Category: Uncategorized

The Central Rivers AEA Board of Directors met Wednesday, September 6th in the Cedar Falls Conference Center. The board packet is available online and the minutes will be published online after approval at the next month’s board meeting.

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.

The August 14 all-staff meeting is quickly approaching and represents a great opportunity for us to learn, connect, and explore our new facility in Cedar Falls. Click here to see the schedule for the day as well as details for the afternoon team meeting. As in past years, we ask that you please carpool with other employees to defray mileage expense and help to ease parking concerns. If you are in the Clear Lake or Marshalltown Office, carpooling arrangements are being organized by either Chad Pinkston (Marshalltown) or Dr. Carol Sensor (Clear Lake). Please reach out to one of these individuals to sign-up for ride sharing if you have not already received information.

We are excited to be bringing back last year’s planned main speaker, Monte Selby. If you remember, a plane issue kept Monte from presenting last year. We were fortunate to have a back-up plan last year and more fortunate that Monte was available this year!

Dress for the day is casual. Flips flops, shorts, polos, etc. are all fair game! If you would like, bring a pair of walking shoes to enjoy the trail outside our new Cedar Falls office. We hope you will look forward to learning, great food, team building, and door prizes. It’s going to be a great day!

 

 

 

On July 5, many of the year-round Cedar Falls-based staff began moving into our new digs at 1521 Technology Place. While the majority of staff are settling in, the print room will not be completed and ready until closer to August 1. In addition, professional learning classes and workshops are still being held at our former location at 3712 Cedar Heights Drive until August 14.

In addition, renovation work in the Marshalltown office as well as the installation of new furniture and other touch ups in the Clear Lake office are nearing completion.

Here are a few photos from this summer’s work! A huge thank you to everyone involved.

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.

On June 19, we will launch a brand new website. Watch this short video to learn what’s changed and where to find things!

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 Account for 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 Address tab and fill out the required information.
• You then need to fill out the Billing box.
• Lastly, carefully review your Order Summary to 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!