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

Social Distancing, Face Coverings and Communication Are Key in Agency’s First COVID-19 Case of a Staff Member Working in an Agency Office

I wanted to let you know that last week we had our first experience with a positive COVID-19 test for a staff member who had been working in an agency workspace and subsequent contact tracing. An agency staff member tested positive for COVID-19 after being in close proximity to someone who had also tested positive but is not a Heartland AEA employee. Our staff member is currently under quarantine, and except for those who needed to know, the identity of the staff member is kept confidential.   

Our contact tracing protocols worked as planned during this event for a number of reasons.  

• Contacting HR immediately: The employee who tested positive contacted our HR Department immediately and did not wait for the county health department to initiate contact tracing. This gave us a jump start on notifying all staff who would have potentially interacted with the employee the day they were in our facility. 
 
• Knowing who is in our buildings: All staff who were present in the facility the same day as this person had signed into and out of the facility. This allowed us to immediately reach out to all those potentially exposed. This potential exposure took place at multiple buildings last week, and anyone listed on the sign-in/sign-out sheets for those buildings on those dates was notified immediately. I happened to be one of the people in one of the buildings that day and can personally attest to this immediate notification. (When you sign-in, remember to write your name so that HR can read it. It’s hard to contact you if they can’t read your name!) 
 
• Knowing who you were in contact with: The employee who tested positive was able to immediately share names and information of people they had interactions with that enabled HR to determine who was considered a direct exposure or an indirect exposure and notify those people accordingly. Staff members who had direct exposure according to CDC guidelines were told to quarantine and others who did not have direct exposure but were in the building were told to monitor their symptoms in accordance with CDC guidelines. 
 
• Practicing social distancing and wearing face coverings: Most of our staff do a great job of social distancing and using face coverings and this allowed for the vast majority of staff members, myself included, to know that even though we were in the same building on the same day, there was no significant risk of exposure.
 

I share this information with you to reinforce the importance of following our mitigation protocols, as noted in the Heartland AEA COVID-19 Return-to-Workplace Guide.  

• Sign-in and sign-out: First and foremost, sign-in to any facility you enter. This is for your safety and would apply to all of our facilities as well as school buildings. 
 
• Social distance as much as possible: This minimizes the number of people who might be exposed more than any other factor. It’s why we discourage staff from gathering in groups.
 
• Wear a face-covering: The fact that the person who tested positive was wearing a face covering significantly reduces the likelihood that any other staff will test positive. 
 
• Communicate as soon as you can: Reach out immediately if you test positive or are told that you may have been exposed. Our Human Resources contact, Juliette Houseman, was able to notify all potentially-impacted staff immediately thanks to the quick communication she received from our staff member who tested positive.    
 

We know this school year is going to be different than anything we’ve seen before. But by being caring, proactive and collaborative, we’ll move through it together.  

I wish you all a great start to the school year! 

Jon

All-Staff Meeting Follow-up; Please Complete Survey by Aug. 28

Our 2020 All-Staff Meeting wasn't quite what we're used to for our annual gathering of all staff, but our time together was meaningful nonetheless.

Chief Administrator Jon Sheldahl updated staff about the Agency's priorities and its response to the coronavirus pandemic, 

and Lyndsey Fennelly left everyone with plenty to consider when it comes to well-being and mental health.

Meeting Materials
 

• Zoom Recording of the Meeting 
• Slides 
• Survey – Please take a few minutes to offer your feedback about the All-Staff Meeting. Your responses will help us plan for future meetings. Complete the survey by the end of the day on Aug. 28, 2020. Thank you for your participation! 

Reminder: Expense Reimbursement, Mileage Reimbursement, Sales Tax and Receipts Updates

 FY 2020 Expense Reimbursement
Aug. 31 is the last date the Business Office will accept and process any claims for expenses occurring on or before June 30, 2020. Do not submit expense claims with dates crossing the new fiscal year. Use a separate expense claim if you still have reimbursable expenses that occurred prior to July 1. Please check your ‘Rejected Expenses’ link to see if you have any expense claims requiring your attention and resubmit after appropriate changes are complete.

If you have questions, contact Mary Heaberlin, Accounts Payable Specialist, at ext. 14818 or Brian Whalen, Business Manager, at ext. 14005.

New Mileage Reimbursement Rate
Beginning July 1, 2020, the reimbursement rate for Heartland AEA business-related miles changes to 41 cents/mile. The penny reduction is due to the IRS 2020 business mileage rate dropping from 58 cents to 57.5 cents per mile. If you have any questions, contact Brian Whalen, Business Manager, at ext. 14005.

Sales Tax and Receipts
Beginning July 1, 2020, Heartland AEA will not reimburse sales tax associated with purchases submitted through Expense Online. As a tax-exempt organization, our auditors are critical of the Agency reimbursing sales tax. Keep in mind that vendors (e.g., Payless, Amazon) generally deliver within 1-2 business days. To maintain proper internal controls, we prefer purchases to go through an agency purchase order. If you have any questions, contact Brian Whalen, Business Manager, at ext. 14005.

Access to the FastBridge Learning Site Now Through the Iowa Education Portal

Access to the FastBridge Learning site will now be through the Iowa Education Portal. 

The Iowa Department of Education has arranged to keep direct login to the FastBridge Learning site available through Aug. 28, 2020, at which time login will transition to the Iowa Education Portal. All the assessments, reports and resources will be available to you from the FastBridge Learning site. The only change will be how to log on to the site. 

Each AEA staff member who needs to access FastBridge assessment data will need to follow these steps: 

Step 1 

• AEA staff member needs access 
• Go to EdPortal site 
• Check for an existing A&A account on EdPortal 

Yes? Log in to confirm your account is active and update the email and district/school information, as needed. 

• I forgot my userID and/or password, how do I get them? 
• How do I change my email address?
• How do I change my district or school information in EdPortal? 

No? Create a new A&A account on EdPortal. 

Step 2

The next step in the process is being taken care of through regional directors and regional administrative assistants. They are creating a spreadsheet listing each staff member’s name and the buildings they serve. This spreadsheet will be submitted to the Iowa Department of Education, and staff will be notified when this is done. 

Once access has been granted, and you are logged into the Iowa Education Portal, your screen will display FastBridge Learning under the MTSS tab. 

If you have questions, contact Wendy Robinson, Director of Instructional Services.

Reminder: Friendly Reminders About Monthly macOS Updates for Your Agency Computer Via Casper

The Heartland AEA Internal Technology Department has a monthly macOS update policy to apply important macOS updates to agency computers to assist in keeping computers updated and secure. The updates often include a restart of the computer and an installation phase that can take up to 20 to 30 minutes to complete. 

This policy becomes active on the 3rd Friday of each month at 8:00 a.m. It automatically installs any macOS updates starting at 9:00 a.m. on the 4th Friday of each month. The policy is automatically disabled on the last day of the month at 11:59 p.m. If any of the updates installed require a restart, you will be notified with a message. A video of the process can be seen here. 

You can check for and install macOS updates any time by going to the Apple Menu, choosing System Preferences and clicking on Software Update. If there are updates needed, they will be listed there, and you can install them from there. A video of the process can be seen here. 

It’s important that you don’t interrupt the update process by pressing and holding the power button. Once the process starts you need to let it complete on its own. Sometimes these updates require special firmware updates that will cause the computer to turn off for a minute or more. You should not press the power button when this happens. All updates require the computer to access the Internet, so you don’t want to disable Airport or disconnect from ethernet during the installation. 

Frequently Asked Questions 

Q: How do I avoid having Casper automatically install macOS updates when it’s not convenient for me? 

A: Start by selecting the longest deferral time when you see the notification about updates. Then you can install any available updates by going to Apple Menu > System Preferences > Software Update sometime before the 4th Friday of the month and install them when it’s convenient for you. Usually, Apple releases updates on a Tuesday, so the best days to check are typically Wednesday or Thursday of the 4th week of the month. 

Q: I’m worried something unexpected will happen, and I will lose data if I perform a macOS update. What can I do to prevent that? 

A: The best way to eliminate the possibility of something unexpected happening is to initiate the updates yourself from the Software Update System Preference pane and not wait until Casper does the installation on the 4th Friday. By doing that, in conjunction with the things below, you will greatly improve the chances for a smooth update. 

• Connect your computer to your power adapter. 
• Perform a Time Machine backup. 
• Restart the computer and close any opened applications before you attempt to install the updates. 

If you do happen to get in a situation when Casper is installing the updates for you, we would recommend connecting your power adapter to your computer before you do the restart, if possible.