Category: Uncategorized

Wellmark offers insured employees the opportunity to enroll in their Blue365 program and during the month of February you can join Fitness Your Way and have the $29 enrollment fee waived.  You’ll pay just $29 a month for access to their network of over 10,000 gyms and with Fitness Your Way, you are not limited to just one facility and can workout at multiple participating gyms.

Wellmark Blue365 can be accessed through the Portal > My Benefits > 2019-20 Insurance Information > Wellmark > Wellmark.com. Login to an existing account or register for a new account. You will need your insurance ID number to create an account. Once in your personal account, click on Well-Being > Visit Blue365 (under Member Discounts).

There you will find great deals on a variety of benefits for members. Fitness Your Way is located under the Fitness tab.

Please contact Betty Hesseling at 319-273-8202 if you have questions or need assistance setting up your Blue365 account.

This month, we continue with highlighting the three main focus areas of the agency strategic plan by focusing on Specially Designed Instruction (SDI). Please use this link to the form referenced in the video. A big thanks to Brena Huber for being featured!

Do you ever wonder how your other Central Rivers AEA co-workers spend their work life? On the Job @ Central Rivers AEA is a monthly series we’ve just launched to give you a peek into the work of others in the agency. Each month, Chief Administrator, Sam Miller, will spend time with a Central Rivers AEA employee and learn more about the work involved in their position. These highlight videos will also be shared on our website and social media sites to help educate the public about the work of an AEA.

This month? Dawn Jaeger, School Social Worker and member of the agency well-being team.

The 2020-21 office calendar has been approved by the board and is now available to view/download on the staff website under Resources > Meeting Dates & Office Calendar.

While it’s been a pretty mild start to winter so far, undoubtedly, a major weather event is in our future. This is a good time to review the inclement weather and emergency closing information, which can be found on the staff website under Resources > Inclement Weather and Emergency Closing Information and also on the portal under My Toolbox. 

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.

At roughly the half-way of the year mark, 411 of 545 staff earned dollars through Navigate.  We will be paying out $47,565 on January 23 and this incentive you have earned will be a separate/additional deposit from your monthly paycheck. 

The next agency-wide challenge, Spring into Shape, begins February 3. Here’s to a happy and healthy 2020!!

The CRAEA Board recently approved moving to a new phone system with Zoom.  Our current phone systems located at each office will be phased out by March 2020.  If you will be impacted by this change, you will be contacted via email from Zoom when your phone number has been established.  Below are scheduled training and telephone system cutover dates for each region. As we move forward migrating each region we will be sending out communication via email and The Channel with detailed instructions.

The dates and locations for training are as follows:

Clear Lake: December 19th

Marshalltown: January 14th

Cedar Falls: February 17th

River Hills: February 17th

Questions? Contact Bryan Knecht.