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
Winter
weather is here, so we are quickly reminded of inclement weather
conditions that can cause closures and cancellations. Our agency offices
will typically remain open unless all schools in a region are closed
and travel is not recommended. In case of inclement weather office
closings and professional development class cancellations, read below
for the process the Agency uses to communicate about closings,
cancellations and delays.
First, go to section 11:14 of the Staff Handbook to read the Agency’s Inclement Weather policy.
Remember
that the Temporary Remote Workplace Program can be used in
extraordinary circumstances with supervisor approval. More information
about the program can be found in the Staff Handbook. In an inclement
weather circumstance, staff members who complete timesheets have the
option of taking unpaid leave, even if they have other leaves available.
If you have any questions about the Inclement Weather policy, contact Laura Gillon, Executive Director of Human Resources, at ext. 14416.
Communicating Office Closures
The Agency uses a variety of methods to notify staff members of office closures due to inclement weather.
SchoolReach
SchoolReach
is an online system that sends voice messages to staff. When used, the
service will call selected phone numbers in our employee contact list
and will deliver a recorded message. The service will deliver the
message to both live answer and answering machines. No answers (phones
ringing over 40 seconds) and busies will be automatically retried twice
in 15-minute intervals after the initial call.
We will contact
only those staff members who are assigned to offices that close. For
example, if the Newton and Indianola offices are closed, we will only
call the staff members who are assigned to those offices. Staff in other
offices won’t receive a call. The calls that SchoolReach makes will be
generated by the Agency’s Communications Department—they will not come
directly from SchoolReach.
To ensure that you receive a phone
call about office closings, review your phone number information in the
Agency’s Employee Online system and make sure it is up-to-date. To
access Employee Online, sign in to Employee Dashboard and navigate to
the Employee Online tab at the top of the page. If you have provided
both a home number and a cell phone number in Employee Online, we will
call you at both numbers in the event of an office closing.
Please Note the Following About SchoolReach
When
SchoolReach places a call, if your phone has caller ID, the ID will
display the Agency’s main number, (515) 270-9030. When you get a call
from the system, there will be a short pause at the beginning of the
message. This usually is only a few seconds pause. Answer your phone as
you normally would with “hello” and hold for the message to begin.
Multiple “hellos” will delay the message. Please inform all family
members who may answer your phone of this process. If you rely on your
answering machine to screen calls, the system will detect that your
machine has answered and will play the recorded message to your machine.
The phone will ring for up to 40 seconds. Make sure that your machine
answers after four rings or you may miss the message. At the end of the
message you will be prompted to “press any key” to hear the message
again. This can be helpful if a child answers the phone and hands it to a
parent, who can then have the message repeated in its entirety.
Website
We will post closing information on the front page of the Agency’s website.
Cancellation Hotline
We
will record closing information on a “cancellation hotline” that staff
members can call into at (515) 270-0405 ext. 14041. When you call in you
will hear a recorded message that says the date and which offices are
closed if there are closings. If there are no closings, the message will
reflect that.
Social Media
We will post closing information on the Agency’s Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Communicating Professional Development Class Cancellations
If
a professional development class is canceled, the cancellation will be
communicated via the agency website, cancellation hotline and social
media.
If you have any questions about inclement weather communications, contact Courtney Croatt, Communications Specialist, at ext. 14474.
Iowans who make up the Council on Educator Development have spent the past two years studying teacher and administrator evaluation practices and professional development. This document represents their preliminary recommendations. The council now needs feedback via an online survey on these recommendations from Iowa’s education community. They’ve extended the survey deadline to Dec. 18, 2015. All survey feedback will remain anonymous. The term “teacher” in the bill refers to certified staff and includes AEA staff. AEA administrative staff is also welcome to give feedback.
Gathering input is critical not only to this process, it is required by law. The council was formed in the fall of 2013 in response to an education reform package adopted by Iowa lawmakers that year. The legislation, House File 215, calls for a period of feedback beginning Oct. 1, 2015. Once the feedback is collected and analyzed, the council will use it to develop a final report in November 2016.
As winter approaches, so does cold and flu season. Here are some tips you can use to protect yourself and help limit the spread of illness:
Here are some other tips from the CDC to stay healthy and well this winter.
- Avoid close contact. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. When you are sick, keep your distance from others to protect them from getting sick too.
- Stay home when you are sick. If possible, stay home from work, school, and errands when you are sick. You will help prevent others from catching your illness. If you have an important meeting you feel you can’t miss, consider using Zoom from the comfort of your home rather than coming in to the office.
- Cover your mouth and nose. Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when coughing or sneezing. It may prevent those around you from getting sick.
- Clean your hands. Washing your hands often will help protect you from germs. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand rub.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs are often spread when a person touches something that is contaminated with germs and then touches his or her eyes, nose, or mouth.
- Practice other good health habits. Get plenty of sleep, be physically active, manage your stress, drink plenty of fluids and eat nutritious food.
The Iowa Department of Education released updated Early Literacy Implementation (ELI/Chapter 62) Guidance in November. The release includes an extended Guidance Document as well as Technical Assistance Appendices. Additionally, the DE is hosting a series of webinars regarding the updates. For the most up-to-date information, as well as information pertaining to the webinars, visit the DE’s ELI webpage.
Heartland AEA will be facilitating sessions in January to support district leadership teams as they implement ELI and plan for the future. Details will be shared as soon as they become available. If you have any questions, contact your regional director.
The Employee Dashboard will be unavailable because of a system upgrade beginning Friday, Dec. 4, 2015 at 5:00 p.m. until the morning of Tuesday, Dec. 8. Remember that the Employee Dashboard includes Leave Online, Calendar Online, the Travel Request System, Employee Online, Addendum Online, Purchasing, Receiving, etc. If you have any questions, contact Rod Howell, Information Systems Manager, at ext. 14599. Thank you for your patience during the important software upgrade.
Technology is playing a growing part of everyone’s lives, including students with IEPs. When you are considering the inclusion of technology into an IEP, we recommend you collaborate with the district/school’s technology staff.
In some cases, the technology needed is very specific, but in many other cases, a variety of technology platforms could be used. If, for example, a Windows laptop is needed, it generally won’t matter if it’s an HP or a Dell. If the district supports one or the other, it would be wise to pick the brand they support, because spare parts and in-house technical support will be more readily available. By involving the district’s technology staff in the IEP process, the setup of the needed technology will happen more smoothly and support of the technology will be much easier for the district. This will be a win-win for everyone, especially for the student who needs the technology to assist in his or her learning.
Uploading Videos to Google Drive
The great thing about Google Drive is that you can upload files, including videos, and have access to them from anywhere that has an Internet connection. If you have several videos sitting on the hard drive of your computer, we would recommend that you upload those videos to your Google Drive account. Google Drive will allow you to sync or upload video files up to 5 TB in size and in the following formats:
- .WebM files (Vp8 video codec; Vorbis Audio codec)
- .MPEG4, 3GPP and MOV files - (h264 and mpeg4 video codecs; AAC audio codec)
- .AVI (MJPEG video codec; PCM audio)
- .MPEGPS (MPEG2 video codec; MP2 audio)
- .WMV
- .FLV (Adobe - FLV1 video codec, MP3 audio)
- .MTS
Videos that are uploaded to your Google Drive account can be shared with other individuals and can even be viewed from Google Drive. To upload a video to Google Drive:
1. Open your preferred web browser.
2. Go to drive.google.com.
3. On the left, click “New.”
4. Select File upload.
5. Select the file you want to upload. To select multiple files, press Command and click all the files to upload.
6. You’ll see a box that shows the progress of your file upload. To open the file, click the filename. To close the box, click the X.
If you need to use a video during a class, presentation or meeting, you can search for your video in Drive by searching Google Drive for Videos using the drop-down arrow in the search box. Click a file name to open and play the video using the Google Drive video player. If you are concerned about Internet connection, you can download the video file from Google Drive and play it from the video player on your computer.
