14908.
The January 2015 issue of the School Leader Update from the Iowa Department of Education is available. In today’s issue, Director Brad Buck writes about what to look for in 2015, while attorney Nicole Proesch outlines how to effectively manage food allergies in the school. Also, meet Clemencia Spizzirri, the 2015 Teacher of the Year.
Heartland AEA is pleased to announce the commencement of contract negotiations as outlined below. Meetings are open to all staff and the public.
Teamsters
The Teamsters Local #238 and Heartland Area Education Agency will be exchanging its opening negotiations proposals on January 14, 2015, beginning at 3:00 p.m., at the Heartland Area Education Agency Administration Center, 6445 Corporate Drive, Johnston, IA 50131, in the Board Room.
HEA
The Heartland Education Association (HEA) and Heartland Area Education Agency will be exchanging opening negotiations proposals on January 14, 2015, beginning at 4:00 p.m., at the Heartland Area Education Agency Administration Center, 6445 Corporate Drive, Johnston, IA 50131, in the Board Room.
Your Wellness Program leads – Juliette Houseman, Benefits Specialist, and Katie Streff, Human Resources Assistant – wanted to provide you with a recap of the exciting things happening in the Wellness program!
“Healthy Express” Google Site
Juliette and Katie have been developing a Wellness Google Site, and they are calling it the “Healthy Express!” The Healthy Express is now up and running! The site is full of information, such as:
- A monthly calendar for 2015 that will have wellness activities you can participate in on a regular basis
- Tips on how to setup and use your Fitbit
- Information about the five elements of wellness
- Recipes
- General wellness information/tips
- Information on how to use the Wellmark/WebMD sites
Happy New Year! As promised you will find a link above to the Healthy Express Google Site. Please take time to go through and familiarize yourself with each tab. Wellmark will send Katie Streff a list of names as employees complete their biometric screenings and health assessments. Once she has received the list of completed names, Katie will be in contact with those people to make arrangements to pick up their Fitbit.
Fitbits
Everyone can earn a Fitbit! All you have to do is complete your Health Assessment and Biometric Screening! Once this is completed, Wellmark will notify Human Resources, and they will make arrangements to get you your Fitbit. Fitbits can track your activity, steps and sleep, and you can sync them to your computer or phone. Look for more information on the “Healthy Express” Google Site!
Biometric Screening
This is the blood work that is drawn for lipids, glucose and triglycerides. You have to fast for 9 hours before this test. We will be having screenings available on certain dates at our offices, and these dates will also be on the “Healthy Express” Google Site. If you can’t participate on one of these dates, you can go to any Hy-Vee store that has a dietician. This list is also on the “Healthy Express” Google Site. If you don’t see the location you want, contact Katie or Juliette.
500 Point Wellness Challenge
There are activities on the WebMD portal that you can participate in and earn a gift card when you reach 500 points. You can find more information on the “Healthy Express” Google Site. The goal for Heartland AEA’s Wellness Challenge is for you to start a healthy habit. We have five wellness elements – Career, Community, Financial, Social and Physical. You will choose at least one challenge from each element, and once you earn 500 points you will get a $50 VISA gift card!
We know that students use Google for its one-click feature. Students now
have that one-click access but with one BIG difference—the results are
from reliable and trusted sources of information. Heartland AEA’s new SUPERSearch combines many of our online databases into one search interface!
There are separate interfaces for elementary, middle school and high school
students listed on our grade-specific online resource pages. Each grade span links to different age-appropriate databases.
What are the benefits for students?
- It addresses the practical reality that students want in a Google-like search experience.
- It provides quality full-text search results.
- It includes links to thousands of research starters - think of it as a curated, vetted Wikipedia.
- It’s a tool to help students personalize their research—save to folders, social media, persistent links and automatic citation generator.
- It’s an expectation for college and career readiness. Many Iowa colleges and universities provide this type of search interface for their students.
To become college and career ready, the Common Core Standards require that students master digital literacy, which is the ability to gather facts from narrative or informational texts in any source or format, understand and use the information appropriately, and then be able to communicate it to others using a variety of print, audio and visual media.
Another piece of digital literacy is digital inquiry. Not only must students evaluate and analyze their reading, they must learn to ask questions that go beyond assembling simple facts to gathering information that helps them reach a new level of understanding. Reading critically and asking deeper questions that lead students to new understanding is at the heart of digital literacy and higher order thinking skills.
Watch a short video demonstrating the SUPERSearch features and get started on your learning journey!
