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Please change your voice mail 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 Friday, December 23 at 3:30 pm and reopen on Tuesday, January 3, 2012.  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 Friday, December 23 at 3:30 pm and return Tuesday, January 3 and will respond to your email upon my return.

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

Did that headline catch your attention? You won’t believe all the prizes that have been donated to encourage your participation in our first all-agency food pantry drive. Just take a look at the list below!

According to Food Bank of Iowa, 1 in 5 Iowa children do not have enough food to eat. For every $1 donation, five meals can be provided to needy families in our area*. From now until December 20, AEA 267 staff members are invited to donate to funds to support area food pantries. For every $1 you donate, your name will be entered into a raffle for prizes donated by AEA 267 team members. To participate, take your monetary donation to Kerri Wilson (Cedar Falls), Becky Stevenson (Marshalltown), Jan Alger (Clear Lake) or any sector office secretary. Participation is completely voluntary. Donations are monetary only. If you prefer to donate food or money directly to a local food pantry, please do so independent of this campaign. The recipients of our funds will be Food Bank of Iowa (serving the Marshalltown and Clear Lake regions along with the central corridor of Iowa) and Northeast Iowa Food Bank (serving the Cedar Valley). Funds will be directed to the food pantries with the greatest needs under the auspices of these two food banks.

Thank you for considering participation!

Prizes:

• Multiple convenience store gift cards (sponsored by Dr. Roark Horn, Dr. Mary Stevens, Dr. Sara McInerny, Dr. Bev Plagge, Greg Koppes, and Jay Colsch)
• Educator’s “goody bag” of resources (sponsored by Dr. Carol Sensor)
• Gourmet coffee & tea basket (sponsored by Judy Moser & Edie Penno)
• Gourmet lasagna for a family (sponsored by Gary Whitmore)
• Tin of popcorn (sponsored by Karen Aldrich)
• Gourmet cookies (sponsored by Julie Davies)
• Lighted wine bottles (sponsored by Kim Swartz)
• 2 Panera gift cards (sponsored by Dr. Anne Sullivan)
• Quilted table runner/wall hanging (sponsored by Cheryl Carruthers)
• Commuter’s goody basket (sponsored by Beth Strike)
• Texas Roadhouse gift card (sponsored by Rod Ball)
• 4 Walmart gift cards (sponsored by Dennis Scudder, Larry Niebur, and Dennis Sinclair)
• 2 Culver’s gift cards (sponsored by Jody Albertson)
• 2 Target gift cards (sponsored by Sarah Knudsen)
• Hy-Vee gift card (Jerry Schnabel)
• Willow Tree angel (Kerri Wilson)
• Hot Cocoa/S’more basket (Amy Knupp)

While it may seem harmless, employees who solicit sales for outside employment or businesses are in violation of board policy if done during the work day or on agency property. Board policy 401.29 “Employee Conflict of Interest” provides guidance for those with questions. Recent examples include staff selling items such as crafts, beauty products, home decorative items, etc. at work. If you are in question, please take a look at Board Policy 401.29 and/or visit with your administrator.

The AEA 267 Board of Directors met December 7, 2011 at 6 p.m. in the AEA 267 Cedar Falls Conference Center for their regular meeting. During the meeting, the board:

• Heard a presenation from Amber Mann and Nancy Moothart, Itinerant Teachers of Hearing Impaired, about a program that uses iPads as an educational tool for children with hearing loss.
• Approved participation in 2011-12 Iowa Drug and Alcohol Testing Program (IDATP).
• Tabled approval of an agreement with Timberline Billing Services.
• Approved an agreement with Solution Tree for a PLC conference featuring Becky and Richard DuFour.
• Cast ballot for the AEA District Director for IASB.
• Discussed a joint board meeting with community colleges.
• Heard a variety of reports from directors and fellow board members.

Mark your calendar for Friday, August 10 for our first all-staff kickoff meeting! Details will be forthcoming.

Although Iowa’s AEAs have been helping children, families and educators for over 35 years, this comment remains, “People still don’t know what we do at the AEA.” A new video and advocacy campaign is preparing to launch within the next few weeks. The stories in this video are shared by people who have first-hand experience with the services offered by Iowa’s Area Education Agencies. 

As an AEA staff member, you have an opportunity for a sneak peek at the new video. It can be viewed online at http://www.iowapartnersineducation.org. (The public launch with educators and other partners will occur on Monday, Nov. 14, which is the start of American Education Week.)

Feel free to share the advocacy campaign with others via Facebook, Twitter or email directly from the site! When you do share it, you help to ensure that Iowa’s AEAs will be there to support the children, families and educators of our state for many years to come.

Questions? Please contact Beth Strike or Dr. Roark Horn.

American Education Week will be observed November 13-19 and is a great time to recognize all of you for the incredible work you do to serve children, families and educators. Please watch your van mail for a small token of appreciation in recognition of your efforts!

At the October 31st meeting of the Agency Continuous Improvement Team (CIT), the group spent a considerable amount of time discussing our “current reality” with respect to our progress on agency goals, key service areas and other items such as internal communication. Identifying our current reality will help as the agency makes tough decisions in the coming months and years to keep programs and services aligned with our LEA partner’s changing  needs and our budget.

For more information about the audit process or to view results, contact Dr. Jon McKenzie.

Last year, the agency established an account with Lands’ End Business Outfitters for staff who wish to personally purchase AEA 267 logo’d apparel and other items. An impressive variety of items and color choices are available to be independently purchased and shipped directly to you on demand without waiting for a “group” order to be organized. Lands’ End recently announced a promotion for free shipping and logo application* through November 11, 2011 on AEA 267 logo’d items. Visit the AEA 267 Lands’ End Business Outfitters website today to preview our official AEA 267 catalog. To take advantage of the promotion, place your order via telephone at 1-800-497-6566 and mention the promotional code “OUT”.

For more information contact Beth Strike, Communication Specialist.

*Some restrictions apply.

Although we’ve had drier-than-average weather and great conditions for travel, winter weather is undoubtedly in our future. Are you ready? Below are some helpful links to review:

Iowa School Alerts sign-up for AEA 267 office closing and PD cancellation notification.

Iowa Department of Transportation Road Conditions

Safe Motorist tips for winter driving

AEA 267 staff webpage on Inclement Weather (login: aeastaff/password: aea267ia)

As another reminder, the agency is no longer disseminating office closing and professional development cancellations via news media.

As budgets shrink, more and more organizations are looking to email to send information and announcements. The agency has received many requests recently from outside organizations (colleges, universities, museums, etc.) who ask that we share their announcements with a large group of teachers and educators via email. These electronic mailings are sometimes known as “email blasts.” While we want to remain good partners with these entities, we also want to honor the requests of our LEA partners by not inundating them with information or implying our endorsement.  Thus, at Ad Cabinet this week, it was decided that these requests will generally be declined although some information is appropriate for posting on the Professional Development page of the agency website. If you receive requests to pass on information for an outside organization to a general group of teachers or school administrators, please refer the request to Beth Strike, AEA 267 Communications Specialist, to coordinate and respond.

The AEA 267 Board of Directors met on November 2, 2011 at 6 p.m. in the AEA 267 Clear Lake office for their regular meeting. Substitute board secretary, Beth Strike, administered the Oath of Office to the newly elected board members: Darshini Jayawardena, Dr. George North, Bernice Richard, David Giese and Charlotte Upah.

During the meeting, the board:

• Heard a review of the AEA 267 Mentoring and Induction program from Marcia Knupp.
• Motioned to accept a variety of resignations, retirements and hires.
• Approved a contract with Mid-Iowa Community Action, Inc. (MICA).
• Approved a lease with Community United Child Care Centers (CUCCC)
• Approved a reciprocal transportation agreement between:

1. Central Springs and Forest City
2. Central Springs and Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock (RRMR)
3. Osage and Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock (RRMR)
4. Mason City and Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock (RRMR)
5. Mason City and West Fork

• Heard a variety of reports from directors and fellow board members.