Author: cvanbuskirk

Empower Half-hour

Want a quick, practical way to release negative energy and feel more empowered? Join your colleagues on October 11, from 8:30 to 9:00 am on Zoom for the “Empower Half-Hour” with Dr. Leslie Moore, a Certified Professional Coach. Dr. Moore will guide you through a simple exercise to help you tap into positive energy, tailored to your unique situation. Sign up today to receive a calendar invite and get a sneak peek of the activity!

INspired Leadership workshops

Mark your calendar for the INspired Leadership Workshop on October 18 and 31, from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm at the Cedar Falls office! During this two-day event, you’ll join colleagues in exploring how to harness your inner energy to reach both personal and professional goals. Discover the seven levels of energy, learn to let go of fear, shame, and guilt and tap into positive, growth-oriented energy. You’ll also gain insights on how to influence the energy of those around you. Register online today!

Micro-credentials for INspired Leadership

This year, Central Rivers AEA is continuing to support staff well-being by offering a $250 incentive for completing one of three INspired Leadership micro-credentials! The options are:

• Awareness of Internal Energy
• The 4 Key Mindsets
• An upcoming new option – coming soon!

All of these are available in our On-Demand Library, and submissions will be reviewed by Dr. Leslie Moore. If you have any questions or need help signing up, feel free to schedule a quick 15-minute session with Leslie by sending her a calendar invitation!

Our office buildings, grounds and River Hills School are always looking spotless, thanks to our custodial/maintenance team! While they may be more behind-the-scenes, their hard work does not go unnoticed!

Cedar Falls office:

• Kevin McKenzie, Supervisor of Buildings/Maintenance
• Shyla English, Lead Custodian/Maintenance
• Derrek Grapp, Custodian

Clear Lake office:

• Skyler Wood, Lead Custodian/Maintenance
• Greg Hampton, Custodian

Marshalltown office:

• Micheal Ballhagen, Lead Custodian/Maintenance

River Hills School:

• Todd Thompson, Custodian
• Jessica Devries, Custodian
• Cory Teepe, Custodian

Congratulations to Marc Groen, who was recently honored with the Leadership in School Psychology/School Psychologist of the Year Award at the Iowa School Psychologists Association (ISPA) conference! This prestigious award recognizes Iowa school psychologists who have made a significant impact on their AEA, district, school, community and the students they serve.

October is Cybersecurity Month! Check out these four easy ways to stay safe online:

1. Recognize and report phishing: Many online attacks happen when people click on harmful links or give their personal information to scammers. These scams often use scary language or make promises that sound too good to be true. Don’t click on these links or share your information. Report the phish and delete the messages.
2. Use strong passwords: Use strong passwords that are hard to guess. Make them at least 16 characters long and use a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols. Use a different password for each account. A password manager can help you store and use these passwords.
3. Turn on multi factor authentication (MFA – AKA, two-factor authentication): Use two-factor authentication (2FA) whenever you can. 2FA adds an extra layer of security by asking for something only you have, like a code sent to your phone. This makes it much harder for hackers to get into your accounts.
4. Update your computer software: When your devices, apps, or software say that there’s an update, you should install it right away. Updates fix security problems and help protect your data. Turn on automatic updates to make it easier.

When you receive any suspicious communications: Stop and think before you click! Reach out to the Help Desk at 319-273-8231 or at helpdesk@centralriversaea.org if you have questions. Visit https://www.cisa.gov/cybersecurity-awareness-month for more cybersecurity tips and information.

The Educational Directory for 2024-25 has been updated and can be viewed and downloaded on the agency website under About Us > Directory of Services.

ACHIEVE Reminders – we are partnering with Keystone AEA to help with ACHIEVE data. This list provides you with the data tech assigned to each district and their contact information as well as the person responsible for the SIS within the district. Please review these reminders about ACHIEVE – our data techs are working hard to get things updated for fall and they are getting bogged down by emails – these tips will help reduce this. Access issues can be handled with these directions AEA or LEA.

• ACHIEVE issues should be handled through the ACHIEVE ticketing system and not via emails to Nicole or other data techs (left sidebar under ACHIEVE Support, select Support Request or Support Email).
• The district SIS is the source of truth for student name, date of birth, and grade level – if you have issues with accuracy, start with the district SIS – if this doesn’t work, submit a ticket (be sure to say you already worked with the school).
• Facilitators must finalize IEPs, exits and enter a change status on consents.
• Evaluation button missing – make sure FIIE consent is approved, then refresh.
• Meetings can only be dated 7 days prior to the date the IEP is opened.
• Amendments – when an Amendment requires a meeting it should be scheduled after the amendment is open – otherwise you will likely run into issues with finalizing.
• Exiting:
  • PRC code doesn’t display until after the consent is changed to parent revoked.
  • When reeval meeting required – paperwork needs to be completed within 30 days of the meeting or it won’t finalize. Submit a ticket if the system is requiring a 2nd meeting.
• If you are unable to assign teachers/staff in learners’ IEPs (prompts used outside of ACHIEVE), the learner is likely displaying at their resident district vs. attending. Submit a ticket with the attending district info.
• The AEA Powerschool is used for students not in a district SIS. Submit a ticket with all demographic information to have a student added.

Family Verification in ACHIEVE: in preparation for the family portal launch, districts and AEAs are required to verify the contact information and role for each family in ACHIEVE. This means that Early ACCESS service coordinators and any AEA support staff providers with support only IEPs will need to complete this process in September/October.  We will be sending out specific directions once data techs have rosters updated. Watch for more information in the coming weeks. If your district(s) request that you complete this process, please assure them that you will have this accomplished by the due date and then wait for our direction. You will notice a banner on ACHIEVE and may get questions from teachers – encourage them to reach out to their principal for guidance. This document provides an overview of parent roles that need to be identified as part of this process.

Harvest: guidance doc – remember, we are only tracking services provided to districts. Your paperwork and planning time specific to students should be included in the amount of time you document for that building.

Special Education Count Date for 2024 will be Friday, October 25.

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

• Special Education Updates page
• Updates with CRAEA Special Education doc (this will include every update from editions of The Channel)

Here is the Harvest guidance information for Ed Services. Please be sure to go back and log for July 1. If you did not have service in a particular week, you can simply press “submit for week” at the bottom right of the entry page. 

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

• Ed Services/Media Updates
• Updates with CRAEA Ed Services & Media doc (this will include every update from editions of The Channel)