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
Last week the Communications Department sent out the third issue of the Educator Connection newsletter for the 2016-17 school year. The Educator Connection is intended to keep our educators better connected to our agency and to the many programs and services we offer to educators, students and families. The newsletter is emailed to educators and automatically archived on our agency website.
Keystone AEA is pleased to announce that registration is open for KPEC 2017, a Mid-west summer education conference on June 20-21.
The two-day conference provides enlightening and entertaining opportunities to connect with peers, hear keynote addresses from nationally-recognized speakers and choose from 88 breakout sessions covering special education, technology, leadership and curriculum content.
Take advantage of early bird registration – just $99! The registration fee covers entrance to the conference plus breakfast, lunch and snacks on both days. This incredible price won’t last long so be sure to register by April 30. Beginning May 1, the price increases to $130. For full details and registration, visit the KPEC 2017 webpage.
Heartland AEA is pleased to announce that it will hold its third annual Education Career Fair in March!
March 8, 2017 2:00-5:30 p.m. Heartland Area Education Agency Johnston Regional Education Center The job fair will be an opportunity for teachers and other education professionals to meet with central Iowa school districts at one location to apply for jobs for the next school year.
School districts recruiting on-site
Interviewing, job searching, technology and career fair success classes
Participants can have their resume critiqued before the event at Goodwill Career Connections Center – find them on Facebook
Free gift!
Visit the Career Fair page on the agency’s website for all the info! Pre-registration is encouraged, but the fair is again free of charge.
If you’re participating in the Five to Thrive Challenge – make sure you’re logging in and tracking your fruits and veggies!
You know you need to eat more vegetables. Just about everyone does. But if you, your partner or your kids don’t exactly love them, how is that going to happen? It can be simpler and more delicious than you think. And the first place to start is actually not with your grocery list or a deep dive into online recipes. It’s with one of the biggest things that affects what you choose to eat: desire.
A serving equals: • 2 cups of raw leafy vegetables • 1 medium fruit (about the size of a baseball) • 1 cup of chopped, cooked or canned vegetables or fruit • 1 cup of vegetable or fruit juice, or • 1/2 cup of dried fruit
Scott Mayne(Van Driver/JO) shows everyone that it’s not that hard to eat healthy, even on the go!
Planning any life changes in 2017? Even if you aren’t planning any changes, they might happen. If so, click on the “Life” tab, scroll all the way down to the bottom and in the dark gray banner, select “Life Changes” for all sorts of interesting articles and information about moving, retiring, becoming a new parent or trying to cope with grief and loss.
We received news this week that Dr. E. Robert Stephens died peacefully on Feb. 8, 2017. Bob always deflected attention and praise, and in that light, he has requested that no funeral or memorial services be held. You can find his obituary online at the Lensing Funeral Home of Iowa City. If you want to post a comment or remembrance, you can do so on their site.
For those not familiar with Bob Stephens, he wrote the original legislative language to create Iowa's AEAs. He also served nationally on the Association of Educational Service Agencies (AESA) Board. The AESA has three national awards that honor individuals, and one is named after Bob. He was truly a champion for education, especially for educational service agencies. He was relentless in his pursuit to serve students and staff. We’ve lost a giant in our field, and he will be missed.
Photo: AEA chief administrators presented Bob Stephens with an award as being a “Friend of the AEAs.”
Each week during the Iowa legislative session, we will bring you an AEA Legislative Update from the AEA system’s lobbyists, Tom Lane, Matt Eide and John Pederson.
Your Heartland AEA Internal Technology Department is now producing a video version of the tech tips you know and love! Twice a month you can check out a short video demonstrating some tricks and helpful hints for all the technology you have access to at Heartland AEA. You can also send questions, feedback or tech tip ideas to our new email address: techtips@heartlandaea.org. Enjoy!
