Author: Beth Strike

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.

Flu season is right around the corner and the agency is offering a flu shot clinic at each of our office locations on Wednesday, October 19th.

• Cedar Falls: Conference Center Lobby, 6:30-8:00 A.M.
• Clear Lake: Room D, 7:00-8:30 A.M.
• Marshalltown: Room A, 6:30-8:00 A.M.

Sign-up by Friday, October 14 by calling (319-273-8246) or emailing Kathy Barfels in Human Resources. Employees and family members covered by AEA 267 health insurance can fill out a form at the time of the shot and the clinic providers will file the form with our insurance company. All others will need to pay at the time of the shot. *The clinic is not limited to AEA 267 employees.

AEA 267 will receive an intensive, “differentiated accountability” site visit by the Iowa Department of Education (IDE) in May. The department will first complete a “desk audit” around AEA standards including a focus on closing the achievement gap and early literacy. The audit will be followed by a formal visit from an IDE-assembled team including representation from schools we serve as well as staff from the other AEAs. Data will be collected around the healthy indicators rolled out by the Department last year.

The visit is a welcome chance for the agency to collaborate in an almost professional learning community environment to look closely at what’s working and not with regard to the impact of our services. We have already self-identified many areas for growth and are in the midst of implementing several new approaches including the Regional Administrator model.

Watch for more information to be shared at a future date!

The AEA 267 media center has a new video recording device available called the SWIVL that staff can use to record instructional content such as presentations or trainings.

The SWIVL is essentially a robotic mount that can hook up to a variety of tablets and smartphones. The kits available for checkout do not come with a tablet or smartphone so staff members must have access to one and be able to download the SWIVL App to their device. The app accesses the camera on your tablet or phone to record video content while the robotic platform holding your device “swivels” back and forth to track the movements of whichever individual is wearing the kit’s tracking “marker” around their neck.  From the app you can then easily upload your recorded clips to the internet.

Currently SWIVL kits are available for checkout only by AEA 267 staff intending to capture video for instructional uses.  The media center has six devices available.  Just contact any AEA 267 media center location to request and reserve a kit.  Also, please keep in mind that you may need to have individuals you’re recording fill out an AEA 267 media release form which is available on the staff website under Communication & Technology> “Digital Resources.”  If you have questions or need copies of the media release please contact Tiffany Schmitt. Also, please be mindful of copyright when considering your subject matter. This resource (also on the staff website) should be reviewed in advance.

Included in each kit is an instructional booklet to walk you through the process of setup and usage.  For further information and training on how to use the SWIVL, staff are encouraged to contact either Sarah Lalk or Cari Teske.