When you think of a playbook, you typically think of a collection of high impact strategies or “plays” that a coach uses to direct his or her team to victory. The agency has put together our own playbook that guides where we will focus our efforts to yield the highest impact change for students. Very soon, copies of the playbook will be available to each team as well as conveyed through a laptop cling and other formats to communicate our strategic priorities to those we serve.
Watch for it!
The AEA 267 Board of Directors met Wednesday, November 2, 2016 in the Cedar Falls Conference Center. The board agenda and packet is available online and the minutes will be published online after approval at the next month’s board meeting.
Those of you who have been with the agency since the time of our merger know that our agency name has a storied and interesting history. For some, the name “AEA 267” is synonymous with the joining of three agencies into one. For many, the name is a constant reminder of separateness. This theme was reported by the Iowa Department of Education during previous site visits where both staff and our LEA partners voiced that our name was part of a larger concern around not yet fully uniting as one organization despite over a decade of efforts.
For those reasons and many others, the AEA 267 board took a bold step during their October meeting to change the agency’s name. The new name, Central Rivers Area Education Agency, is a nod to the many rivers that run throughout our 18-county territory, uniting us and flowing freely without regard to geography.
“The board rarely makes unilateral decisions, but in this case we felt it was appropriate to move ahead without a lengthy process that detracted from the important work that our staff and schools have to do ,” said Roberta Kraft-Abrahamson, AEA 267 vice president. “The timing is right given recent conversations around updates to facilities, the fact that our website is in the midst of a complete overhaul, and many of our building signs are in need of replacement. From a dollars and cents standpoint we had to make these improvements anyway. Why not take advantage of the timing and forge ahead?”
The new name will be phased in around the first of the year when the new agency website is launched. Supplies bearing the agency’s current name will be used up throughout the spring and the official changeover will take place on July 1, 2017.
Please help us embrace and celebrate this positive change!
Regardless of your role with AEA 267, safety should always be your top priority. For those staff who make home visits, staying safe requires extra vigilance and attention to detail.
The agency offers a “Home Visitor Safety” course each fall to anyone who will be providing home visits or would like more information on working safe. To register for the class, please sign up online at ‘My 267’ for professional development course #15305 “Introduction to Coaching and Home Visitor Safety.” If you are interested and become aware of additional safety courses available in your community, please share your interest with your Regional Administrator.
Aside from the Home Visitor Safety course, there are some basic guidelines that you can use in your daily work to help reduce your risks. Please take a minute to review these important reminders:
If you have some ideas on how to improve staff safety, feel free to share them with your Regional Administrator.
Flu season is right around the corner and the agency is offering a flu shot clinic at each of our office locations on Wednesday, October 19th.
Sign-up by Friday, October 14 by calling (319-273-8246) or emailing Kathy Barfels in Human Resources. Employees and family members covered by AEA 267 health insurance can fill out a form at the time of the shot and the clinic providers will file the form with our insurance company. All others will need to pay at the time of the shot. *The clinic is not limited to AEA 267 employees.
AEA 267 will receive an intensive, “differentiated accountability” site visit by the Iowa Department of Education (IDE) in May. The department will first complete a “desk audit” around AEA standards including a focus on closing the achievement gap and early literacy. The audit will be followed by a formal visit from an IDE-assembled team including representation from schools we serve as well as staff from the other AEAs. Data will be collected around the healthy indicators rolled out by the Department last year.
The visit is a welcome chance for the agency to collaborate in an almost professional learning community environment to look closely at what’s working and not with regard to the impact of our services. We have already self-identified many areas for growth and are in the midst of implementing several new approaches including the Regional Administrator model.
Watch for more information to be shared at a future date!
The AEA 267 media center has a new video recording device available called the SWIVL that staff can use to record instructional content such as presentations or trainings.
The SWIVL is essentially a robotic mount that can hook up to a variety of tablets and smartphones. The kits available for checkout do not come with a tablet or smartphone so staff members must have access to one and be able to download the SWIVL App to their device. The app accesses the camera on your tablet or phone to record video content while the robotic platform holding your device “swivels” back and forth to track the movements of whichever individual is wearing the kit’s tracking “marker” around their neck. From the app you can then easily upload your recorded clips to the internet.
Currently SWIVL kits are available for checkout only by AEA 267 staff intending to capture video for instructional uses. The media center has six devices available. Just contact any AEA 267 media center location to request and reserve a kit. Also, please keep in mind that you may need to have individuals you’re recording fill out an AEA 267 media release form which is available on the staff website under Communication & Technology> “Digital Resources.” If you have questions or need copies of the media release please contact Tiffany Schmitt. Also, please be mindful of copyright when considering your subject matter. This resource (also on the staff website) should be reviewed in advance.
Included in each kit is an instructional booklet to walk you through the process of setup and usage. For further information and training on how to use the SWIVL, staff are encouraged to contact either Sarah Lalk or Cari Teske.
The Flex Room contains resources and technology that require special training in order to use them to their full capacity, beyond the basic projecting of one computer screen to all monitors. This training will provide participants with the capability or projecting multiple devices at the same time, choosing multiple input and output selections and wireless presenting. Participants can attend these half-day trainings for one, two, or three hours depending on their needs. You can sign up for the Flex Room Training (Course # 15399) through our professional learning system.
If you have any questions about trainings, please contact Michelle Cowell.
The AEA 267 Board of Directors met Wednesday, October. 5, 2016 in the Cedar Falls Conference Center. The board agenda and packet is available online and the minutes will be published online after approval at the next month’s board meeting.
To support a timely staff replacement process and assist in budget planning, a retirement incentive will be provided for Certified and Administrative Staff who provide early notification of their intent to resign or retire at the end of the 2016-17 work year.
The proposed incentive would be administered as follows:
Commitments of separation by resignation or retirement at the end of the 2016-17 work year submitted by Certified or Administrative Staff, and received in the Human Resources Office between October 3, 2016, and December 2, 2016, and accepted by the Board no later than the regular meeting on December 7, 2016, will receive an early notification incentive payment of $1,500 to be payable June 30, 2017 subject to the employee fulfilling their individual employment contract obligations for the 2016-17 work year. This incentive is only being offered to Certified and Administrative staff due to the challenge in securing replacement licensed staff in these categories.
