Our Mission
To
improve the learning outcomes and well-being of all children and youth
by providing services and leadership in partnership with families,
schools and communities.
Our Goals
• Increase learning growth for students
• Decrease the gap in achievement
• Increase annual graduation rates
• Increase gateways to post-secondary success
We look forward to a FULL DAY of connecting, celebrating and learning from one another!
Location
Sheraton Hotel
1800 50th St.
West Des Moines, IA
Time
8:45-9:30 a.m. – Registration, Coffee and Conversation
9:30 to 11:30 a.m. – General Session
11:30 a.m-1:00 p.m. – Lunch (If you need a vegetarian option, click here.)
11:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. – Wellness/Benefits Fair
1:00-3:30 p.m. – PechaKucha Presentations
Details
General Session
The morning’s general session will be a chance to hear from our agency’s leaders about updates for the year to come and highlights from the past year. We’ll also have a chance to celebrate successes and honor our years of service award recipients.
PechaKucha Presentations
Our afternoon will be spent learning from one another during PechaKucha-style presentations (6 minute, 40 second presentations with images and lively storytelling). There are time slots for you to see up to five presentations from your colleagues. Presentation list coming next week!
United Way
We will kick off our annual United Way campaign again this year at the All-Staff meeting. We are counting on you to once again pledge record support to United Way, so they can in turn support communities through education, income and health initiatives! Watch your tables for pledge forms to begin pledging your support on Sept. 9. Everyone (whether you donate to United Way or not) will have the chance to fill out a form to get your name in a drawing for some great gift cards!
Benefits/Wellness Fair
The Benefits/Wellness Fair will be held from 11:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. Many of our past vendors will again be on hand, including our flu shot nurses! The Fair will be held in the atrium area of the hotel – just look for the waterfall.
Wear Agency Colors
Wear your agency colors – purple or green – and proudly display your Heartland AEA pride!
Fill in the Tables
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 having to scramble to find a place for everyone to sit.
Aug. 31 is the last date the Business Office will accept and process any claims for expenses occurring on or before June 30, 2016. Do not submit expense claims with dates crossing the new fiscal year. Use a separate expense claim if you still have reimbursable expenses that occurred prior to July 1.
If you have any questions, contact Mary Heaberlin, Accounts Payable Specialist, at ext. 14818 or Brian Whalen, Business Manager, at ext. 14005.
If you haven’t been to the Intranet lately, head on over and take a look at the redesigned pages! (Remember, the Intranet is a tab on your Employee Dashboard.) All of the landing pages for our main topics have been redesigned and much of the content has been reorganized for better accessibility. Each page also contains a “Contact Us” link at the bottom of the page, so you can always contact someone to get more information. We hope you find the information useful, accessible and up-to-date. If you have any feedback, contact the Communications Department.
The Agency’s Administrator Connection began publishing for the 2016-17 school year on Aug. 19. The Administrator Connection newsletter is in a blog format just like the staff Connection and is published every Friday from mid-August to mid-June. It informs our school administrators (superintendents, principals, curriculum directors, etc.) of news and information important to them and is the primary communications tool the Agency uses to communicate directly with school administrators. Send any information you’d like to communicate to school administrators to the Communications Department.
Iowa Department of Education Director Ryan Wise announced last week a new state committee to provide input on the development of Iowa’s plan to meet the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. The group met for the first time on Aug. 18.
The Every Student Succeeds Act replaces the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and restores a more reasonable balance between the role of states and the federal government in accountability for the success of all children. Under the reauthorized law, the federal government sets expectations, and states determine how schools will reach them. State plans must address academic standards, assessments, school and district accountability, and special help for struggling schools. Iowa’s state plan will be submitted to the U.S. Department of Education no later than July 2017.
“We’re excited about the possibilities with the Every Student Succeeds Act and embrace our role of building a plan that makes sense for Iowa,” Wise said. “Input from Iowa education stakeholders is critical in our efforts to build a cohesive system that pairs accountability with the support our educators need to improve student achievement.”
The Every Student Succeeds Act Advisory Committee includes educators and representatives of school boards, area education agencies, education associations and parents. This fall, the Department will announce more opportunities for parents and other stakeholders to provide input. The Department also will coordinate with other state agencies and stakeholders, such as the business community, to collect input.
The Every Student Succeeds Act Advisory Committee will meet at least four times through February. Meetings are open to the public. Committee members with ties to Heartland AEA are Tom Ahart, Superintendent, Des Moines Public Schools; Mike Beranek, Teacher, West Des Moines Community Schools; Bill Decker, Administrator, Mississippi Bend Area Education Agency; Kevin Fiene, Superintendent, Interstate 35 Community Schools; Sam Miller, Administrator, Area Education Agency 267; Jill Morrill, School Board Member, Johnston Community School District; Jill Philby, Teacher, Lynnville-Sully Community School District; and Bryan Stearns, Associate Principal, West Des Moines Community Schools.
You received an email last week with a request to read the updated Staff Handbook. This article serves as a reminder and highlights changes in this year’s version of the Handbook.
The Heartland AEA Staff Handbook has been updated as of July 1, 2016 and is available for all staff to read and become familiar with.
Changes to the 2016-17 Handbook to be aware of include the following:
• Flexible Schedule (Section 3:2)
• Flexible Workweek (Section 3:3)
• Equal Employment Opportunity & Diversity (Section 4:5)
• Religion & Request for Accommodations (Section 4:6)
• Dress & Conduct (Section 10:4)
• Social Media Guidelines (Section 14:2)
All previous versions of the Staff Handbook should be discarded or archived. The Handbook also contains a Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Notice for staff to read.
After you understand where to find the Staff Handbook and are able to review it along with the HIPAA notice, you are required to complete a web-based read receipt form that confirms you have reviewed both of these documents. Please DO NOT print and send this form to Human Resources.
Once you click on the link to the web form, you will need to enter the username and password that you use to login to the Employee Dashboard. You will then be prompted to complete the read receipt form. If you do not fill out the form in a timely manner, you will receive a friendly email reminder to do so.
Please note: In addition, all staff are being asked to certify that they are not currently related to any employee or board member within Heartland AEA or anyone within their district assignment. If such a relationship exists, please disclose the relationship to Human Resources before you sign the certification.
Note that the handbook is in PDF form and contains links directly in the document that allow you to navigate through the chapters and headings. By clicking on an entry title in the index, you’ll be taken directly to that entry. Adobe Reader will provide additional features such as the ability to highlight and keep comment notes in the document should you choose to save it locally to your computer.
For future reference, the Staff Handbook is archived on the Intranet > Human Resources > Staff Handbook.
Last
week Johnston Schools launched a new website with an updated domain.
Email addresses will now end with @johnstoncsd.org. Update your records
accordingly.
The
Special Education Statewide Procedures Manual (August 1, 2016), Release
Notes (August 1, 2016 version), Parental Rights Summary (July 2015
version), Procedural Safeguards Manuals for Parents (Translations),
Educational Evaluation Reports (Translations) and IEP Forms
(Translations) are now posted on the Iowa IDEA website.
These documents are currently posted on the front page of the IDEA
website in addition to their permanent location under the IEP drop down
menu > Statewide Special Education Procedures > Manual.
If you have any questions regarding the content, contact your Regional Director.
