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
As we approach the end of the school year at Heartland AEA, I want to thank all of you for the effort and commitment you’ve invested in making this a year of growth for our entire agency. I like to think we are an agency committed to growth, and we all know that while growth can be associated with some pain, it can also lead to accomplishment. I appreciate how you come to work every day ready to take on the significant challenges facing our agency--and I fully realize that doing so isn’t always easy.
Increasing expectations for our agency, and the demands on our time associated with those expectations, only multiply with each new year. What’s satisfying to me is how we seem to be able to meet those expectations. Our work is challenging and will continue to be so, but our team’s capacity to meet the ever-increasing needs of children, families and educators is inspiring. And that’s a credit to every one of you. So, thank you for all you do to make a difference. Remember that what you do is important and greatly appreciated.
Next year will no doubt have challenges of its own. We will need to continue to be a learning organization and will need to continue to work to find the opportunities and supports you need to do your work. We will remain committed to being intentional about our culture. This means we will continue to strive to be a transparent organization, one built on communication and trust. Being intentional about building a positive culture isn’t easy work in a large and complex organization and finding the sweet spot between consistency and autonomy will always be a challenge. Regardless of where we land in trying to find that balance, we will continue to make every attempt to honor your work and your voice.
Our success in the future, like our success in the past, will be determined by the extent to which we communicate and support one another. I continue to be a firm believer that every success or failure we experience is a direct result of the quality of the relationships of those involved. We will continue to work to build those relationships both inside and outside the Agency.
Again, thank you for your very important work. I trust that you will find some time this summer to relax and recharge. Bring on the sun!
Jon
Heartland AEA is pleased to announce that Meredith Mauro will join the Agency as the new Shelter Care Educational Program (SCEP) Administrator. She will oversee our SCEP classrooms at Rosedale, Youth Emergency Services & Shelter and the Polk County Juvenile Detention Center.
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| Meredith Mauro |
Jadie Boens, Director of Special Programs, who has provided oversight for the SCEP classrooms for the past year, in addition to providing leadership and support for the Agency’s social, emotional, behavior and mental health (SEBMH) programming, will be focusing full-time on SEBMH programming going forward.
Meredith has been the principal of Valerius Elementary School in Urbandale since 2013. During her time there, she has initiated building-wide use of improvement cycles to foster a data-driven learning culture, created an MTSS data review process to collaboratively establish student academic and social-emotional goals, implemented staff training on PBIS and revised the school’s academic and behavioral intervention protocols using an MTSS framework.
Her experience also includes:
- Adjunct Instructor, school leadership, Drake University, 2018-present
- Dean of Students, King Elementary, Des Moines Public Schools, 2010-2013
- Middle School and Elementary Teacher
- Des Moines Public Schools, 2003-2010
- Chicago Public Schools, 2000-2003
Meredith earned her specialist degree in education leadership/superintendency from Drake University, a master’s degree in education leadership from Viterbo University and a bachelor's degree in elementary education from the University of Iowa.
Meredith will join the Agency on July 1, 2019.
This week the Agency’s Ankeny co-location will move from Parkview Middle School to Northview Middle School, a move prompted by the Ankeny school district’s need to use space differently at Parkview. The Northview space will be set up and ready to go in a few weeks and will have more room than the current space at Parkview.
As you will recall, co-locations are small “landing spots” for staff to do paperwork, make copies, return phone calls, etc. They are not dedicated office spaces. The Agency has one other co-location space at Delaware Elementary in Altoona.
The Agency is looking forward to another year of employee engagement through staff presentations at our All-Staff Meeting!
Save Sept. 27, 2019, on your calendar for a “most of the day” meeting that will again feature an afternoon of presentations from YOU! This year, we’ve decided to take a little different approach. Our call for presenters this year will allow you and your colleagues the option of choosing to present an afternoon session or a morning informational table or both!
- Morning informational tables: New this year, if departments or workgroups would like to showcase their work via a table display, that option will be available from 7:30 to 9 a.m. before the meeting begins.
- Afternoon presentations: 20 minutes in length and can be presented in any format you prefer. Topics can be personal or professional, and some themes to think about are wellness and personal empowerment.
How to Submit a Proposal
If you or a team of your co-workers are interested in having a table or doing a presentation, complete this presentation proposal by June 15, 2019. After all proposals have been submitted, you will be notified if your presentation or table display has been accepted. When planning your presentation, think about whether it reflects, educates, touches on or celebrates areas that we’ve emphasized as an organization, such as:
- Core Values: Caring - Proactive - Collaborative
- 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.
- Goals: Increase learning growth, Decrease gaps in achievement, Increase annual graduation rates, Increase post-secondary gateways
- Wellness: Heartland AEA’s Five Elements of Wellness: Career, Community, Financial, Social, Physical
Topics can be almost anything that is inspiring within our work throughout the Agency as well as personal topics that don’t fall too far outside the wellness/volunteering categories.
This approach to learning during our All-Staff meeting gives us a unique opportunity to feel the pulse of the Agency in just a few hours, to celebrate together, learn together and get re-connected. These presentations showcase your expertise, your passion and your innovation. So, don’t be shy—show your work! Submit your presentation application by June 15, 2019!
If you have any questions, contact the Communications Department.
Heartland AEA’s fiscal year will end on June 30, 2019. In order for the Agency to close its books in a timely and accurate manner, the Business Office needs your assistance in returning date-sensitive items.
- For payroll-related work completed on or before June 30, turn in timesheets and submit addendum online forms with appropriate approvals to the Payroll Department by July 5, 2019.
- Review open Addendum Online assignments. Close addendum assignments that will not have any additional hours logged.
- For travel, mileage and purchases occurring on or before June 30, turn in claim forms, expense claims, invoices for services or professional development/travel forms with appropriate approvals to the Business Office by July 10, 2019.
- Do not put dates from two different fiscal years on the same timesheet, vacation request or in-area travel form. In-area travel forms with two fiscal years will be returned for correction.
IMPORTANT: If extenuating circumstances cause a delay in submitting expenses related to fiscal year 2019, Aug. 31, 2019, is the last date the Business Office will accept and process any claims for expenses occurring on or before June 30, 2019.
If you have any questions, contact Brian Whalen, Business Manager, at ext. 14005 or Heng Fongkhamdeng, Accountant, at ext. 14417. Thank you for your assistance!
The Agency recently made some changes to the Hourly Addendum interface. When an employee goes to fill out hours for an hourly addendum, the main links will now read “Add/Modify Hours” and “Submit Hours” instead of “Edit” and “Confirm.”
Additionally, by going to the "Add/Modify" screen, employees will also be able to see the dates their submitted hours were approved by the Addendum Approver and by Payroll. A new column, the "Paycheck Date" column, has been added to indicate the date the funds were or will be distributed to the employee.
If you have any questions, contact Rod Howell, Information Systems Manager, or Sean Boyle, Computer Software Engineer Tech Lead.
Mileage
The Agency will increase its mileage reimbursement rate to 42 cents per mile effective July 1, 2019. The new rate applies to work-related miles driven after June 30, 2019. The Agency's mileage rate is indexed to changes in the IRS mileage rate.
Meals
The Agency will increase its in-state per diem maximum meal reimbursement to $35 and its out-of-state per diem maximum to $50 effective July 1, 2019. Both rates include tax and tips. These rates have not changed in the past five years.
If you are off contract for the summer months, we ask that you set your out-of-office messages accordingly.
Change Gmail Vacation Responder (Out-of-Office Message) (sample below)
Thank you for contacting Heartland AEA. I will be off contract and out of the office from June *** until Aug. ***, 2019. I will return your message as soon as I can. If you need immediate assistance, contact *****. Thank you.
Change Voicemail Greeting to Unavailable (sample below)
Thank you for calling Heartland AEA. You have reached Sally Smith. I am currently off contract and out of the office from June *** until Aug. ***, 2019. Please leave a message, and I will return your call when I am back in the office. If you need immediate assistance, contact ******. Thank you.
Tip: If you want to change your voicemail greeting from your home phone or cell phone, you may do so by calling either (515) 270-0405 or (515) 473-7450 and pressing # when you begin to hear the greeting. This gets you into your voicemail, and you can then follow the prompts to access your messages, change your voicemail greeting or set it to out-of-office. Please be mindful not to refer a customer to another staff member who is also scheduled to be out of the office. Check with that person to make sure he or she will be available and aware that you are forwarding calls to them during your absence.
As many of you are transitioning to a well-deserved summer break, the Heartland AEA leadership team asks that staff who have time off during the summer check their agency email at least once a week during June, July and August.
The Agency relies heavily on email to communicate valuable agency and regional messages and timely responses are oftentimes requested. If you have any questions about this request, contact your supervisor.
Observed annually in June, National Safety Month focuses on reducing leading causes of injury and death at work, on the road and in our homes and communities. Topics for 2019 include:
- Hazard Recognition
- Slips, Trips and Falls
- Fatigue
- Impairment
For additional information, visit the National Safety Council's website.
As the end of the fiscal year begins to approach on June 30, 2019, please keep in mind the following dates:
- Calendar exchange requests for 2018-19 must be submitted and approved by June 28, 2019.
- The deadline to enter leave requests for the 2018-19 year is July 1, 2019.
- Supervisors need to approve all 2018-19 leave requests by July 5, 2019. This will allow us to calculate and display actual, rather than estimated, leave balances for 2019-20 by the end of July.
If you have any questions, contact Heather Rinderknecht, Human Resources Associate, at ext. 14427.
Many of you know, but some of you may not know, that the Agency maintains a warehouse space to store items for the Agency and for staff. Staff items would be things you don’t need access to on a regular basis or things that need to be archived for an agency purpose.
As summer begins, now is a great time to do a little cleaning and tidying up. If you have items you need taken to our warehouse, please keep the following guidelines in mind.
- Contact Jason Elliott, Operations Worker, for boxes, labels and logistical questions related to the warehousing process.
- Box items in standard agency boxes and label with agency warehouse storage labels.
- Appropriately fill out the label. Put your name, department, contents of the box, approximate time to be stored and most importantly, the box number.
- Do not pack any liquids or pack boxes too heavily.
- Keep track of what you have at the warehouse to call for retrieval.
- Remember, the Operations staff doesn’t keep track of your inventory; they just store it. You must keep up-to-date records of what the warehouse has stored for you.
Shipping to Warehouse
- To ship items to the warehouse if you are in a regional office/school, put boxes in the AEA van delivery/pick-up location.
- If you are in the Johnston REC or Administration Center, place your boxes on the REC van loading dock.
Retrieving From Warehouse
- To retrieve a box from the warehouse, check your records to see how you labeled the box and send Jason Elliott an email with your name, department and box number and where you would like the box sent.
- The delivery of the item will be by van route, so check your route to be sure there is time to get the item. Please order your items two days in advance.
- In the event of an emergency, contact Dustin Gean, Operations Manager, for retrieval of your items.
