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
It’s your chance to spend a little time with chief administrator, Jon Sheldahl! Come meet Jon and have a conversation with him about anything and everything! (Click the image below to enlarge.)
The ACA requires Heartland AEA to provide Form 1095-C, Employer Provided Health Insurance Offer and Coverage, to all employees who were enrolled in our health insurance plan at any time in 2017. This form provides information about the coverage offered to you, your spouse and dependents, if applicable, and the months of coverage. Your 2017 Form 1095-C has been mailed to your home address. You can also view your Form 1095-C through the Employee Online section of your Employee Dashboard. Once in
Employee Online, go to the left-hand navigation and click on W2/ACA 1095C Info then on 1095C 2017. This will open a PDF copy of your 1095-C. If you have any questions, contact Steve Jordan, Senior Payroll Specialist, at ext. 14908.
When delivering presentations on behalf of Heartland AEA, staff are encouraged to use presentation templates that carry the Agency’s logo and colors. This helps reinforce our agency brand and present information in a professional manner. We now offer templates for Google Slides as well as the templates for PowerPoint. You can find template examples and information on the Intranet > Communications > Templates > Presentation Templates. Not sure how to access the template gallery for Google Slides? Here is a quick screencast demonstrating how.
If you have any questions about these templates, contact the Communications Dept. If you have technical questions about using Google Slides, Google Drive or accessing the templates, contact Mande Gamble, Technology Training Specialist.
The Governor’s 2018 Future Ready Iowa Summit will be held on April 3 at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. The purpose of this all-day event is to amplify the public conversation about transforming education and the workforce, including expanding work-based learning and computer science instruction. The Governor’s STEM Advisory Council, which is hosting the summit, is inviting leaders from business and industry, PK-12 and post-secondary education, non-profits, parents, students, elected officials and others, who will take information from the summit back to their communities to build upon existing initiatives. Speakers include:
Mary Andringa, Chair of the Board of Vermeer
Brandon Busteed, Gallup's Executive Director of Education and Workforce Development
Hadi Partovi, CEO of Code.org
Jeff Weld, Senior Policy Advisor for STEM education at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
Jemar Lee, a College Community School District senior and co-founder of EdRevision
Nicole Smith, Chief Economist at the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, a computer science education pioneer
Future Ready Iowa Summit April 3, 2018 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. Iowa Events Center Registration Registration is $50 for adults and free for students.
Diane Sheline, author of Strategy to See: Strategies for Students with Cerebral/Cortical Visual Impairment, is presenting at the Iowa Deafblind Project Summer Workshop on June 13-14, 2018 in Des Moines. The workshop will focus on understanding assessment and intervention strategies for students with Cortical Vision Impairment. Cortical Vision Impairment Summer Workshop June 13-14, 2018 Ramada Tropics Resort and Conference Center, Des Moines Registration Registration is limited to 75 people. The workshop will be available for one licensure renewal credit through Heartland AEA.
Did you know these things about the Human Resources (HR) Department?
HR has updated its “Contact Us” page on the Intranet under the Human Resources link. The page has been laid out differently in order to make it easier for you to search for the topic you need assistance with. Check it out by going to the Intranet > Human Resources > Contact Guide.
The HR team is here to help! If you have any questions, always feel free to call or email a member of the team. You can also set up individual in-person or Zoom appointments. Team members are here to serve you!
The HR team strives to be responsive to staff questions and does its very best to respond to questions within one business day.
Lane change season is upon us! A reminder about the process will be included in a future Connection article. You can take a look at the information about Salary Advancement now as well, which is also archived on the Intranet > Human Resources > For Certified Staff > Salary Advancement (Re-classification Information). If you have any questions now or want to submit a lane change, contact Whitney Anderson, Human Resources Generalist.
HR will have new staff contracts posted (for those employees who have contracts) electronically on the Employee Dashboard under Employee Online as soon as they are available. You will be notified as soon as that happens.
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:
77% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck – Bankrate.com
30% of Americans have outstanding loans on their 401k’s – Business Record
#1 cause of stress is money problems and money fights – multiple studies
Heartland AEA is excited to announce another round of the Tackling Debt financial wellness session! Whether you are looking to pick-up a few nuggets of information, or you need a financial over haul, this 90-minute workshop is just for you. You will leave knowing how to get out of debt and what to do with your money after you become debt free. You will also learn about how the credit score is figured and what it means to you.
Taking Debt Workshop March 21, 2018 3-4:30 p.m. Johnston REC Registration (By March 19) Zoom option also available
Heartland AEA is pleased to announce that it will hold its 4th annual Education Career Fair in March! March 7, 2018 2:00-5:30 p.m. Heartland AEA 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
Returning this year: Mock interviews and resume critiques!
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.
The Heartland AEA online staff directory (available via a link at the top of the agency website) has been updated with a new look and feel and some enhanced features. Anyone, including district staff, has the ability to search for agency staff by district served, building served or workgroup and then choose the “Photo Directory” button, which will produce a PDF with staff photos and contact information. We think this new feature will be helpful for many school administrators who want to “put faces to names” in their school buildings. We ask that you visit the directory and do a search for yourself. Review the information that comes up and confirm that it is correct. If any edits need to be made, contact Whitney Anderson, Human Resources Generalist.
With many kudos to our Information Systems team, today we launch a new and improved Events Scheduler system at Heartland AEA.
We are excited for this new system to debut, as it will improve your experience when requesting rooms for your meetings and professional learning activities in our agency-owned offices (Johnston, Adel, Ames, Indianola). The new system integrates seamlessly with Google and will create efficiencies for those requesting rooms. And to top it off, it looks great, too! Highlights of the System:
Login with your agency Google account. (Score!)
You’re able to see your own Google calendar as soon as you login to the system. When you reserve a room, you can add your meeting or activity to your own calendar and invite participants right in the system -- you don’t have to open your calendar in Google and do it from there. No more going back and forth between systems. (Yes!)
The search feature allows you to search for rooms/meetings by whatever terms you put in the search field -- title, location, date, requestor, etc.
Fields are available in the system that allow you to add information about catering and any other needs, and you can choose room set-up configurations as well. This eliminates the PDF form that has been in use the past couple of years. ALL requests and special information is captured through the Events Scheduler system. (Woo hoo!)
A new and improved map of the Johnston Regional Education Center (REC) is linked in the system, and you’ll notice the larger conference rooms each have a color assigned to them. The colors will come into play in the future as the Agency explores digital signage options for the REC.
Help features are embedded through the system. Just click on the "i" icons to learn more about specific items.
Note that you will still use the Resource Scheduler system when reserving equipment such as speakers, microphones, cameras, easels, power cord reels, etc. A link to the Resource Scheduler is accessible at all times in the Events Scheduler system. In the future, we also hope to bring you a mobile-friendly version of the Events Scheduler, 360 degree virtual tours of the Johnston REC conference rooms and digital signage outside of the rooms. Head over to the Events Scheduler to check it out! A link to the system is archived on the Intranet under Event Planning, Room Scheduling & Set-up. If you have any questions about the new system, contact Brandie Gean, Licensure/Conference Center Manager. If you have any questions about room scheduling, contact Carol McDaniel, Central Office Administrative Assistant.
Are your students’ families really involved in their education? At this FREE event on June 18, participants will will learn the importance of family engagement in the academic lives and success of learners and discover how to create a culture that is conducive to engaging every family in the school and classroom. Engaging Every Family to Support Student Achievement June 18, 2018 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. Johnston Middle School Auditorium Registration
Invited Audience: school administrators, teacher leaders, general and special education teachers Presenter: Steve Constantino, Ed.D. As a high school principal in 1995, Steve Constantino, Ed.D. became aware of research about the effects of family engagement on student learning and was convinced that this was the missing ingredient in helping all children learn. Using his high school as a laboratory, Dr. Constantino began to read more and more research and more importantly, figure out ways to apply it to his school. Steve’s work has gained national prominence as he’s traveled the United States speaking and working with all types of educators, school board members and businesses to promote sound practices in family engagement that result in increased academic achievement for all students. Today, he is the Acting State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Commonwealth of Virginia and is an adjunct professor at the School of Education, College of William and Mary where he teaches courses in the Executive Doctoral Program in Educational Leadership.
More information:Terry Mendell, Family & Educator Lead Coordinator
If you received a new computer or you’ve reset your browser recently, you might have realized that email links don’t automatically open in Gmail as they did before. These instructions show you the steps to change that setting in both Google Chrome and Firefox.
