The Channel

A day of learning, fun and camaraderie is being planned for agency support staff as part of the 2014 Office Support Professionals’ Day to be held Tuesday, November 18. The morning keynote presentation will focus on key aspects of our Core Operating Principles including building and maintaining positive relationships, developing a customer-focused attitude, handling conflict effectively, and taking initiative. The afternoon will feature three skill-building mini-sessions around proofreading/editing and business writing, going deeper with Google, and learning how to use the staff and public websites as resources to tackle daily tasks.

An official invitation with more details will be sent to support staff in the coming weeks. For now, please hold the date on your calendar!

Just a friendly reminder that the agency will host three flu shot clinics for staff members this month. Contact Human Resources at (319) 273-8246 to sign up or send an email to Judy Dummermuth by October 3 at 4:30 pm.

CEDAR FALLS- Wednesday, October 15, 2014 from 6:30 am to 8:00 am in the CF Conference Center Lobby (cholesterol testing will also be available)

CLEAR LAKE- Monday, October 13, 2014 from 7:00 am to 8:30 am in Room D of the Clear Lake Office (cholesterol testing will also be available)

MARSHALLTOWN- Tuesday, October 14, 2014 from 6:30 am to 8:00 am in Room A of the Marshalltown Office

Please bring your insurance or Medicare card to the clinic!  If you do not have insurance with AEA 267, you will have to pay for the shot at that time.

Someday, each of us would like to relax and enjoy the fruits of our labor. However, the Social Security administration believes that most people aren’t saving enough for that “someday” when they retire. Social Security offers a my Social Security account to help people prepare and manage their “someday.” With a my Social Security account, you can:

• Get your online Social Security statement;
• Verify your lifetime earnings;
• See estimates of your future earnings;
• Manage your benefits; and so much more.

Do you participate in Zoom conferences regularly? If so, you may benefit from downloading the free Zoom app to your smartphone. The app is available from the App Store for iOS devices and via the Play Store for Android. Please keep in mind that the use of video via a data connection has the potential to use a great deal of your data! You’ll want to be careful how often you choose this option if you have a smaller data plan. (Use of the app via a wireless connection should not impact your data usage.) And of course, NEVER Zoom and drive!

If you are the lead for a project that has had materials archived on Basecamp, you have probably already been contacted by Kerri Wilson about moving your materials to Google or another online location. Beginning January 1, 2015, the agency will no longer maintain an account with Basecamp given the variety of other online tools now available. Please contact Kerri if you have questions.

The AEA 267 Board of Directors met Wednesday, October 1 at 5:45 p.m. in the AEA 267 Cedar Falls Conference Center for a public hearing regarding the sale of property located at 1010 Edgington Ave, Eldora, Iowa.

The AEA 267 Board of Directors met at 6 p.m. for their regular meeting. During the meeting, the board approved the consent agenda and board members were recognized for their dedicated service to AEA 267 this past year. The board then adjourned the final meeting of the 2013-14 Board of Directors.

Immediately following, the board called to order their first meeting of 2014-15 during which time the board:

• Elected Dr. Deb Rich as President and Roberta Kraft-Abrahamson as Vice President and Kerri Wilson administered the oath of office for all members.
• Appointed Kerri Wilson as board secretary and Dave Nicholson as board treasurer and administered the oath of office to each.
• Set meeting dates and times for the 2014-15 board meetings. Meetings will be held the first Wednesday of each month with the exceptions of December 2014 and August 2015, which will be held the second Wednesday.
• Approved appointments to the AEA Legislative Committee, the AEA Executive Committee, the AEA Audit Committee, the IEC Committee, and the IAEP Committee.
• Approved Wells Fargo Bank as the depository bank and established financial limits.
• Appointed Steve Weidner as legal counsel for 2014-15.
• Considered input from the public hearing on sale of property in Eldora, Iowa and voted to accept a purchase agreement from the Eldora-New Providence Community School District to purchase the property.
• Heard an appeal from a patron in the Marshalltown School District regarding a transportation disagreement and rendered a decision.
• Approved the 2013-14 Certified Annual Report (CAR) for submission to the Iowa Department of Education.
• Approved the 28E agreement with Cedar Falls Community School District for management and operation of River Hills School.
• Approved the reciprocal transportation agreements.
• Approved a recommendation for remodeling the Cedar Falls Conference Center.
• Approved a recommendation for remodeling the Marshalltown Office Lounge.
• Approved an agreement with Grant Wood AEA for employment of Dr. Sara McInerny with Iowa Reading Research Center  for the 2014-15 school year.
• Approved an agreement with Four Oaks Family and Children’s Services-Independence for 2014-15.
• Heard a variety of reports from directors and fellow board members.

Dr. Roark Horn

Our hard work has paid off! The agency received unofficial word that AEA 267 was fully accredited in all standard areas as a result of our accreditation site visit by the Iowa Department of Education (DE) this past spring. Dr. Roark Horn will go before the State Board of Directors later this month when they will officially accept the recommendation from DE staff. The report (downloadable here) contains a variety of feedback organized around strength areas and recommendations for further study/improvement. The agency Continuous Improvement Team will review the report in detail and craft strategies for addressing any areas for growth.

“I couldn’t be prouder of our staff for this accomplishment,” said Horn. “This report validates that we are indeed doing the highest quality work possible to support students, families and educators in our area.”

As a small part of our effort to present a professional image, please adhere to the following guidelines in setting up your
email “signature.” The signature is a block of text that is automatically added to the end of the email message that contains your name, title, the agency name, the physical address of your agency office, city, state, zip code, phone number, fax number and agency website address. It should look like this:

Dr. Roark R. Horn
AEA 267 Chief Administrator
Administrative Services Center
3722 Cedar Heights Drive
Cedar Falls, IA 50613
Office Phone – 319-273-8204
rhorn@aea267.k12.ia.us
www.aea267.k12.ia.us

• Please refrain from adding quotes, sayings or other personal information to the bottom of your signature. If everyone put a one or two sentence quote in their signature (when multiplied by the number of emails each person sends in a year) the addition takes up valuable server and archiver space.
• Avoid using different fonts or text colors due to some spam filters seeing those items as possible spam characteristics (e.g. a person with red cursive font would have their email weighted higher as possible spam versus the person who used blue/black Calibri font).
• The use of one logo or picture is acceptable, but multiple pictures in the signature is also seen in some spam filters as possible spam.
• Please use a standard font such as Arial, Verdana, Calibri, or Times New Roman.

Given low usage and costs associated with upgrading technology, the ICN equipment has been removed from the Clear Lake Office. This is consistent with trends across the state although ICN access is still available through Clear Lake High School, Mason City Newman as well as three sites at North Iowa Area Community College. The room has been converted to a dedicated Polycom meeting space and renamed “Room E” with the former Room E (the smaller room down the hall from the administrative offices) becoming open work space.

An email is going around with the subject “URGENT AND IMPORTANT” and asks you to click on a link. This is a “phishing” scam that pretends to give you a link to a Google document, but in reality it is a link that sends you to a fake Google Site that asks you to enter your email address and email password (claiming you need to login with your account credentials in order to “access Google Drive” to “see the document”).

What really happens, is that you unknowingly give away your account username and password, allowing scammers to simply login and take over your account, sending further email (phishing for more accounts) to everyone in your account’s contact list/address book.

Phishing scams sometimes appear to come from someone you know, or from a reputable business, such as a bank, PayPal, Ebay etc. AEA 267 takes measures to block such email, but our most important line of defense is you, so if an email asks for a username or password, or just doesn’t seem right, it most likely is not. Simply deleting it and not clicking on the link is the most prudent action you can take. If you are unsure of the authenticity of the email but think it may be legitimate, contact the sender and ask them if they sent it. If you think you may have given away your account credentials, please notify our AEA technology staff and change your account password right away.

While the online searchable schools directory (including labels) is current and accessible, the hard copy of the Ed Directory is still being printed. The directory will be distributed to AEA 267 staff members within the next two weeks. Questions? Contact Lori Thomas.

The AEA Contact Manager system will be current with updated educator contact information by the end of the month. (Use your email login/password to access.) Remember that this system is a great tool to target email messages to specific groups of teachers served by our agency. Need help? Contact Beth Strike.

Are you in need of a business card? A new interactive order form is now available on the staff website (remember to use your email login and password to access) under Communications & Technology>Communications Guides & Templates>Business Card Print Order. Please be sure to include the billing code for your department when placing your order!