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
What a fun day our All-Staff Meeting was to connect, celebrate and learn with one another!
If you haven't already, take a few minutes to look over the meeting materials, our great photos and take the survey below.
Meeting Materials
In this folder, you'll find materials from the meeting:
- Celebration Slideshow
- Morning Presentation
- Program Packet
- Videos – Wellness Dance video and "It’s a Tech Taco!" video
Photos
Survey
Please take a few minutes to offer your feedback and comments about this year's All-Staff Meeting via our survey. Your responses will help us plan for future meetings. Please respond by Oct. 11. Thank you!
Lost & Found
Email the Communications Dept. to claim these sunglasses left at the All-Staff Meeting.
National Fire Prevention Week was established to commemorate the Great Chicago Fire, the tragic 1871 conflagration that killed more than 250 people, left 100,000 homeless, destroyed more than 17,400 structures and burned more than 2,000 acres. The fire began on Oct. 8, but continued into and did most of its damage on Oct. 9, 1871.
How can you prevent fires? The National Fire Protection Association offers some basic tips:
- Watch your cooking. Stay in the kitchen when you are frying, grilling, or broiling food. If you must leave - even for a short time - turn off the stove.
- Give space heaters space. Keep fixed and portable space heaters at least three feet from anything that can burn. Turn off heaters when you leave the room or go to sleep.
- Smoke outside. Ask smokers to smoke outside. Have sturdy, deep ashtrays for smokers.
- Keep matches and lighters out of reach. Keep matches and lighters up high, out of reach of young children, preferably in a cabinet with a child lock. o Inspect electrical cords. Replace cords that are cracked, damaged, have broken plugs, or have loose connections.
- Be careful when using candles. Keep candles at least one foot from anything that can burn. Blow out candles when you leave the room or go to sleep.
- Have a home fire escape plan. Make a home fire escape plan and practice it at least twice a year.
- Install smoke alarms. Install smoke alarms on every level of your home, inside bedrooms and outside sleeping areas. Interconnect smoke alarms throughout the home. When one sounds, they all sound.
- Test smoke alarms. Test smoke alarms at least once a month and replace batteries once a year or when the alarm “chirps” to tell you the battery is low. Replace any smoke alarm that is more than 10 years old.
- Install sprinklers. If you are building or remodeling your home, install residential fire sprinklers. Sprinklers can contain and may even extinguish a fire in less time than it would take the fire department to arrive.
For more information, visit the NFPA's website.
Heartland AEA is partnering with an advisory company, Fiducius (formerly IS Loan Solutions), to help school employees improve their student loan situations and overall financial well-being. All full-time Heartland AEA staff and school district staff (regardless of position) with student loans are encouraged to find out if this voluntary benefit can help them. They may qualify for loan forgiveness and refinancing to help lower or even eliminate loan payments.
Fiducius is a student loan advisory firm (not debt consolidator) that offers a voluntary student loan relief benefit that may be able to help staff with federal student loans, including Parent Plus Loans, reduce their monthly student loan payment and overall obligation. This benefit provides information to you about their potential for significant savings on student loan debt. This is a free, voluntary, no-obligation review and consultation for staff with student loans. If you want to take the relationship further and use Fiducius to implement a loan relief program on your behalf, there will be a fee to implement all of the necessary steps. The fee is based on the complexity of the student loan forgiveness strategy.
This program was first introduced to educational service agencies, such as AEAs, across the country through the Association of Educational Service Agencies’ (AESA) national consortium. Grant Wood AEA piloted the program in Iowa in 2016 and reported positive reviews. Heartland AEA has partnered with Fiducius since 2017.
Your education colleagues nationwide already working with Fiducius have reduced their monthly payments by an average of 84% and are projected to receive an average of $72,338 in tax-free loan forgiveness.
It’s easy to get started with this benefit. You can determine your eligibility and potential savings in just a few minutes and then talk with an advisor on the phone at your convenience, by using the following link:
Visit Heartland AEA 11 + Fiducius to register.
Fiducius will fully educate you about all available options and provide a personalized Student Loan Financial Wellness Plan at no cost before you decide whether or not to use their services. As with other voluntary benefits, like life insurance, you only pay Fiducius when you choose to use their services.
Questions or trouble logging in? Call (513) 645-5400, email or visit their website for more information and success stories.
Good news – you can still go to your primary care physician (PCP) for your annual physical or visit your local Hy-Vee dietician to have your biometric screening done. You’ll just need to take the Interactive Health Physician form with you. You can find the form in your Interactive Health portal at the end of your health assessment. You can also contact Interactive Health to request your form.
On your Interactive Health portal home page, find “Schedule Your Health Evaluation-Schedule Now.”
Answer/Complete the information and select “Choose Location.”
Select a Health Evaluation Location and select “Next.”
Follow the final steps to get your form, print it and take it with you.
Already had your physical or biometric screening but didn’t use the form? No worries! Get your form from your Interactive Health portal or contact Interactive Health to receive a form. Then take it to wherever you had your screening completed, have the provider complete and sign the form and then mail it to Interactive Health. Once they receive your form, the information will be manually uploaded into your portal, usually within 2 days of receiving it.
If you have any questions about biometric screenings, contact Carol McDaniel, Human Resources Assistant.
Human Resources has drawn the winners from those who participated in the Wellness & Benefits Fair Scavenger Hunt at the All-Staff Meeting.
Congratulations to:
- Mandy Burns – Personal health basket from Interactive Health
- Cheryl Risen – Electric toothbrush from Delta Dental
- Michael Soliday – Apron from Interactive Health
- Shara Garner-Holderness – Items from Interactive Health
- Colleen Miller – Backpack of items from National Insurance Services
- Adam Puderbaugh – Bag of items from multiple vendors
- Jessica Renoux, Julie Ridley, Julie Kohles, Barb Hoffman, Trisha Conner, Audrey Walker, Kristen Rosenbeck, Rae Jean Lepird, Julie Totten, Chelsey Jensen – Heartland AEA items
Your prizes will be sent to you via van mail to the office you are assigned, so keep an eye out! Thanks to everyone who attended the Fair and participated in the Scavenger Hunt!
Last year, Heartland AEA filled 60 vacancies in the Certified Union and Management staff employee groups. It has been to the Agency’s advantage to enter the recruitment cycle as early as possible.
For 2019-20, the Heartland AEA Board of Directors has again approved an Early Notification Incentive for staff who have a signed contract and who notify Heartland AEA of their intent to not renew their contract for the 2020-21 school year by Dec. 6, 2019. Details are listed below.
Early Notification Incentive Process & Requirements
- Certified Union and Management staff who do not plan to return to Heartland AEA for the 2020-21 school year must submit early notification letters of resignation that are effective at the end of the 2019-20 work year.
- Early notification letters must be received in the Human Resources Department by 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 6, 2019.
- Heartland AEA’s Board of Directors acts on early notification letters no later than the regular meeting on Dec. 10, 2019.
- Departing staff must fulfill their individual employment contract obligations for the 2019-20 work year.
Early Notification Incentive
- A $1,500 early notification incentive will be paid on June 30, 2020, to employees fulfilling these requirements.
If you have any questions about the early notification incentive, contact Nia Chiaramonte, Director of Human Resources, at ext. 14534.
The agenda for the Oct. 8, 2019, Heartland AEA Board of Directors meeting is available.
Many of you spend lots of time in the car for work or in our personal lives. Podcasts can be a perfect way to transform this otherwise unproductive drive time into an opportunity for learning or entertainment. Do you listen to podcasts for professional learning or fun?
Help the Instructional Technology team crowdsource a list of great podcasts! Use this Google Form to add your favorite podcasts to the list. Look in upcoming editions of The Connection for podcasts recommended by fellow Heartland AEA staff members.
Heartland AEA staff participating in classes, study groups and conferences offered for Teacher Quality funds can now be reimbursed for mileage.
Please follow agency guidelines for submitting mileage and enter the mileage on your monthly expense report.
This year, Senate File 2113 was enacted, requiring all school personnel to engage in annual training on suicide prevention and postvention. It is the Agency’s expectation that all certified staff AND any staff who work with children complete this module in preparation for our October Agency Directed Learning sessions, as we will be engaging in reflective conversations together.
In the interest of honoring staff voice and choice regarding when to engage in this professional learning, as well as providing adequate time for this learning, we are offering two options:
- You may complete the online module prior to arriving at your October Agency-Directed learning session. If you elect to complete the module prior to your October session, you will need to arrive at your session at 9:30 a.m.
OR
- You may complete the online module during the first hour (8:30-9:30 a.m.) of your October Agency Directed Learning session. If you elect to complete the module during your October session, you will need to arrive no later than 8:30 a.m. on the day of your session.
The module, “Suicide Prevention and Postvention,” can be accessed via AEA Learning Online. You will receive a certificate of completion at the end of the module. You may download the certificate for your own records, however, you do not need to send the certificate to anyone, as we will be pulling completion reports from the online system.
If you have any questions regarding the modules, contact your regional director and/or Jadie Boens, Special Programs Director. If you have any questions specific to the October Agency Directed Learning and the logistics for your session, contact Martha Condon, Director of Professional Learning.
