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 

Staff Invited to Bring Hurricane Relief Donations to All-Staff Meeting

Agency staff members are invited to participate in a Heartland AEA Cares project at this Friday’s All-Staff Meeting – donating items to students and families in the Aldine Independent School District in Houston who have been impacted by Hurricane Harvey. 

Brianna Sayre Geiser, Early Childhood Consultant, taught at the Aldine district when she lived in Texas, has several former coworkers in Houston and personally knows students who have been displaced and are in shelters in the school district. She is helping to coordinate this project and will be sending collected items to the Aldine district.

If you are able to donate, items to consider include:

• Travel sized shampoo and conditioner
• Shaving cream
• Razors
• Body wash
• Toothbrushes and toothpaste
• Personal hygiene products
• Deodorant
• Ear plugs 
• Small bags to organize items for each family
• New backpacks
• School supplies
• Child sized underwear and socks

If you are unable to attend the All-Staff Meeting and would like to donate, drop your donation off at the Johnston REC the week of Sept. 18. 

If you have any questions, contact Brianna Sayre Geiser.

Reminder: See You This Friday for the 2017 All-Staff Meeting!

We look forward to a great day of connecting, celebrating and learning from one another!

Location 

Holiday Inn Des Moines - Airport
6111 Fleur Drive

Des Moines, IA

Time 

9 - 9:30 a.m. – Registration, Coffee and Conversation
(coffee only, no breakfast fare)
9:30 - 11:35 a.m. – General Session
11:35 a.m - 12:45 p.m. – Lunch
11:35 a.m. – 1 p.m.  – Wellness/Benefits Fair
12:45 – 2:20 p.m. – PechaKucha Presentations


Details 
General Session
The morning’s general session will be a chance to hear from Jon Sheldahl, our new chief administrator, as well as other agency leaders about information 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.

Food & Beverage

Only coffee and tea will be served in the morning, so please plan to eat breakfast before you arrive. Lunch will consist of a turkey sandwich on a croissant, apple slices, mini carrots and a cookie. If you have special dietary needs, you were to have let us know your request by last Friday. Water stations will be available throughout the day if you’d like to bring a water bottle, and an afternoon snack will be served as well.

PechaKucha Presentations
Our afternoon will again 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 four presentations from your colleagues. 
- Presentation List

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. 15. 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 gifts!

Benefits/Wellness Fair
The Benefits/Wellness Fair will be held from 11:35 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Many of our past vendors will again be on hand, including our flu shot nurses! The Fair will be held in the foyer outside of the Iowa Hall, where our general session will be held, as well as in the Ballroom Foyer of the hotel. A map of the hotel will be available for you at the meeting. More information to follow.

Wear Agency Colors
Wear your agency colors – purple or green – and proudly display your Heartland AEA pride! You are welcome to wear typical casual Friday attire and any agency-branded t-shirts you have.

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.

Parking

The Airport Holiday Inn has fewer parking spots available on the property than Adventureland and the Sheraton have afforded us in the past. The Holiday Inn has 400 spots on site, however, there is free street parking to the north, south and east, as well as paid parking on the north and south sides of the hotel. We encourage you to carpool to the meeting if possible. Grab some coffee and a donut, take some selfies and put yourself in a good mood for our annual gathering! More information about parking is below. (Click on the photo to enlarge.)

We Look Forward to Your Support of Our United Way Campaign

As you consider a donation to this year’s United Way campaign, here are a few of the individuals who have benefited from the services provided by United Way programs.

Sept. 2017 School Leader Update Now Available

The Sept. 2017 issue of the School Leader Update from the Iowa Department of Education is now available.

Sept. 2017 Each and Every Child Newsletter Now Available

The Sept. 2017 issue of the Each and Every Child newsletter from the Iowa Department of Education is now available.

Required Action: Read 2017-18 Staff Handbook & Sign Read Receipt; Disclose to HR If You Are Related to Agency or District Staff

You received an email earlier today with a request to read the updated Staff Handbook. This article serves as a reminder of that request.

The Heartland AEA Staff Handbook has been updated as of Sept. 1, 2017 and is now available for all staff to read and become familiar with. 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 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 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 using this form.

For future reference, the Staff Handbook is located on the Intranet tab of the Employee Dashboard. Look under Human Resources and click on the 'Staff Handbook' link. 

Agency Offering Another Round of Naturally Slim: Free 10-Week Weight Loss Opportunity

Learn how to lose weight and improve your health while eating the foods you love!

Heartland AEA is offering you an opportunity to lose weight for free, with a program called Naturally Slim. The Naturally Slim program has the secret to lasting weight loss and it doesn’t include starving, counting calories, or eating diet food. It’s an online program that helps you learn how to eat to reduce your chance of getting a serious disease, like diabetes or heart disease, and increase your chances at living a longer, healthier life. Lose weight, plus improve your overall health -- all while eating the foods you love!

Space is limited. Apply between Sept. 11 – 18, 2017 at 12 p.m. 

Apply at the Naturally Slim website.

The Naturally Slim program begins Sept. 25, 2017! If you have any questions, contact Katie Streff, Human Resources Coordinator. 

Reminder: Our Flexible Benefits Administrator is Now 121 Benefits

Reminder: As of July 1, 2017, the Agency has a new administrator for its medical flex, dependent care flex and HRA benefit plans—121 Benefits. 121 Benefits was selected as the new administrator after a review of optional vendors.

If you haven’t yet created an account with 121 Benefits, go to the 121 Benefits website, and at the top of the page, find the “Account Access” box. Hover over the box and click the link for “Participant title - Select FSA - HRA - HSA login” and use the "Existing User?" box.

Enter your PEID # using a lower case “e” in both Username and Password. (You can find your PEID # by going to the Employee Online tab of the Employee Dashboard and selecting Pay Stub on the left hand side of the screen in the blue column. Select a paycheck, and you can find the number at the top of your pay check - e.g. E00001.)

You will be prompted to answer security questions, and then you will set up your user information, and if you want, your banking information as well.

Refer back to Connection articles from June and July that announce the transition to 121 Benefits and include Q & As about the new administrator. If you have further questions, contact Juliette Houseman, Benefits Specialist, or visit with a 121 Benefits representative at Friday’s All-Staff Meeting.

FYI: AEAs Supporting Purchase of myIGDIs for Districts This Year

This message was sent to district administrators last week. 

A few weeks ago you received an email from the Iowa Department of Education informing you that they were unable to continue their support for the Individual Growth and Development Indicators (myIGDIs) for literacy screening for preschool learners. The AEA system is interested in helping districts provide consistency with their screening programs for the 2017-18 school year. After consulting with the Iowa Department of Education, the AEA system reached out to myIGDIS and negotiated a one-year Iowa rate for use by districts, their community partners and non-public schools in Iowa. The AEA will contribute $2 a child to offset the cost for programs. This means programs will have free access or only pay $1.30 if they choose the iPad license.

Cost:

The options listed below are available to programs that have been giving myIGDIS and those that want to begin screening in 2017-18. 

Option	License type	Cost after AEA buy-down	Cost to districts after AEA subsidy
A	*Hard Copy of the Screening Scoring Forms + access to the Online Data System	$2 per student	$0 per student
B	iPad License for administration and scoring. This includes Progress Monitoring + access to the Online Data System (Need 2 ipads per classroom: teacher & student)	$3.30 per student	$1.30 per student

*This is the same version that programs used with the kits last year. Progress monitoring isn’t available with the paper version. 

If a district chooses the Online Data System and iPad license and Progress Monitoring System, the AEA system will pay $2 per student and myIGDIs will contract with the district for the additional $1.30 per student. If a district has already enrolled with myIGDIs, the district will be reimbursed by the AEA system $2 per student. 

Online Data System

Under both options the district will have access to the Online Data System. The Online Data System offers the following features:

• Accessible through any device with internet connectivity.
• Create reports for classroom instruction or for communicating progress to parents.
• Analyze assessment data, measure effectiveness of instructional changes, and track performance trends in alignment with long-term outcomes.

Screening Window

The Iowa Department of Education has moved the opening and closing of the fall screening window for preschool only. The screening window will open Sept. 18 and closes Oct. 20. If districts have scoring protocols left from past years, they may use them to get started. Once a district records their information on the Google form, they may make copies of protocols or can wait to be shipped protocols by myIGDIs.

Benchmarks for myIGDIs for 2017-2018

The benchmarks that were used in 2016-2017 for IGDIs in Iowa Tier will be different than the benchmarks set in the myIGDIs online system. The benchmarks set in the Online Data System are set based on national student performance. The purpose of screening is to predict which children may be at risk for early literacy skill development. The benchmarks in myIGDIs set by the researchers at the University of Minnesota are based on 3 Tiered System of data, however the predictive value will remain the same. Districts will have access to the myIGDIs benchmark scores for fall, winter and spring through a downloadable technical manual. 

Student Import into Online Data System

Preschool students will not be imported into the myIGDIs online data system through the district Student Information System (SIS). myIGDIs has an import process involving an Excel template. This process and setting up classes will be explained in the training webinars. 

Training

Free statewide webinars will be offered to show educators how to use the online data system. These will be scheduled statewide and schools could chose to join at no additional cost. myIGDIS plans to begin offering them the week of Sept. 18, 2017. 

District Action to Participate

Interested districts should click on the link and learn more about myIGDIS and sign up if they want to participate. The information that will be requested is the name and email of the early childhood contact and assessment coordinator/contact, name of district, shipping address for paper copies if they are needed, the AEA your district is located in, the number of preschool students you will screening in 2017-2018, and which service you are wanting to use (hard copies and Online Data System or Online Data System and iPad license).

Timeline

Sept. 8-15:

• Interested districts can sign up and indicate if they need paper copies sent from myIGDIS 

Week of Sept. 18: 

• Classroom teachers need to attend webinar. Upon completion they can they will have access to the online data system and training modules.  

Sept. 18: 

• Fall screening window opens for preschool 

Oct. 20: 

• Fall screening window closes for preschool 

Questions and Support

If you have specific questions about my myIGDIS and their materials and licenses, contact Jill Freking at 612.444.3043. If you have questions about anything related to the role of the AEA, contact Kevin Fangman, Chief Academic Officer. 

September 2017 Board of Directors Meeting Agenda Now Available

The agenda for the Sept. 12, 2017 Heartland AEA Board of Directors meeting is now available. The Board will meet first in its annual joint meeting with the Des Moines Area Community College (DMACC) Board of Directors. 

New Web IEP Programming In Effect for FBAs and BIPs

New programming has occurred for the Functional Behavior Assessment (FBA) and Behavior Intervention Plan (BIP) on the Web IEP program. There is a message posted on the Web IDEA login screen. 

Some highlights of the programming include:

• New FBA/BIPs can no longer be created, reviewed without change, or revised via the 'forms for active IEP' button on the IEP overview screen. They can only be created or revised with an open IEP plan.
• The program will archive a copy of every FBA and BIP once it goes through the IEP validation. So, even if it carries over to the new plan and users delete that carried over FBA or BIP, it is still archived with the previous IEP.
• There is a new date field that was added and will fill in automatically with the IEP meeting date once entered on tab A.  If there is no meeting, the date field will remain blank. Also, a new field for Point Person has been added. Users can use the bank (B) or type in a name to be saved.
• The forms will only carry over to a new IEP if page B had the second behavior 'yes' box checked on the previous plan (see below).

• Multiple forms will not carry over even for Amendments. The program will carry over the most recent FBA/BIP to the new plan. These forms can be deleted by clicking on the red X next to the form if a new FBA/BIP is created with the amendment or new IEP plan.
• On an Amendment, the program will auto-check 'review without change' automatically. However, users can update to revision if needed. 
• If there is an FBA or BIP attached to an IEP, the forms will archive with the IEP even if the second checkbox is is not checked. If the forms should not be archived with the IEP, they need to be deleted prior to submission. 
• On the FBA/BIP forms that are carried over to a new IEP, the Author on the forms tab will display the person who selects the 'forms' tab first and will input the date the user clicked on the forms tab. However, the program will look at the Point Person or the Individuals Developing the FBA or BIP for data.

If you have any questions, contact your regional director. 

Tech Tips of the Week Will Return; In the Meantime, Catch Up on Any You Missed

Tech Tips of the Week will return soon. In the meantime, catch up on any tips you’ve missed by looking back in the Tech Tips archive on the Intranet > Technology > Tech Tips of the Week.