The Channel

The 2025 All Staff Kickoff Meeting will be held at the Cedar Falls office beginning at 9:00 am on Monday, August 18! This year’s theme is, Leading with Heart. While the past legislative session has been one of the most challenging times we’ve faced professionally, we will start off our new school year, reconnecting with colleagues and strengthening our resolve to lead with heart in our work this upcoming year!

Schedule for the day

• 7:30-9:00 am – Sidecar coffee truck outside in the main parking lot | Social time
• 9:00-11:30 am – All Staff Meeting, Keynote Speaker and Service Award Recognition
• 11:30 am-3:30 pm – Team Meetings

Lunch

Lunch will be staggered by team, with some groups starting earlier and others after 12:30 pm. Everyone will have a full hour for lunch, and your team’s lunch time will be shared during the meeting. Doña Mari’s Tacos Food Truck will be parked at the south entrance in the main parking lot as one option, offering meat, veggie and gluten-friendly options for purchase. Staff are also free to leave campus and have lunch elsewhere if desired. Thanks for being flexible!

Other details

Additional team-specific logistics will be provided the day of the meeting, including a quick links document that will feature important resources and links updated daily. If you have questions, please reach out to your supervisor. We look forward to seeing everyone on August 18 and kicking off another great year at Central Rivers AEA!

Food truck menus

Both food trucks accept cash, debit or credit card.

As we enter the month of August, we wanted to send a reminder that all staff must complete the mandatory AEA-required trainings. Certified staff are allowed to use one of your 2025-2026 contract days to complete the trainings. Simply indicate on your Google calendar, “AEA Mandatory Training Day.”

If you have any questions, contact Karl Kurt, Assistant Chief Administrator/Director of HR.

All staff at Central Rivers AEA are often involved in work that includes confidential student information. This might involve copying records, processing faxes, taking phone calls, completing evaluations for Early ACCESS or special education, reviewing IEPs or consulting with a teacher on a student who requires additional support. There are likely many other opportunities that occur in our daily work. This means that we all have a need to understand the privacy laws that protect this information for students and families.  Starting this year, and annually moving forward, all staff will complete an AEA Learning Online course entitled: Protecting Student Privacy in Schools: FERPA, PPRA, HIPAA and COPPA.

This training should be completed within the first 30 days of the start of the school year to ensure we are all in compliance with these important laws. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your supervisor. Once completed, staff are expected to submit their certificate of completion to the HR department using the HR@centralriversaea.org email address.

Note: If you are new to the agency but already have an Iowa AEA account: 

• Log in to https://training.aealearningonline.org with your most recently used login email and password.
• Change your Employment District to Central Rivers AEA using “centralrivers” as your district verification code.
• Once your CRAEA account is set up, you will need to update your email address in this system to match your CRAEA email address.

For any questions or assistance, please contact Angie Gansen, Professional Learning Registration System Coordinator, at agansen@centralriversaea.org or 319-268-7616.

We would like to welcome 14 incoming staff for the 2025-26 school year!

Welcome back to a new school year! Did you move over the summer? Admin assistants/HR would like to remind everyone to update their information! Please go into Class Link > My Assignments and update the following:

• Telephone number
• Van mail delivery location (this is very important; you can receive van mail in a location of your choice – meaning a school you serve or one of the AEA offices).

Contact your administrative assistant with questions or if you see any incorrect information regarding your role or assignment.

As of July 1, 2025, van delivery service became a purchased service under the full implementation of HF 2612. This means some school districts have opted to continue the service for their teachers and schools, while others have not. If you serve districts in your role at Central Rivers AEA, here’s what you need to know to navigate this change.

Check the participating district list

Wondering if a district you serve has purchased van delivery? A regularly updated list of participating districts is available and will reflect changes made during the first quarter of the school year.

Deliveries/pick-ups for AEA staff

For AEA staff working in a school building, items will still be delivered to the location you’ve designated inside the school – regardless of whether the district purchased van delivery service. If you have something you need to send back to one of our three main offices, whether it’s adaptive equipment, test kits, Creative Services orders or interoffice mail, email delivery@centralriversaea.org. The delivery team will work with you to arrange pickup or determine the best method to return items.

Creative Services and equipment repair orders

Even if a district did not purchase van delivery, they can still place orders with Creative Services or request equipment repairs. Once the order or repair is ready, the item will be sent to the nearest Central Rivers AEA office for pickup. School district staff will receive an email notification when items are available.

When in doubt, ask!

If you have questions about delivery routes, schedules or special arrangements, simply email delivery@centralriversaea.org.

The board of directors have approved an increase to the agency’s mileage rate in order to be more in line with the other AEAs. The new rate of $0.46 per mile took effect on July 1, 2025. 

Submitting Mileage Claims

• Per board policy, mileage claims should be submitted on a regular, monthly basis. .  
• Submitting multiple months of reimbursement at one time is unacceptable, as it creates significant processing delays and adds undue strain on multiple departments within the agency.

Daily Commute Mileage

• Staff’s non-reimbursable daily commute mileage is listed in the staff directory and can change each year. Please verify you are entering the correct amount before submitting any reimbursement requests.

Updated Spreadsheet Required

• All mileage must be submitted using the updated mileage submission spreadsheet.
• Be sure to download and use the most current version each time to ensure accuracy and compliance.

If you have questions about submitting a mileage reimbursement sheet, please review this slidedeck or reach out to your region’s designated administrative assistant.

• Northwest/Northeast Sector: Laura Rinnels
• East Sector: Lori Thomas
• South Sector: Stella Pint

To ensure clear boundaries between professional and personal communication and to uphold data security practices, all Central Rivers AEA staff who have been assigned a Zoom Phone number – including those in special education, educational services, administrative support, media, IT and other roles – must use their CRAEA Zoom Phone account* for all work-related calls and text messages. This requirement applies to communication with families, school staff, external partners, and fellow CRAEA colleagues.

*Please note: New Zoom Phone numbers will be assigned in the next several days.

Please note: The use of Google Voice for work communications is no longer supported by Central Rivers AEA. All staff with a Zoom Phone assignment must transition to using Zoom Phone exclusively.

Using your CRAEA Zoom Phone number:

• Keeps your personal number private.
• Ensures communication records remain accessible to CRAEA in compliance with legal requirements (e.g., subpoenas).

To support you in effectively using Zoom Phone, please refer to the CRAEA Zoom Phone Tutorial and FAQ, which includes:

• Step-by-step instructions for using the Zoom Phone desktop and mobile apps.
• How to access and use the staff directory.
• Sending and receiving text messages (SMS).
• Transferring calls, setting up voicemail and switching to Zoom meetings.
• Advanced features like call recording, call handling and AI Companion tools.
• Troubleshooting tips and frequently asked questions.

You can access this resource at any time and are encouraged to reach out to the Tech Help Desk at 319-273-8231 or helpdesk@centralriversaea.org if you need assistance setting up or using your Zoom Phone account.

Live documents, helpful resources and guides can be found on our staff website.

• Updates with CRAEA Special Education doc (this will include every update from editions of The Channel and important mid-month information)
• Special Education Updates

Live documents, helpful resources and guides can be found on our staff website.

• Updates with CRAEA Ed Services & Media doc (this will include every update from editions of The Channel and important mid-month information)
• Ed Services/Media Updates

By law, Iowa’s Area Education Agencies (AEAs) are required to deliver approved professional development (PD). We’re committed to supporting district needs within these guidelines. Here is the list of Approved PD. If you have specific questions regarding the approved PD, please see your RA. If there are still questions after discussing with your RA, please reach out to Tesha Moser-Zimmerman.