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

Denison Organizational Culture Survey Coming Tomorrow: A Chance for You to Provide Input on Our Agency Culture

At Heartland AEA, we define culture as “the way we do things around here.” It’s about our collective behaviors that are driven by our individual assumptions and beliefs. This matters because our collective behaviors lead to our results. Culture is often confused with climate, which is “the way we feel about the way we do things around here.” Obviously, both culture and climate are important. 

Our Heartland AEA culture is important to us, and even though we are in a pandemic, we continue to want to ensure our agency has a strong culture. We know we have modified the way we do things in response to the pandemic, but surveying you about our practices provides us with a good data source for how our agency is performing.  

Is it possible to shape our culture (the way we do things around here)?  

Absolutely! At Heartland AEA, we’ve been intentional about creating and monitoring a high-performance work culture.  

In the spring of 2012, our agency began administering the Denison Organizational Culture Survey using a stratified sample of staff, and the last time we administered the survey in 2019, all staff were able to provide input on the survey. The Denison Survey is designed to assess an organization’s strengths and weaknesses as they apply to organizational performance. In past years we’ve also included various modules in the survey including those that measure trust, commitment and consistency. This brief video provides more information about creating a high-performing culture by using the Denison Model. 

For some of you, the Denison Survey will be new, and for some of you, it will be very familiar. We’re proud of the high percentage of staff participation we’ve had in the past, and we look forward to that kind of engagement in this year’s survey.  

What’s next for you?  

It’s time to update our culture survey results once again.   

• The survey is scheduled to launch tomorrow, March 30 and will close on April 17, 2021. 
 
• All staff will receive an email with a link to the survey. This link will take you to a survey website that has been specifically designed for Heartland AEA. Please be as honest as possible when completing the survey. Your responses are completely confidential and cannot be tracked. 
 

What’s in it for you?  

We are glad to be able to provide all staff with the opportunity to complete the survey. By completing the survey, you will ensure that your voice is heard along with your colleagues about the way we do things at Heartland AEA. This input has and will continue to be very important as we look for themes and points of leverage for advantage in areas such as the impact of our services, our professional relationships and our continuous improvement. We hope each and every one of you will take the time to complete the Denison Survey and provide your input.  

Thank you in advance for your time and feedback!

Make Sure You Didn’t Miss Last Friday’s COVID Update!

We sent out a COVID update late last Friday, so we want to make sure you didn’t miss it. Take a minute to read about the changes made to the daily check-in survey, the new one-question survey about vaccination status coming this week and the continued mitigation efforts we will continue to take as we learn more about how COVID-19 vaccines work in real-world conditions.

Heartland AEA COVID-19 Dashboard for the Week Ending March 26, 2021

We will provide you with COVID-19 case and quarantine data each Monday in The Connection. The numbers will fluctuate on a weekly basis, and our report will show what is current as of the previous Friday. If you have any questions, contact Nia Chiaramonte, Director of Human Resources.    

Heartland AEA COVID-19 Dashboard

Get Ready...Annual Benefits Enrollment Opens This Thursday, April 1!

It's that time of year again...annual benefits enrollment begins this Thursday, April 1, 2021! Remember, Benefits Enrollment in Employee Online will not open until that date. 

This is the time to review your current plans and then get enrolled in the 2021-22 benefit plan year. EVERYONE must enroll by April 30, 2021. 

Remember to select each of your dependents if choosing a Family Plan. Also, you MUST click the Submit Enrollment link. There have been some updates to the enrollment process, and we are updating the instructions to assist employees with annual enrollment, so stay tuned to next week's Connection for more information!

If you have any questions, contact Juliette Houseman, Benefits Specialist.

Join Us for Round 2 of Listening Circles: Achieving a Functional Work-Life Balance

Our Heartland AEA SEBMH group has designed and scheduled a second round of Listening Circles. In this round, we will consider how to create and maintain a functional work-life balance. We will be drawing upon the ideas in this article from Edutopia. We encourage you to read the article prior to participating; however, it is not required. 

As a reminder, the goal of Listening Circles is to create a brave space for staff to be heard, free of judgment, and with no fear of consequences for speaking their truth. It is believed that this practice will be helpful for building and maintaining a healthy community in which ALL staff feels connected and respected. 

Here is what some of our colleagues have said about participating in the first round of Listening Circles: 

• "The listening circle is a place where you can feel connected to others in our Heartland AEA family and share in a reflective, thoughtful, caring way. It was a meaningful experience." 
• "I thought I might be walking into group therapy and wasn't too eager to do that! But Listening Circles aren't like that. They are led by our incredibly bright and caring staff in a structured way so we can hear from our colleagues, learn from each other, gain understanding and build connections. It's time well spent!" 
• "This was a very non-threatening process. We always had the option to pass and that was totally okay." 

We encourage you to participate in an upcoming Listening Circle with your fellow Heartland AEA colleagues! 

How to Participate 

Listening Circles have been scheduled over the next three weeks at various times throughout the day to accommodate as many schedules as possible. Registration for each circle will be capped at eight participants to allow for meaningful sharing from all participants. If you are interested in participating as a group, feel free to have your group members sign up for the same time or contact your regional lead to see about setting up a separate time for your group to engage in a circle. 

Facilitators 

The first and second facilitators for each of the sessions (as they stand today) are listed below. 

March 29 (M) 10:00-11:30     Emily Donovan & Becky Tigges 

March 31 (W) 10:00-11:30     Aimee Schuppe &  Amy Pickering 

March 31 (W) 1:00-2:30        Jadie Boens & Rebecca Carver 

April 2 (F) 2:30-4:00              Brenda Gerdes & Brianna Sayre Geiser 

April 5 (M) 8:30-10:00           Brianna Sayre Geiser & Kathy Lepage 

April 5 (M) 2:00-3:30             Stacey Warren & Mary Jo Brown 

April 8 (Th) 2:00-3:30            Rebecca Carver & Amy Pickering 

April 9 (F) 1:00-2:30              Erin Rush & Emily Donovan 

April 12 (M) 1:00-2:30           Andrea Matheson & Aimee Schuppe 

April 14 (W) 1:00-2:30          Kari Miller & Rebecca Carver 

April 14 (W) 2:30-4:00          Kathy Lepage & Rebecca Carver 

April 15 (Th) 2:30-4:00         Mary Jo Brown & Becky Tigges 

April 16 (F) 8:30-10:00         Erin Rush & Kari Miller 

April 16 (F) 10:30-12:00      Stacey Warren & Becky Tigges 

Register Today!

Mental Health First Aid at Work Presenting April 15 Session: Employee Support Under Stressful Conditions

The unprecedented response to the COVID-19 pandemic has created new pressures in the workplace. Uncertainties about job security, pay cuts, health and caregiving have left many employees feeling isolated and overwhelmed. New challenges will arise as businesses reopen and work environments change in surprising and challenging ways. Many organizations will implement new guidelines on physical distancing and gatherings, while many more will extend remote work options to employees. Creating an emotionally healthy workplace has taken on increased urgency.   

Please join us for a seminar focused on the principles of MHFA at Work. The session will include information on best practices in the workplace and guidance on how to support each other and ourselves during this crisis. We will host a discussion on current areas of most pressing concern, with a focus on the impact of trauma, the importance of team engagement, self-care and mindfulness.   

April 15, 2021 

12:00-1:30 p.m. EASTERN TIME 

Sign In to Zoom Session

New Tip Sheet: Best Practices for Writing a Prior Written Notice

Parents are afforded procedural protections under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), one of which is the right to a "Prior Written Notice." 

Heartland AEA has recently created a resource document to support special education practitioners with tips and recommendations for writing quality Prior Written Notices. We hope both AEA and LEA practitioners find this resource helpful in documenting IEP team discussions and decisions through the writing of the PWN.    

Best Practices for Writing a Prior Written Notice

FYI: Physical Education for Students with Disabilities Resource from Iowa Dept. of Education

The Iowa Department of Education has released "Guidance for Physical Education for Students with Disabilities" on their website. There is not a change in our procedures or practices, but this document might be a useful resource in working with IEP teams around needs related to physical education programming.

Iowa Intermediary Network: Resource to Connect Secondary Students to Career Exploration

The Iowa Intermediary Network is a great resource that can be used to connect all secondary school students to career exploration opportunities. The site includes links for educators, students, parents and businesses/organizations. Agency Special Education leaders would like to make a special note of the student link that highlights speakers from a variety of CTE fields. Students can register and watch these free live events, or they can watch recorded versions of the events at their convenience at the site’s Live Events page.