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
On April 22 you should have received an email inviting you to participate in the Denison Organizational Culture Survey. If you haven’t already done so, please complete the survey by May 10. If you’ve already completed the survey, thank you for your participation!
We encourage you to respond openly and honestly to the survey so our agency receives accurate results. Your responses are completely confidential and will only be presented as part of our agency’s overall organizational profile or as part of a subgroup. Your views and insights are critical in helping our agency achieve its goals. Thank you for your participation!
Our annual benefits enrollment is open to all full-time and 96-day employees from April 1 through April 30, 2019 at 4 p.m. for the 2019-20 benefit year, which begins July 1, 2019. Full-time employees may enroll in health and dental insurance and medical flex spending plans, while part-time staff (96-day) may enroll in the medical flex spending plan. (Note: This enrollment period is not for the dependent care plan, which is done in November.) You will need to make enrollment selections even if you choose not to make any changes to your benefits for next year.
This is the time you can add and/or drop family members to your health and dental plans without a life event or change of status. Annual enrollment time is also the only time during the year you can change your deductible—you aren't able to do that during the year, even with a life event or change of status.
How to Enroll
Enrollment can be completed through the Employee Online tab of your Employee Dashboard. If you have any issues enrolling, first try logging out of the Employee Dashboard and then logging back in. You can also use these enrollment instructions, which include instructions on how to print your benefit statement.
The Des Moines Public Schools’ (DMPS) Summit on School Climate and Culture (don’t register just yet!) will be offered as a Teacher Quality (TQ) opportunity for the 2019-20 school year for interested Heartland AEA Certified staff who qualify for TQ funds. Through a collaboration with DMPS, Heartland AEA staff can register at a reduced rate, as the Summit content is relevant to our work at Heartland AEA. Last year over 100 Heartland AEA staff attended the conference.
TQ funds will cover registration costs for eligible participants. We anticipate the TQ stipend for 2019-20 will be about $700. The rest of the TQ opportunities for 2019-20 will be announced in September.
The Summit on School Climate and Culture will allow you to engage with leading experts in education and school improvement on how a positive school climate and culture is key to student, school and district improvements. Keynote speakers include Brittany Packnett, Dr. Pedro Antonio Noguera, Roberto Rivera and Dr. Bettina L. Love.
The Summit is defined by six major strands: Best Practices in Improving School Climate, Multi-Tiered System of Supports, Equity, Whole Child Health, Stakeholder Engagement and Leadership.
Summit on School Climate and Culture
Aug. 12-13, 2019 (100% attendance required)
8:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Community Choice Convention Center, Des Moines
Registering for 2019 Summit on Climate and Culture TQ Course
HL - TQ: 2019 Summit on Climate and Culture (Register Here!)
The Heartland AEA Professional Learning Department will formally register participants from the TQ Summit Course with DMPS so TQ funds can pay the registration fee. Please do not register on the Summit website. After Heartland AEA registers our staff, you will receive information from DMPS regarding the process for selecting your sessions.
Registration Deadline: May 22, 2019
Guidance for Registering in the New Professional Learning Registration System
In the new system, there is not a separate fee for employees to move on the salary scale. If Heartland AEA employees are not taking a class to move on the salary scale but want license renewal credit, you would use a PO and put in HEART (see article in April 7, 2019 Connection) as the PO number to pay the fee. If you are moving on the salary scale, you would need to pay the fee yourself.
Requirement for Participation
Participants will submit a written reflection including new learning and a plan for implementation after attending the Summit. Reflection may be submitted individually or with a group.
If you have any questions about this TQ opportunity, contact Cheryl Risen.
The Agency is preparing to upgrade all of its Mac computers to Apple’s current operating system, macOS 10.14. Having all staff using the same operating system will enhance our security and simplify the process of providing support.
On April 17, you received an email with detailed instructions about how to perform the upgrade. Please read the email and watch the short video included that demonstrates how the upgrade process will be performed.
The Internal Technology Department asks that you complete the upgrade to OS 10.14 by May 10, before the rush of the end of the school year.
If you have any questions, contact the Internal Technology Team.
