The AEA 267 Board of Directors met on Wednesday, June 1 in the AEA 267 Cedar Falls Conference Center at 4:30 p.m. for a work session. The regular board meeting was held at 5:30 p.m. with the AEA 267 Foundation meeting immediately following.
The agenda for the June meeting can be found on the agency website under About Us>Board of Directors>Board Meetings & Agendas. Official minutes will be posted the following month after board approval.
Sam Miller, AEA 267 Chief Administrator
Many of you are probably wondering what happened with the proposed $5 million cut to the Iowa AEA system. As you know, I sent a frantic email to all staff late last month asking for help in reaching out and advocating on our behalf. A huge thank you to each of you who took this opportunity to encourage educators and families to speak out. The good news is that your efforts made a difference. Over the weekend we learned that instead of cutting the system $5 million, we will instead be cut $3.75 million. Both the other Chief Administrators and our lobbyists firmly believe that the relationships and connections we have with those we serve made restoring some of the proposed cut possible.
Now for the bad news. Cutting the AEA system $3.75 million equates to about $525,000 for AEA 267. When combined with several years of stagnant revenue growth, the timing of this shortfall couldn’t be worse as we are steadily dipping into our reserves to meet the financial demands of our current staffing levels, programs and services. In the coming months, the AEA 267 leadership team will begin the arduous process of developing an action plan to bring expenditures in line with available funds. I’ll continue to communicate with you throughout the process and I encourage you to come forth with your ideas to continue to create efficiencies. We are all in this together!
AEA 267’s Board of Directors volunteer countless hours of their time each year to ensure that every Iowa student, family and educator served by our agency receives excellent service. Please join us in honoring our board members and consider sending a thank you note, email or making a phone call to one of the incredible members of our board. They deserve our appreciation!
Get to know the board…
Roberta Kraft-Abrahamson, Director District 1 – Vice President
Roberta is a retired AEA 267 employee, having served as a special education coordinator and social worker. She has been a member of our board since 2002. Roberta and her husband, Steven, reside in Forest City where she has been actively involved in a number of community boards.
Deb is the assistant director of the Jacobson Center Curriculum and Instruction program at the University of Northern Iowa. She has been on AEA 267’s board since 2009, serving as president for the past two years. As part of her career in education, Deb also served as a reading consultant with AEA 267. Deb and her husband, Gil, live on a farm near Sumner.
Dr. George North, Director District 3
George is a retired dentist who has served on our board of directors since 1999. He has been a leader for the Boy Scouts, served on the Allison school board, and continues to be active in professional development around the country. George was very instrumental in the development of Wilder Park east of Allison. George and his wife, Lois, live in Allison.
Dr. Darshini Jayawardena, Director District 4
Darshini is the director of the Lifelong Learning program at North Iowa Area Community College and has been a board member since 2011. She recently completed her doctorate through Capella University in Minnesota. Darshini and her family live in Mason City where her husband is a physician with Mercy Medical Center North Iowa.
David Giese, Director District 5
David is a retired educator and has served on the AEA 267 board since 2010. He is an artist whose photography has been exhibited in the area. He is also an avid reader. David and his wife, Mary, live in Marshalltown.
Maureen is currently employed with the John Deere Product Engineering Center in Cedar Falls and was elected to the board in 2015. She enjoys running and has completed a number of marathons. She and her husband, Leonard, reside in Hudson.
Richard is retired from John Deere and has been a member of the board since 2008. He served for 31 years on the Cedar Falls school board and resides with his wife, Judy, in Cedar Falls.
Bryan works for the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier and joined our board in 2013. He and his wife, Mary, have three children and live in Waterloo, where Bryan is active on a number of community boards.
Dennis served in the United States Marine Corp for six years and was elected to AEA 267’s board in 2015. He is also a barbershop quartet singer with the Proud Image Chorus in Waterloo. He and his wife, Pam, live in Waterloo with their two teenage children.
Benefits enrollment is now open in the portal until May 22. All benefits-eligible employees must complete this process even if you are making no changes, declining insurance, resigning, or retiring.
Congratulations to Kerri Wilson, Kay Schmalen and Mark Proescholdt, our latest Hall of Fame Award Honorees! Watch for individual profiles in the June/July edition of Intersections and on our Facebook page. Thanks to everyone who nominated and participated in the program this year. Please join us in congratulating these three outstanding team members!
As we look ahead to next year, this is a good time to issue a reminder regarding how mileage is calculated. These new regulations were approved at the May 4 board meeting. Please refer to the new amended regulation for further information:
The starting point for establishing commute miles is either the employee’s assigned AEA office or district assignment, whichever is closest to the employee’s home. Starting points are established at the beginning of each school year and remain in place unless the employee moves or no longer supports the starting point district. Itinerant employees (Early ACCESS, COTA, etc.) use the closest assigned LEA school to compute mileage–not a student home or other meeting location. No exceptions.
If you have questions regarding mileage starting point, please contact your supervisor.
Kerri Wilson
Lori Thomas
Congratulations to Lori Thomas who has been named to fill the position being vacated by Kerri Wilson who will retire in June. Lori currently serves as the Administrative Assistant to the Clear Lake Site Superintendent/Director of Communications and has done an exemplary job in the role. She is well-liked by fellow team members and has excellent skills in technology and customer service.
In addition to accepting Kerri’s current position serving the Chief Administrator and Chief Financial Officer, Lori will also support the Director of Creative Services.
Help us say congratulations to Lori and farewell to Kerri, who has been a friendly face in the agency for nearly 40 years!
Cari Teske, Kay Schmalen and Shaelynn Farnsworth share a light moment during the 2015 all-staff meeting.
While it may seem like a long way away, the all-staff meeting will soon be upon us! This year’s meeting will be held on August 11 at the Marshalltown High School Auditorium, located at 1602 South 2nd Avenue in Marshalltown. Registration for the day will start at 8:30 a.m. with the actual program beginning at 9 a.m. Lunch will be on your own. For staff members who are part of a regional team (an email was sent to those individuals last week by their new Regional Administrator), the day will end at 3 p.m. For staff members who are not part of a regional team (e.g. print and production, maintenance, business office, etc.) it is likely that the day will end following lunch when you can return back to your work site; however, you may be hearing from your supervisor in the coming weeks if s/he is planning to hold a departmental meeting in the afternoon. A sign-up for transportation will be provided in the coming weeks.
Get ready for an energizing day featuring nationally known presenter Monte Selby as well as years of service award, remarks from our Chief Administrator, and time to network with co-workers. We are planning a great day for you!
The AEA 267 Board of Directors met on Wednesday, May 4th in the AEA 267 Cedar Falls Conference Center at 6 p.m.
The agenda for the May meeting can be found on the agency website under About Us>Board of Directors>Board Meetings & Agendas. Official minutes will be posted the following month after board approval.
