Author: Beth Strike

The Human Resources and Business offices are currently reviewing our health insurance program (including this year’s redesign) and seeking employee input to plan for next year. Your input is very important in this process! Please take a few minutes to complete this quick six question survey. Questions? Contact Karl Kurt or Michael Kalvig. The deadline for responding is February 15, 2019.

By now you should have received your W2 and 1095 forms which were mailed on January 31.

There have been a few questions on Part III of the 1095 form that may need clarification. Please note that the lower portion (Part III) of the 1095 form should NOT have the boxes for January through June marked because Central Rivers AEA was not “self-insured” during those months and therefore does not report on January through June. You should receive a 1095 from Wellmark with the January through June months marked in the lower portion.  Please contact Betty Hesseling (Beauregard) or Michael Kalvig if you have any questions.

As a service to staff, representatives from the Iowa Public Employee Retirement System (IPERS) will be stationed at the Cedar Falls office, 1521 Technology Pkwy, Central Perk area, on Monday, March 25 through Thursday, March 28 for individual IPERS counseling sessions.

Who should register for an appointment?  

Anyone nearing retirement with questions on their IPERS accounts.

How to register:  

• Call 1-800-622-3849. Please have your member ID, spouse’s date of birth (if married), and up to three potential retirement dates ready for the benefits officer when you call.
• IPERS will send out estimates prior to your appointment.
• Please review the estimates and bring your questions to the meeting.
• Appointments are scheduled for 30 minutes and are by appointment only.
• Don’t wait…call today…time slots fill up fast!
• Please refer to the IPERS website for additional information. You can always schedule an appointment in Des Moines by calling 1-800-622-3849.

With the unusual number of recent school closings due to weather, this is a good time to review the inclement weather and emergency closing information, which can be found on the staff website under Resources. Be sure to read through the weather FAQs as several different scenarios are addressed.

Remember that for those serving local school buildings directly, our priority is to be in schools and calendar adjustments need to be submitted to your supervisor in a timely manner.

Please keep in touch with your supervisor when weather-related issues arise and share any questions that may come up.

Mark your calendars! The 2019-20 all-staff meeting will be held on August 13 in Cedar Falls! Watch for details on the day in upcoming issues of The Channel.

The second round of the “OWN It” Bingo Challenge is off to a fantastic start with almost 350 staff members getting a Bingo! The deadline to submit February’s Bingo is Thursday, February 28. Let’s keep up the great work!

The Central Rivers AEA Board of Directors met on Wednesday, February 6 for a public hearing on the proposed budget for FY 2019-20 followed by their regular monthly meeting. The agenda is available online a minimum of 24 hours prior to each meeting and the minutes are available after board approval.  

Central Rivers AEA staff members are invited to assist with strengthening of relationships and culture within our organization by participating in a climate and culture audit. Since the health of an organization begins with individuals, the agency felt it was important that each individual had an opportunity to learn about their own approach to leadership and provide perceptual data about the health of the organization.

In mid to late January, you will receive an invitation to participate in an all-staff survey designed to gather your feedback regarding the health of our organization and your individual leadership approach. The survey is completely anonymous and will be administered by Tamara Konrade and Tammy Fellers, INspired Leadership Trainers and Master Energy Leadership Index Practitioners. In addition, Tamara and Tammy will be working with teams of 12-14 the weeks of February 4-7 and February 25-28 to further process responses and delve deeper into the work.  There will be a total of 32 groups meeting during these two weeks. Groups will meet Monday-Thursday and the times will be 8-11:30 am and 12-3:30 pm. All staff members are asked to participate with the following exceptions: 1.) Anyone who has already taken the training on August 1-2, 2018; 2.) CRAEA Administrators; 3.) River Hills staff.

We ask that you sign up with your discipline/department for the three and a half hour session through our agency registration system by January 22. Within the next few days, you will receive an email from either Amy Moine or Marcia Brolsma with an individual link to get registered from a set of options provided. (You will not need to go through the steps of requesting permission from your supervisor since this is an all-agency activity.)  Agency support staff: You will receive an email with your time slot assigned. The goal of this time is to review your personal attitudinal assessment results, listen to celebrations and concerns about the climate and culture at Central Rivers AEA, and empower you to lead in a way that unites, heals, and helps individuals, relationships and cultures.

There are two additional actions we need from you by January 22:

1. View the brief video about energy levels here.  https://essdk.me/VentureIn7levels  
2. Complete the Energy Leadership Index (ELI) which will come to you by email. (Please note: If you took this for previous learning workshops (August 1 and 2 or January 23, 24), you do not need to take it again.

Details about the assessment for those that haven’t taken it:

• You will be receiving an email in early January and it will come from the sender: “assessments do not reply”. It is not junk mail. Please open it to find the link as well as your unique password at the bottom of the email to take the assessment. Copy and paste the password as it is case sensitive. If you do not receive the assessment email within 24 hours, please respond to this email.
• Please complete the assessment by Monday, January 22, 2019. It will take about 20 minutes to complete. You will receive your personal results during the session you choose in February. Your results will not be shared with or seen by anyone else.

All individual results are confidential and names will not be used in the report. A written report with collective quantitative and qualitative data will be given to the Central Rivers AEA Cabinet and Board.

Questions? Please contact your supervisor or Sam Miller, CRAEA Chief Administrator.