Author: Beth Strike

The Business Office will be mailing W2 and 1095-C tax information to all employee’s homes toward the end of the month. Please verify your address information in the iVisions portal under My Personal Information > Contact Information. The forms will also be available through the iVisions portal under the My Compensation menu item. The 1095-C is a tax form that reflects yearly insurance coverage. It is required as a part of the Affordable Care Act. Please save and share with your tax preparer.

The AEA 267 Board of Directors met Wednesday, January 4, 2017 in the Cedar Falls Conference Center. The board packet is available online and the minutes will be published online after approval at the next month’s board meeting.

Traveling around the area in December? Join your colleagues at one of the three regional offices for their annual holiday potlucks! The Clear Lake  potluck will be held on Monday, December 12, Cedar Falls on Tuesday, December 13, and Marshalltown on Thursday, December 15. ‘Tis the season for good food and fellowship.

Beginning July 1, AEA 267 Media services (including the lending library) will be operated from the Marshalltown Office. The move will create greater efficiencies in both staffing and van routes. Locating the program in Marshalltown should not significantly impact services to either AEA staff or our LEA partners given that van delivery will still take place weekly. However, ordering cut-off times may need to be adjusted. (Details about changes to van routes and ordering cut-off times will be communicated later this spring.)

Along with changes to Media, Creative Services will be based in Cedar Falls with some on-demand availability for print in both the Clear Lake and Marshalltown offices. Keep sending your print orders as the same great service is in place; however, please be mindful of quick turnarounds where possible. The more planful you can be about your order, the better. Due to decreased visitor traffic over the years, the Production Lab in the Clear Lake Office will be closing on June 30. Lamination and letter cutout (die cut) services will still be available by sending orders to Creative Services.

Please change your voicemail greeting and set an away message to your email during the holiday breaks so that callers and/or e-mailers will know when they can expect to hear from you.

Voice mail example:

“Hello, this is (your name). Our office will be closed beginning Monday, December 26 and will reopen on Tuesday, January 3. Please leave your name, telephone number and a detailed message and I will call when I return. Thank you!”

Email “away” message example:

“Thank you for your email. I will be out of the office beginning Monday, December 26 through January 2 and will respond to your email upon my return. Thank you and have a wonderful holiday!”

If you need assistance with either task, please visit with your supervisor or administrator.

According to Food Bank of Iowa, one in five Iowa children do not have enough food to eat. For every $1 donation, four meals can be provided to needy families in our area. From now until December 16, AEA 267 staff members are invited to donate funds to support area food pantries. For every $1 you donate, your name will be entered into a raffle for prizes donated by the AEA 267 administrative staff.

To participate, take your monetary donation to Lori Thomas in Cedar Falls, Laura Rinnels in Clear Lake, Jennifer DuVall in Marshalltown, or Joan Coffin at River Hills School. Prizes include gift cards to places like Casey’s, HyVee, Kohls, Target and Walmart, along with incredible gift baskets.

When you think of a playbook, you typically think of a collection of high impact strategies or “plays” that a coach uses to direct his or her team to victory. The agency has put together our own playbook that guides where we will focus our efforts to yield the highest impact change for students. Very soon, copies of the playbook will be available to each team as well as conveyed through a laptop cling and other formats to communicate our strategic priorities to those we serve.

Watch for it!

Those of you who have been with the agency since the time of our merger know that our agency name has a storied and interesting history. For some, the name “AEA 267” is synonymous with the joining of three agencies into one. For many, the name is a constant reminder of separateness. This theme was reported by the Iowa Department of Education during previous site visits where both staff and our LEA partners voiced that our name was part of a larger concern around not yet fully uniting as one organization despite over a decade of efforts.

For those reasons and many others, the AEA 267 board took a bold step during their October meeting to change the agency’s name. The new name, Central Rivers Area Education Agency, is a nod to the many rivers that run throughout our 18-county territory, uniting us and flowing freely without regard to geography.

“The board rarely makes unilateral decisions, but in this case we felt it was appropriate to move ahead without a lengthy process that detracted from the important work that our staff and schools have to do ,” said Roberta Kraft-Abrahamson, AEA 267 vice president. “The timing is right given recent conversations around updates to facilities, the fact that our website is in the midst of a complete overhaul, and many of our building signs are in need of replacement. From a dollars and cents standpoint we had to make these improvements anyway. Why not take advantage of the timing and forge ahead?”

The new name will be phased in around the first of the year when the new agency website is launched. Supplies bearing the agency’s current name will be used up throughout the spring and the official changeover will take place on July 1, 2017.

Please help us embrace and celebrate this positive change!

Regardless of your role with AEA 267, safety should always be your top priority. For those staff who make home visits, staying safe requires extra vigilance and attention to detail.

The agency offers a “Home Visitor Safety” course each fall to anyone  who will be providing home visits or would like more information on working safe. To register for the class, please sign up online at ‘My 267’ for professional development course #15305 “Introduction to Coaching and Home Visitor Safety.” If you are interested and become aware of additional safety courses available in your community, please share your interest with your Regional Administrator.

Aside from the Home Visitor Safety course, there are some basic guidelines that you can use in your daily work to help reduce your risks. Please take a minute to review these important reminders:

• If you ever feel unsafe, the agency supports you in driving by or leaving a home immediately. Always follow-up with a call to your Regional Administrator to report the incident.
• Always be aware of what is going on around you. Stay alert.
• Contact the family in advance and do some research if you need to. Plan your route and know your surroundings.
• Wear your AEA identification badge, have your cell phone charged, and be sure your online calendar is current so that your whereabouts are clearly known.
• Park in a well-lit area with access to an easy exit. Keep your keys handy and leave your purse (covered) in your car or trunk.

If you have some ideas on how to improve staff safety, feel free to share them with your Regional Administrator.