Heartland is pleased to announce that it has earned continued full accreditation from the Iowa State Board of Education. The State Board met on September 16, 2010, and unanimously approved the Iowa Department of Education’s recommendation for full accreditation.
As you know, the Department conducted a site visit at the Agency earlier this year, analyzing programs and services data in our new online Service Tracker database and interviewing dozens of Heartland staff members and local educators for feedback about the Agency. Iowa’s nine AEAs receive accreditation site visits every five years; Heartland AEA’s next visit will be in 2015.
The Department’s report states, “The central purpose of the accreditation visit is to help AEAs improve the quality and focus of their services, which will in turn assist schools and school districts to improve learning for students. Iowa’s AEAs are a critical part of the support structure for schools and ultimately for children. With so much at stake, maintaining high standards or quality in programs and services is a top priority.”
Heartland was assessed on the following AEA standards for service:
1) School-Community Planning
2) Professional Development
3) Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
4) Diverse Learner Needs
5) Media
6) School Technology
7) Multicultural, Gender Fair
8) Leadership
Areas of strength that the Agency was praised for included the following:
• Incorporating technology into professional development
• Heartland Educational Assessment Resource Toolbox (HEART) database
• Content Area Capacity Building (CAB) projects
• Model of delivering services closer to districts/schools
The Department noted that no recommended areas for improvement were found in the Agency’s Media and School Technology service areas.
Areas identified for improvement included the following:
• Communication to districts/schools about survey data the Agency gathers
• Clarification and communication of the partnership director role to all district/school staff
• Communication with parents of children with special needs
• Establishing more support for “at-risk” students
The Agency will incorporate these and other recommendations into its Comprehensive Improvement Plan, which will be submitted to the Department by April 1, 2011.
A thank you goes out to the staff members who put in many hours of hard work to prepare for and carry out the accreditation visit. Also a big thank you goes out to all Heartland staff members. Your continued dedication to your work and commitment to students is why the Agency received this positive accreditation outcome. Keep up the good work!
Click here to read the entire accreditation report.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Deadline For Adding Dependents to Health Insurance & For Submitting Child Dependent Status Form is September 30
September 30, 2010 is the deadline for two important benefit items.
1) September 30 is the last day for submitting an application to add eligible dependents under the age of 26 to your health insurance. Application forms were e-mailed to all staff on August 27. Applications must be sent to Kathy Martin, Benefits Specialist, at kmartin@aea11.k12.ia.us by September 30.
2) September 30 is the last day to submit your Child Dependent Status Form to verify full-time student and marital status to determine eligibility and taxation of dental coverage. If this applies to you, forms should have been mailed to your home address. Send the forms to Kathy Martin, Benefits Specialist, at kmartin@aea11.k12.ia.us or send them to the Johnston Administration Center.
If you have any questions about either of these items, contact Kathy at kmartin@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14385.
1) September 30 is the last day for submitting an application to add eligible dependents under the age of 26 to your health insurance. Application forms were e-mailed to all staff on August 27. Applications must be sent to Kathy Martin, Benefits Specialist, at kmartin@aea11.k12.ia.us by September 30.
2) September 30 is the last day to submit your Child Dependent Status Form to verify full-time student and marital status to determine eligibility and taxation of dental coverage. If this applies to you, forms should have been mailed to your home address. Send the forms to Kathy Martin, Benefits Specialist, at kmartin@aea11.k12.ia.us or send them to the Johnston Administration Center.
If you have any questions about either of these items, contact Kathy at kmartin@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14385.
Staff Members Reminded to Complete Ethnicity Survey
Last week all staff members received an e-mail asking them to complete a survey about employee ethnicity. A majority of staff members have completed the survey, but if you haven’t yet done so, please take a few minutes to respond to the questions. If you haven’t completed the survey by Sept. 29, you will begin to receive e-mails reminding you to take the survey. Thank you to those staff members who completed it in a timely fashion. If you have any questions about the survey, contact Chris Pierson, Assistant Director of Human Resources, at cpierson@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14400.
Flu Vaccinations for Agency Employees
It’s time again to think about getting your flu shot. There are several options available under the Agency’s health insurance plan:
• Use your PCP (primary care physician) or any other in-network Blue Choice physician. The flu shot will be covered at 100%. Your physician has the right to charge you for an office visit, so check ahead.
• A pharmacist may give the flu shots at a pharmacy that is approved by Wellmark to give vaccinations.
Click here to see the list of approved pharmacies for flu shots. You will owe the 2-Tier drug co-pay of $20 at your approved pharmacy.
We will not be offering flu shots this year at Heartland offices.
For questions contact Kathy Martin, Benefits Specialist, at kmartin@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14385.
• Use your PCP (primary care physician) or any other in-network Blue Choice physician. The flu shot will be covered at 100%. Your physician has the right to charge you for an office visit, so check ahead.
• A pharmacist may give the flu shots at a pharmacy that is approved by Wellmark to give vaccinations.
Click here to see the list of approved pharmacies for flu shots. You will owe the 2-Tier drug co-pay of $20 at your approved pharmacy.
We will not be offering flu shots this year at Heartland offices.
For questions contact Kathy Martin, Benefits Specialist, at kmartin@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14385.
Technology Security Update - Saving Passwords
Firefox has the capability to save username and password information for sites you visit. In most instances, it’s not a good thing to do because if someone other than yourself gains physical access to your computer, he or she can look at your list of passwords and access the sites you have saved on your computer. There are two options with regard to saved passwords in Firefox. The first is to disable the password manager altogether and to delete all the saved passwords to avoid unauthorized access to your passwords. The second is to enable a master password in Firefox. We recommend you do one or the other of the procedures below to mitigate unauthorized access to secured sites you visit.
Disabling and Deleting Passwords
1. Go to the Firefox menu and choose Preferences.
2. Click the Security icon at the top of the window.
3. Remove the check mark from the box in front of “Remember passwords for sites” by clicking on the box once.
4. Click the Saved Passwords button to show the list of sites you are saving passwords for.
5. Click the Remove All button then click the Yes button to confirm you want to delete the saved information.
6. Click the red close button in the upper left hand corner to close the Saved Passwords window.
7. Click the red close button in the upper left hand corner to close the Security window.
Setting a Master Password
1. Go to the Firefox menu and choose Preferences.
2. Click the Security icon at the top of the window.
3. Click once in the box in front of “Use a master password” to cause the master password window to drop down.
4. In the box next to “Enter new password” type a password that you would like to use for your master password. Type that same password in the box next to “Re-enter password” to confirm the password then click the OK button. Then click the OK button once it says the master password was successfully changed. Important: As the window states at the bottom, you must not forget this password. If you do, you will be unable to access the information that is protected using the password. There is no way to recover this password if you have forgotten it.
5. Click the red close button in the upper left hand corner to close the Security window.
Disabling and Deleting Passwords
1. Go to the Firefox menu and choose Preferences.
2. Click the Security icon at the top of the window.
3. Remove the check mark from the box in front of “Remember passwords for sites” by clicking on the box once.
4. Click the Saved Passwords button to show the list of sites you are saving passwords for.
5. Click the Remove All button then click the Yes button to confirm you want to delete the saved information.
6. Click the red close button in the upper left hand corner to close the Saved Passwords window.
7. Click the red close button in the upper left hand corner to close the Security window.
Setting a Master Password
1. Go to the Firefox menu and choose Preferences.
2. Click the Security icon at the top of the window.
3. Click once in the box in front of “Use a master password” to cause the master password window to drop down.
4. In the box next to “Enter new password” type a password that you would like to use for your master password. Type that same password in the box next to “Re-enter password” to confirm the password then click the OK button. Then click the OK button once it says the master password was successfully changed. Important: As the window states at the bottom, you must not forget this password. If you do, you will be unable to access the information that is protected using the password. There is no way to recover this password if you have forgotten it.
5. Click the red close button in the upper left hand corner to close the Security window.
Web Browser Information Update for Web IEP Users
It has been reported that many Web IEP users have logged into the Web IEP with Safari, an unsupported browser. Safari has not been supported since the fall of 2008.
While many parts of the Web IEP application have not changed since Safari was a supported browser, the new Graph Setup screen and graph generation utility are totally untested with Safari. You may expect errors to occur when using Safari and some of these errors have the potential to cause loss of data.
Firefox is the approved browser for the Macintosh user base. We encourage you to install and begin using an updated version of Firefox. There are printing issues with the 3.0.x versions, which are remedied by version 3.6.2 or newer. To see if there are any updates needed to your Firefox browser, do the following: In Firefox, go to the Help menu at the top and choose “Check for Updates.” If there are updates available it will tell you and allow you to download and install them. You may need to select “Check for Updates” a couple times to get updated to the most recent version. If you have trouble updating your browser, contact Mike Permann at ext. 14767 or Greg Wilcox at ext. 14618 for assistance. If you have any questions about using the Web IEP, contact Susan Dunsmoor (ext. 11202) or Mary Keul (ext. 14326) for assistance.
Click here to download a PDF of the Browser Setup instructions posted on IowaIDEA.org. The Macintosh Firefox instructions begin on Page 6.
Whenever you do have a bug to report, please use the “Bug Report” link in the header area of the Web IEP application. Attaching screen shots of error messages is very helpful when diagnosing and repairing bugs.
While many parts of the Web IEP application have not changed since Safari was a supported browser, the new Graph Setup screen and graph generation utility are totally untested with Safari. You may expect errors to occur when using Safari and some of these errors have the potential to cause loss of data.
Firefox is the approved browser for the Macintosh user base. We encourage you to install and begin using an updated version of Firefox. There are printing issues with the 3.0.x versions, which are remedied by version 3.6.2 or newer. To see if there are any updates needed to your Firefox browser, do the following: In Firefox, go to the Help menu at the top and choose “Check for Updates.” If there are updates available it will tell you and allow you to download and install them. You may need to select “Check for Updates” a couple times to get updated to the most recent version. If you have trouble updating your browser, contact Mike Permann at ext. 14767 or Greg Wilcox at ext. 14618 for assistance. If you have any questions about using the Web IEP, contact Susan Dunsmoor (ext. 11202) or Mary Keul (ext. 14326) for assistance.
Click here to download a PDF of the Browser Setup instructions posted on IowaIDEA.org. The Macintosh Firefox instructions begin on Page 6.
Whenever you do have a bug to report, please use the “Bug Report” link in the header area of the Web IEP application. Attaching screen shots of error messages is very helpful when diagnosing and repairing bugs.
Correction to Travel Memo About State IDs Provided to Staff Members
A new process is now in place for staff members to obtain state ID cards to verify public employment to secure government rates at hotels when traveling. All staff members will be issued a personalized state ID card to use when traveling. The cards will be good for two years, with new cards being issued after two years. If you leave employment with the Agency, you will be required to turn in your ID card. The cards will be distributed through secretaries the week of October 4th. If you have any questions, contact Carolyn Jones, Human Resources Secretary, at cjones@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14614.
Deadline For Advancement on Salary Schedule is October 1
The deadline to request advancement on the salary schedule for 2010-11 is October 1. A reclassification form (found on the Intranet under the Human Resources tab) must be completed and submitted to your supervisor by October 1. Staff members have until October 15 to provide official transcripts supporting this advancement. If you have any questions, please contact your supervisor or Chrissy Bradley, Human Resources Data Specialist, at cbradley@aea11.k12.ia.us or ext. 14432.
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