The Channel

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. 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. If you have questions, please visit the staff website (remember to use your email username and password to access).

The Business Office is happy to announce that employees covered under our Long Term Disability Insurance policy will have access to identity theft assistance as of July 1, 2014. Both employees and their family members are covered at no additional cost and with no additional sign up.

Having your personal information stolen can be stressful and overwhelming. If you lose your wallet, suspect credit card fraud or if any of your personal or financial information were to become compromised, you are just a phone call away from help. A dedicated person will assist you in contacting the necessary agencies, completing the required paperwork and providing the follow-up and support you need through the restoration process.

The attached flyer provides you with the contact information and an outline of its services. Please keep this item for your records. It is also available on the staff portal under My Benefits, Information Center.

Due to the costs involved in renting outside facilities, it has been decided to hold the NE Sector meeting on August 12 in the AEA 267 Cedar Falls Conference Center vs. a separate location in Waverly. Also, given space considerations in the AEA 267 Cedar Falls Conference Center, River Hills School staff will meet on August 13 on their campus as opposed to joining one of the sector meetings.

August 11 –  NW Sector and Pinecrest Center at AEA 267 Clear Lake Office

August 12 – NE Sector and Bremwood School at AEA 267 Cedar Falls Conference Center

August 13 – East Sector at AEA 267 Cedar Falls Conference Center

August 13 — River Hills School at River Hills School campus

August 14 – South Sector at AEA 267 Marshalltown Office

Have a great summer (for those going off contract) and see you in August!

The AEA 267 Board of Directors met Wednesday, June 4 at 4 p.m. in the Cedar Falls AEA 267 Administrative Conference Room for a work session focused on the annual evaluation of the chief administrator.

Immediately following a break for a meal, the board met for their regular board meeting in the Cedar Falls AEA 267 Conference Center. During the regular meeting, the board:

• Heard a program review regarding an update on the Special Education compliance process from Dr. Mary Stevens, Dennis Sinclair and Greg Koppes.
• Approved the Professional Development agreement with Morningside College for 2014-15.
• Approved the Professional Development agreement with Viterbo University for 2014-15.
• Approved the renewal of the contract with the State Training School for Special Education and Transition services for 2014-15.
• Approved the renewal agreement with Jester Insurance for Agent of Record services for the AEA 267 Workers Compensation Insurance including the Retro Program for 2014-15.
• Approved the EMC Insurance Program for 2014-15.
• Tabled until the July meeting, the renewal of the Ethernet Lease with Iowa Communications Network for the AEA 267 Cedar Falls campus effective July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2019.
• Approved the second reading of the following board policies:
  • 700 Series (General Public Relations)
  • 800 Series (Information and Technology Services)
• Determined AEA 267’s legislative priorities for 2015.
• Heard a report from Dr. Roark Horn regarding the agency four-year facility plan.

The AEA 267 Foundation meeting was held immediately following the regular board meeting.

Join us for any or all of the upcoming retirement open houses which will be held on May 12 (Clear Lake Office); May 13 (Cedar Falls Conference Center); and May 14 (Marshalltown Office) from 3:30-5 p.m. at all locations. In keeping with tradition, the open houses will feature remarks from supervisors, retirees and a chance to socialize. Hope to see you there!

Cedar Falls campus retirees

• Becky Anderson, Teacher of MD/Severe & Profound
• Jenny Judas, Teacher of BD, Bremwood, Waverly, retiring end of 2013-14
• Dawn Kelly, SLP, River Hills, Cedar Falls, retiring end of 2013-14
• Susan Lindaman, Special Education Consultant, Northeast Sector, retiring end of 2013-14
• Nancy Moothart, Itinerant Teacher of Hearing Impaired/Sp Ed Consultant, Cedar Falls, retiring end of 2013-14
• Karen Platte, Special Education Consultant
• Margaret Reints, Educational Assistant, Bremwood, retiring end of 2013-14
• Deborah Rieks, Audiologist, Northeast Sector, retiring end of 2013-14
• Rebecca Saice, School Social Worker, East Sector, retiring end of 2013-14
• Mark Williams, Special Education Consultant, East Sector, retiring end of 2013-14

Clear Lake campus retirees

• Kathy Crooks, Sector Administrative Secretary, Charles City Office, retiring end of 2013-14
• Dee Dienst, Consultant for School Improvement, Clear Lake Office, retiring end of 2013-14
• Marlys Ebaugh, Audiologist, Forest City, retiring end of 2013-14
• Larry Niebur, Service Area Coordinator–IT
• Lynne Scribbins, Special Ed Consultant, Mason City, retiring end of 2013-14
• Nancy Showalter, School Psychologist, Hampton-Dumont, retiring end of 2013-14

Marshalltown campus retirees

• Kathy Baker, SLP, Marshalltown Office, retiring end of 2013-14,
• Roxanne Shanks, School Social Worker, Marshalltown, retired Jan 30, 2014

AEA 267 board members spend hundreds of hours each year analyzing budgets, monitoring student achievement data, adopting effective policies, and making key decisions to ensure that each Iowa student, family and educator served by our agency receives excellent service.

You are invited to celebrate and thank our AEA 267 board members throughout the month of May, which has been designated as School Board Recognition Month.

Consider sending a thank you note, an email or making a phone call to one of our incredible AEA 267 board members today. They deserve our appreciation!

All AEA 267 staff members will have an opportunity to hear the opening presentation used to kick off the accreditation site visit. The presentation will be delivered prior to each of the upcoming retirement open houses, which will be held on May 12 (Clear Lake); May 13 (Cedar Falls); and May 14 (Marshalltown). (See related story.)

The presentation will begin at  2 p.m. and finish in plenty of time for the start of each open house. Your Administrative Cabinet members will deliver the presentation which will focus on the agency’s strengths and challenges as viewed from the past five years of continuous improvement.

A huge thank you to the many AEA staff members who participated in the site visit doing everything from serving on interview teams to reserving rooms and Polycoms to contributing to the incredible amount of data needed to do a thorough review of agency services. Your work is appreciated!

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.