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 

Newton Office Relocating to DMACC Newton Campus

Our Heartland AEA Newton Office (currently located at Emerson Hough School in Newton) will be relocating to the DMACC Newton Campus in March. Due to the Newton CSD's goal to decrease class sizes, the district will be reconfiguring schools next school year and will be reopening Emerson Hough as an elementary school. 



Heartland AEA and the Newton district worked together and looked at various options for locating our AEA office within one of the districts’ facilities, however, a favorable option was not found. State law requires AEAs to work with their educational partners to utilize unused space, if possible, before starting new leases or construction. For a variety of reasons we had preference to stay located in Newton. The Newton Campus had space available that met our needs at a reasonable price.
 
If you have any questions about the move, contact Chris Pierson, Regional Director, at ext. 12220.

Agency Begins Serving Ames Christian School

The Agency is pleased to begin providing services to Ames Christian School, a PK-6 Christian school in Ames. In addition to grades K-6, the school has a full day preschool, half-day preschool and pre-kindergarten and is exploring the addition of 7th and 8th grades. If you have any questions, contact Kristi Upah, Regional Director, at ext. 12306.

January 2016 Each and Every Child Newsletter Available

The January 2016 issue of the Each and Every Child newsletter from the Iowa Department of Education is now available. Happy New Year! Read about an effort, including our Grant Wood AEA colleagues, to make Specially Designed Instruction both effective – and scalable. And you will want to get on your calendar an upcoming special education conference in June.

Want to Pay Off Debt and Work to Save Money? Then Stash the Cash!

We are excited to announce that beginning starting Jan. 15, we will begin the Stash the Cash Savings Challenge. Stash the Cash Savings Challenge will help encourage you to save money and pay off debt, while rewarding you with an opportunity to win Wellness points. The challenge will run through March 15. 

Details:
1.      Log on to the Stash the Cash website.
2.      Choose the date of payday to report.
3.      Report total amount saved during that pay period and total amount of EXTRA money that was used to pay off debt.
4.      For each $100 you save and for each $100 paid EXTRA towards debt, you will receive a ticket into multiple drawings for Wellness points.
•    Savings that can be included: Emergency Fund, Retirement, Investing, Short-Term Savings (i.e., Christmas, Vacation, etc.)
•    Debt example: If your car payment is $400 and you pay $500, you are paying an EXTRA $100 towards debt and will receive one ticket.
5.      All tickets will be emailed to you.
6.      By participating, you agree to receive an email notification on or about payday to remind you to report. You may opt out of these reminders at any time.

How do I win Wellness points?
After each pay period, we will randomly select four participants who will win one Wellness point. At the end of the challenge, we will randomly select two participants who will win five Wellness points!

Bonus Incentive:
As an extra incentive, anyone who attends the Budgeting & Planning for Emergencies workshop on Jan. 13, either in person or via Zoom, will receive a BONUS 10 TICKETS towards a chance to win Wellness points. A reminder about the Budgeting workshop is below.

If you have any questions, contact Tony Chiaramonte, Human Resources Manager, at ext. 14534.

Reminder: Financial Wellness: Budgeting & Planning for Emergencies Workshop Jan. 13

We all know how having a healthy body can contribute to our well being, but what about how having a healthy financial situation can contribute to well being? When your finances are in check, the rest of your life can seem more manageable. On the other hand when your finances seem to be in chaos, it can make life seem overwhelming.

Did you know that 80% of workers polled nationally indicate they want their employer to provide financial wellness education? Consider where we are as a society today:
•    76% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck –Bankrate.com
•    30% of Americans have outstanding loans on their 401(k)s – Business Record
•    #1 cause of stress is money problems and money fights – multiple studies

Heartland AEA is excited to announce our next financial wellness workshop – Budgeting & Planning for Emergencies! Whether you are looking to pick-up a few nuggets of information, or you need a financial overhaul, this 90-minute lunch and learn workshop is just for you. You will leave knowing how to save for emergencies, have a plan for your money (budget) and stay accountable to your financial goals. 

Jan. 13, 2016
11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m.
Johnston Regional Education Center or join via Zoom
Please register by Jan. 11.

Live Healthy Iowa Offering Another 10-Week Challenge

Live Healthy Iowa is ramping up for another one of their 10-Week Challenges. This time Heartland AEA will not be providing funding for this event, but if you and your co-workers would like to participate, you can still sign up as a group under the Agency’s username: Group ID: LHIHAEA11. We will not give out extra points, but you can use this towards the challenges worth 75 points in our Social Wellness category. Please note: Live Healthy Iowa has launched a new website for the 2016 10-Week Wellness Challenge.

To register a team using this group ID, go to the Live Healthy Iowa website and click ‘JOIN TODAY.’

Important Challenge Dates
Dec. 21 – Registration opens
Jan. 25 – Challenge begins
Feb. 7 – Registration closes
Feb. 9 – T-shirts begin shipping
Apr. 1 – Challenge ends
Apr. 7 – Last day to report
Apr. 9 – LHI 5K events (18 locations and counting!)

Save the Date for the 2016 Our Kids Summer Institute

Save the Date for the 2016 Our Kids Summer Institute!

January 2016 Board of Directors Meeting Agenda Available

The agenda for the Jan. 12, 2016 Board of Directors meeting is available.

Did You Know? We Have a Warehouse for That!

Did you know the Agency has a warehouse where you can store any excess items or archived materials you won't need in the near future? For example, if you have a number of binders for a presentation but will not need them until next summer, you can appropriately box them and send them to the warehouse to be returned prior to the presentation. 

When boxing items, please follow the below guidelines when possible. You can contact Jason Elliott, Operations Worker, for boxes, labels and logistical questions related to the warehousing process.

• Box items in a standard agency box.
• Please do not pack any liquids or pack boxes too heavily.
• Label with an agency warehouse storage label.
• Appropriately fill out the label. Please put your name, department, contents of the box, approximate time to be stored and most importantly, the box number.
• Keep track of what you have at the warehouse to call for retrieval.
• Remember, the warehouse staff doesn’t keep track of your inventory; they just store it. You must keep up-to-date records of what the warehouse has stored for you.

To ship items to the warehouse if you are in a regional office/school, put the box in the AEA van delivery/pick-up location and if you are in the Johnston office, place your boxes on the back dock. To retrieve a box from the warehouse, check your records to see how you labeled the box and send Jason Elliott an e-mail with your name, department and box number and where you would like the box sent. The delivery of the item will be by van route, so check your route to be sure there is time to get the item. Please order your items two days in advance. In the event of an emergency, contact Dustin Gean, Operations Manager, for retrieval of your items.

Remember What Your Mother Told You—Be Careful on the Ice!

It’s winter in Iowa, so we all know what that means—snow, slush, sleet and ICE! Our mothers always told us to be careful walking and driving on ice, so please remember her pleas this winter. We’ve had some people take some spills and had some close calls, so please take caution when walking through parking lots and on sidewalks. Change your shoes if need be and take a walking lesson from a penguin. Stay safe out there!

Reminder: iChat to be Discontinued; Google Hangouts to be Agency’s Chatting App of Choice

Note: If your Hangout chat boxes do not look similar to the images below, read these instructions to update from gChat to Hangouts. 



In early August, the Heartland AEA Internal Technology Department shared the news that iChat will be phased out of support as of Dec. 31, 2015. (Phase out coming very soon!) We are encouraging agency employees to transition to using Google Hangouts instead of iChat. Think of Hangouts as Google’s one-stop messaging app for both mobile and desktop devices. One does not need to download or sign-in to anything additional, as Hangouts is automatically turned on in Gmail. You might’ve noticed something similar to this on the left side of your email:



To use Hangouts to chat with others, here are the steps to get the conversation started: 

1.    Click the finder icon next to your name. A sidebar should appear with a search box at the top. In that box, type in the name of the person you want to chat with. Their information should appear underneath.

2.    Click on the appropriate person you want to chat with and a chat box should pop-up in the lower right side of the Gmail window:

Note: If it is the first time you are chatting with a person in Hangout, the message will be sent as an invitation to the recipient.