With our strong focus on literacy and math, the agency has restructured to create a Director of Instruction position beginning with the 2018-19 school year. Kim Swartz has been selected for the new position given her knowledge and experience in reading and math instruction. Congratulations, Kim!
Kim has been a professional educator since 1984 teaching elementary students. She joined the AEA system in 2000 as a literacy consultant before becoming a Regional Administrator. She holds a B.A. in Elementary Education and an M.A. in Educational Technology, both from UNI.
Kim’s family includes her husband Kevin and children Ryan, Austin, and Spencer and their spouses. She has two grandsons and her interests include spending time with family and friends, as well as biking, hiking, gardening, and singing in the church choir.
The Central Rivers AEA literacy conference is scheduled for June 13 & 14 to be held in Cedar Falls. A powerful roster of speakers is scheduled including Timothy Rasinski, Antonio Fierro, Deborah Reed, Barbara Golub, David Kilpatrick and Jim Burke. Important topics such as foundational skills, fluency, word study, vocabulary, the reading-writing relationship, and reaching English learners will be addressed. Staff is encouraged to attend. Fill out a travel request in Ivisons and register now!
It is with great sadness that we inform you of the passing of Richard Dickerson. Richard passed away on Friday, February 23. He was a valued member of the Central Rivers AEA team and will be greatly missed.
Richard first came to us as a special education teacher and then worked as a transition specialist. Following retirement, Richard worked part-time as a van driver for the Media department.
Please keep Richard’s family and friends in your thoughts as they go through this difficult time.
Welcome back to another exciting year for our agency as we are now “officially” Central Rivers AEA!
The purpose of this communication is to provide you with some important details as you prepare for Monday’s all-staff meeting at our new location at 1521 Technology Parkway in Cedar Falls. (Please be sure to read the following carefully as hard copies of this information will not be provided.)
Please review the agenda for the day, including details for the afternoon’s meetings. Note that while sign-in begins at 8:30 am, we are asking that all staff have their photo taken before our 9 am start time or during the morning break. Thus, staff members within the Cedar Falls region are encouraged to come as early as 7:30 am to have their photo taken early and help alleviate congestion.
Carpooling with other employees to defray mileage expense and help to ease parking concerns will be critical. If you are in the Clear Lake or Marshalltown Office, carpooling arrangements have been organized by either Chad Pinkston (Marshalltown) or Dr. Carol Sensor (Clear Lake). Please reach out to one of these individuals if you have any further questions. Parking at 1521 Technology Parkway is available in all of the main building lots (upper and lower) along with both sides of the street on Technology Parkway.
Plenty of staff members will be available to help guide you at our new site. In addition, floor maps will be available on several monitors for you to refer to throughout the day. Lactation rooms are available for those who may need them on the lower level. Maps of both the upper and lower levels are available to download for your convenience.
Dress for the day is professional casual (shorts, flip flops, polos, etc. are all acceptable). If you would like, bring a pair of walking shoes to enjoy the trail. We hope you will look forward to learning, great food, team building, and door prizes. It’s going to be a great day!
Cell phone reimbursement applications for the 2017-18 school year will be accepted now through September 15, 2017. The request form can be found on the Staff Website. Payment will be made to employees on September 29, 2017. Cell phone reimbursement requests are approved when the use of cell phones are appropriate and necessary in an employee’s role to provide effective and efficient operations of Central Rivers AEA.
Please remember to submit applications 6-8 weeks prior to an expiration date (or prior to when a new license is needed). Background checks can take 4-6 weeks, in addition to the time the Board of Educational Examiners office needs to process the request. Educators cannot remain on the job, even if their materials have been submitted if their license expires.
Due to our name change, there is a change in staff username/password to access our digital resources, such as any of the Iowa AEA Online resources, MackinVIA or Literary Reference Center. Central Rivers staff username is now: crmedia. The password is: craea.
For our school district partners, their username will remain the same for digital resources, but the password does change to: craea.
Please contact Cheryl Carruthers, Deb Culp or Cari Teske if you have any questions about media resources available to you and the schools that you serve.
The Department of Education is transitioning to a new statewide data system for K-6 literacy through FASTBridge Learning. To help school districts with this transition, comprehensive training via webinars and regional face-to-face meetings are being offered now through the end of October. These training slots are limited and information needed to register for the training is being distributed to district participants by their principals or superintendents.
Here are a few key answers to recent questions the DE has received about the training and the transition:
The DE has the capacity to train a few people from each school or district, and the expectation is that the people who receive training will use the available resources to help train others in their building.
The DE is still considering how to collect screening data from schools not using the FAST system.
The screening windows for 17-18 for all schools (other than the three Iowa year-round schools) are defined by the IDOE and shall not be changed by the district:
Fall: September 11 to October 6
Winter: January 15 to February 9
Spring: April 23 to May 18
The Department will provide ongoing communication and support throughout this important transition. AEA Staff who are interested in more frequent updates can sign up to receive regular Early Warning System email updates.
Expense reimbursements must be submitted and approved before July 10th to be eligible for payment. Requests for June mileage may be submitted for reimbursement after the last day worked in June.
The wait is nearly over. In just a few short weeks, we will officially become Central Rivers AEA! While the branding committee has been working behind the scenes for several months to get ready for the transition, you can help by doing your part after June 19. Please take the following steps:
Change your voicemail greeting. Whether you are off contract for the summer or not, please ensure that your voice mail has a standard greeting that incorporates our new name.
Example of standard greeting:
Hello, this is Sam Miller, Chief Administrator of Central Rivers AEA. I am away from my office or on the phone right now but your call is very important to me. Please leave your name and number and the best time to reach you and I will return your call within 24 hours. If you would like immediate assistance, please contact my assistant, Lori Thomas, at extension 8201. Thanks and have a great day!
Example of greeting for vacation/extended absence:
Hello, this is Sam Miller, Chief Administrator of Central Rivers AEA. I am away from my office until (date) but your call is very important to me. Please leave your name and number and the best time to reach you and I will return your call when I return. If you would like immediate assistance, please contact my assistant, Lori Thomas, at extension 8201. Thanks and have a great day!
Update your email signature.
On June 19, your email address will automatically change to centralriversaea.org. (We will keep your old email address active for a period of time to ensure that your email forwards to you.) You will need to update your email signature to reflect this change so that it looks like this:
Sam Miller, Chief Administrator Central Rivers AEA Street Address (the office where you receive your van mail) City, State & Zip (the office where you receive your van mail) Phone number where you can be reached on a daily basis Insert our new Central Rivers AEA logo. (Logo with Instructions)
Update your social media accounts.
Although your social media accounts should be personalized to you and not official agency accounts, you might mention where you work in your profile. Please remember to update that information to Central Rivers AEA.
A huge variety of items, sizes, colors, and options await you in the new Central Rivers AEA logo apparel e-store. Order anytime! Free shipping to Clear Lake, Cedar Falls or Marshalltown Offices.
Here are the basic instructions on how to place an order:
The first time you place an order, you will need to Create A New Accountfor the Webstore.
When setting up your password, it must be a total of 8 characters and 2 of 3 of alphanumeric and special characters (ex: !@#) Make note of your Username/Password for future shopping.
Fill out everything in red.
Add items to the cart, by choosing a size (please refer to the sizing information under the color swatches to make sure you are ordering the correct size), color and quantity.
Once you are done shopping, click on Checkout.
On the next screen in the shipping box, you have two options for delivery. You can have your order delivered to one of our three offices (Cedar Falls, Clear Lake or Marshalltown), free of charge. You will need to pick up your order at that location. For this option, click the drop-down box and choose the location as well as enter your first and last name in the appropriate boxes. The second option is to have the order delivered to your home address by UPS. There will be a charge for this that will be calculated during the checkout process. For this option click the New Addresstab and fill out the required information.
You then need to fill out the Billing box.
Lastly, carefully review your Order Summaryto make sure everything is accurate including size, color, logo color choice)
Once everything is filled in and reviewed, click Submit Order. Your order will then deliver in approximately two to three weeks.
Logo colors description:
The All Black logo will be a black/silver logo on the left chest
The All White logo will be a white/silver logo on the left chest
The Full-Color logo will be the logo in full color on the left chest
The Tone on Tone logo will be the logo in a thread color that is a shade lighter or darker than the shirt color itself on the left chest.
Questions? Contact Beth Strike, Director of Creative Services at 319-273-8222. We’ll have samples at the August 14 all-staff meeting.
Mark your calendars! Our first all-staff meeting as Central Rivers Area Education Agency will be held on August 14 at our new headquarters at 1521 Technology Parkway in Cedar Falls! We will start the day with social time and registration from 8:30-9 a.m. and are planning a fun day complete with recognitions, inspiration and “edutainment” by Monte Selby. Plan to end the day by 3:30 pm or before depending on the work group.
Summer hours will begin on June 12 and run through August 11. Official office hours will be 7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. during that period.
If you are going off contract for the summer, please ensure that your voicemail greeting and “out of office” email message indicate who is handling inquiries in your absence along with when you plan to return. (See related story.)
Due to the late retirement of Edie Penno, Jody Albertson has been selected to lead Region 4 as a full-time Regional Administrator. Congratulations to Jody and best wishes to Edie!
