Month: January 2010

Mother Nature has provided plenty of opportunities over the past month to use our agency weather announcement procedures. Now that the weather has settled down (at least for now!), it’s a good time to step back and review. Below are three of the most commonly asked questions about our weather procedures.

If an AEA 267 service delivery center closes (i.e. Marshalltown, Cedar Falls or Clear Lake office), are all events scheduled in that office cancelled for the day?

Yes.

What about internal meetings? When professional development courses and workshops are cancelled are internal meetings automatically cancelled also?

No. Internal meetings are held at the discretion of the person leading the meeting. Many factors can be considered including the number of staff involved, where they are driving from and the length of the meeting. Be sure to check with the person leading the internal meeting if you have questions on bad weather days.

Sometimes it takes the news media or Snowcap awhile to share an announcement about an office closing or PD cancellations. Why is that? What if I need to know right away?

There are four ways to learn about whether the office is closed or PD is cancelled: 1.) the agency website; 2.) by calling our announcements line at 1-866-923-1089; 3.) signing up for email and/or text message alerts via Snowcap; or 4.) the news media. Of these four methods, the AEA 267 website and announcements line are by far the fastest. Generally speaking, within about ten minutes of a decision being made, these two resources are updated. The news media and Snowcap are “third party” carriers of our message and there are many variables that can delay timeliness including the number of other weather related announcements they are dealing with that day. When you need to know right away, check the website or announcements line first!

For a complete list of Frequently Asked Questions, refer to our staff website at: www.aea267.k12.ia.us/staff (user name: aeastaff and password: aea267ia) and look under “For Your Reference” on the right of the page.

As a reminder, if you are planning internal meetings that involve staff members from a distance, please remember to set meeting hours to start no earlier than 9 a.m. and end by 3 p.m. Having standard hours will promote car pooling among staff and allow for travel time. In addition, given budget constraints, please utilize technology for meetings whenever possible. This is highly preferred over face-to-face meetings that involve travel expense.

Some questions have been asked by staff members in service delivery center offices (Clear Lake, Marshalltown and Cedar Falls) about whether they are able to paint and decorate their office space to their individual taste. All service delivery centers have color schemes that are allowed and should be followed to support a consistent look and feel. Please remember that requests for office painting and any non-standard office decor items must have prior approval from service area directors and the person in charge of buildings and grounds in each service area.

The AEA 267 Board of Directors met in a retreat prior to their regular board meeting this month to discuss plans for recruiting a new Chief Administrator and Assistant Chief Administrator/Director of Personnel for the agency. The board received proposals from four professional search firms and will meet by conference call on January 18 to select firms to interview. Interviews will take place on January 27 and a selection will be made so that the search can officially begin as early as February 3. It is believed that a new Chief Administrator and Assistant Chief Administrator/Director of Personnel will be in place by July 1, 2010. As shared before the holiday break by email, both Dr. Dean Meier, Chief Administrator and Dr. Ralph Bartelt, Assistant Chief Administrator, will retire effective the end of this school year.

In other business, the board:

• Accepted with regret the retirements of Rob Coates, School Psychologist (St. Ansgar High School); Stan Hanus, School Psychologist (Cedar Falls); and Marjorie Krull, Teacher of Behavioral Disorders (Bremwood) all retiring end of 2009-10 school year.
• Accepted the 2008-09 Audit Report from Dennis Muyskens, Hogan-Hanson auditor. It was noted that AEA 267 had no areas of non-compliance and Business Office staff are doing a tremendous job of managing agency finances.
• Heard the proposed  2010-11 budget from Dennis Scudder, Director of Finance and approved publication in local newspapers prior to the February public hearing.
• Approved participation in 2010 Iowa Drug and Alcohol Testing Program (IDATP) for bus drivers.
• Approved the 2010 Extended School Year Calendar.
• Noted the receipt of a letter from Grundy Center Community School District indicating their membership in the Special Education Pool will end on June 30, 2010. AEA 267 will work cooperatively to implement an effective transition.
• Heard a variety of reports from directors and fellow board members.

Barb Ruiter, Special Education Secretary serving the Forest City office was recently notified that an article she had written about her love of paperdolls would be published in the March issue of Paperdoll Review Magazine, a quarterly publication. “I’m excited to be published again,” said Ruiter, a former writer with the Mason City Globe Gazette. She is also the author of several stories including Pink is Perfect for Pigs, a children’s book published several years ago. She currently shares her love of writing and paperdolls through guest speaking in area schools. Congratulations, Barb!

AEA 267 staff members representing the Special Education records department in Cedar Falls donated personal care products (cologne, Chapstick, deodorant, shampoo, nail polish, lotions), winter wear (socks, gloves, hats, scarves), food, and more to students at AEA 267 Devonshire school. The donation provided a needed boost to the school store and students were able to use their behavior points to stock up on items before the winter break.

Another recent donation came from Hartman Reserve Nature Center. Staff there requested help from naturalists and park rangers across the state for new and gently used books for the AEA 267 Devonshire library. The response was tremendous and the school received over 900 books. Also donated were five bookcases and a check to buy additional books. Students helped move the boxes of books into the school and were requesting check out before they were even inventoried.

“The generosity of folks across our state blows me away,” said Paula Goetz, AEA 267 Devonshire principal.

With the 10% across-the-board cut plus declining enrollment, I’ve shared some perspectives about our future in past editions of Intersections.  A couple people replied wondering if an early retirement incentive might be the magic bullet or at least a piece of the solution.  One person pointed out that early retirement incentives are used by some LEAs.

AEAs are funded quite differently than LEAs.  An LEA covers the cost of the early retirement incentives with a special property tax levy called the Management Levy.  There is no control or ceiling on this levy.  AEAs do not have that option.  An early retirement incentive comes right out of the General Fund.  AEAs need to be very careful that an incentive program doesn’t actually cost the Agency more money.

The AEA 267 Board believes there is little financial advantage to our Agency if we implemented an early retirement incentive.  We believe we can manage the current economic crisis with a thoughtful and gradual reduction in our workforce, accomplished primarily with retirements and other attrition, over the next two to four years.  This belief does not guarantee there will not be some lay-offs, but for the most part, lay-offs can be avoided and certainly will not occur in large number.

–Dr. Dean Meier, AEA 267 Chief Administrator