Category: Uncategorized

The results of the 2014 AEA/DE Customer Feedback Survey (CFS) are in. This year, over 1,300 educators participated in the survey which provides us with snapshot in time regarding how educators feel about AEA 267 services. Overall, satisfaction rates remained very high, down only slightly in a handful of categories, and up slightly in a handful of others when compared to last year. Because ‘Not Applicable’ is an option for those who take the survey, and because N/A’s do not count toward any category, perhaps an even better measure of results is to look at the percent that ‘disagree’ or ‘strongly disagree.’ In the majority of the 12 areas of the survey that percentage is less than 10%, and the highest level of ‘strongly disagree/disagree’ is 15.2%, with the next highest at 11.2%.

Overall this is a ringing endorsement of 267 services, and it is your hard work and accomplishments that have keep ratings consistently high through some challenging years of drastic resource cuts!  Take a look at the results in this matrix which shows the results over the past six years.

Enrollment for annual benefits is now open and will close May 31, 2014. All current staff should have received an informational email with instructions on how to enroll through iVisions. You must verify your benefit information in the system even if you are not planning on making any changes.

Just a friendly reminder about dates for the August kick-off meetings. Please be sure these dates are on your calendar and you are planning to attend your sector’s meeting. We are planning a great day of learning and connecting with your colleagues!

• Monday, August 11 (AEA 267 Clear Lake Office)
• Tuesday, August 12 (NE Sector, site to be determined)
• Wednesday, August 13 (AEA 267 Cedar Falls Conference Center
• Thursday, August 14 (AEA 267 Marshalltown Office)

As noted in the “May Board Recap” story this month, the AEA 267 Board of Directors approved the sale of the Forest City Office to the Forest City Economic Development Corporation effective June 1. In recent years only a handful of staff were actively using the office space which had become increasingly expensive to maintain. We are happy to see the building stay a vital part of the Forest City community!

The Learning Center program, which was housed in the Clear Lake Office, will be discontinued effective the end of the 2013-14 school year. As more school districts strive to serve students in the least restrictive environment possible, enrollment in the program has declined, leading to closure.

(Thanks to Bryan Knecht for sharing this informative article.)

Heartbleed is a code flaw in OpenSSL’s hearbeat function that lets hackers trick a server into handing over its private encryption keys. With those keys in hand, hackers can decrypt information that’s passing between servers and user’s computers without any detection. They can also potentially use those keys to set up their own man in the middle server that appears as if it’s a legit version of the site you’re trying to reach, and that would let them collect as much information as they want.

Imagine, for example, a hacker getting ahold of the encryption keys for your bank. They could then intercept and decrypt your secure transactions, get your credit card and bank account numbers, account login and password, and more.

Do you use Facebook, Instagram, or Tumbler? Should you change your passwords for those sites? Hint: The answer is yes.

Mashable put together a chart that showing whether or not many popular sites are susceptible to the heartbleed bug, if they’ve been updated, and if it’s time for you to change your password.

Just a friendly reminder that summer hours will begin on June 9 and run through August 8. Official office hours will be 7:30 a.m. – 4 p.m. during that period.

Two government agencies have pooled their purchasing power to provide low-cost distance communication tools. Each of Iowa’s Area Education Agencies and the Department of Education has purchased Zoom licenses for their employees. Zoom is a cloud-based, video conferencing service that can be accessed from computers, mobile devices and room conferencing systems. With this tool, a host can invite up to 25 or 100 participants to connect via video conferencing. It also includes screen sharing, annotation, chatting and recording functions.

The Iowa Educators Consortium (IEC), an initiative of Iowa’s AEAs, coordinated the bidding process which led to drastically discounted pricing for the next five years. The IEC is also working to make licenses available for schools, colleges and universities.

“Zoom will save thousands of dollars which are put back into providing services for kids,” said Brent Siegrist, AEA Executive Director. “This distance communication platform will be used by all of our peers across the state making communication seamless. The cost savings also translate into fewer miles traveled and lessen travel time for our staff.”

For more information, contact Dr. Jerry Schnabel.