The Channel

In an effort to ensure consistent information regarding special education procedures, there is now an additional resource available to you.  The AEA 267 Special Education Procedural Q & A is intended to be used in combination with the Statewide Special Education Procedures Manual, What Forms to Use When, and your sector Beginning of Year Information.  This resource is accessible from the AEA website by clicking on ‘Special Education’ from the home screen, then ‘Procedures and Forms’ on the right hand column under ‘Procedures’, then ‘Special Education Procedural Q & A’ on the left side under ‘Procedures’.  This document will be periodically updated by the special education administrative team as procedural questions continue to be posed and clarified. For additional support or clarification regarding procedures beyond the available documents listed above, please contact your coordinator.

Letters of advocacy from staff, LEA partners, parents, and even students to local legislators are always encouraged, especially letters of support regarding our AEA legislative priority areas for 2015.  We have created a flyer that lists legislators serving AEA 267 school districts. You can search by senate, house representative or by school district. This is a convenient way to find a particular legislator and his or her contact information.

Please remember when sending messages to legislators that it is important for you to personalize emails or letters and send them from your personal email account or stationary. It is against the law for us to lobby the legislature using agency email or stationary. Also, do not send any such messages during agency work hours, as that would also be a violation of the law.

Need help drafting an advocacy letter or have questions? Contact, Dr. Roark Horn, AEA 267 Chief Administrator.

The AEA 267 Board of Directors held a Public Hearing regarding the proposed AEA 267 Conference Center remodel on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 at 6 p.m. in the Cedar Falls Conference Center. Immediately following, the board held a Public Hearing on the AEA 267 proposed budget for 2015-16.

The board held their regular meeting immediately following the budget hearing and during the meeting, the board:

• Heard a program review from Dennis Muyskens, Hogan-Hansen Auditor, regarding the 2013-14 Audit Report.
• Accepted and approved the Audit Report for 2013-14.
• Discussed and approved the process to hire a new Chief Administrator for 2015-16. (See related article.)
• Approved the 2015-16 proposed budget for submission to the State Board.
• Reviewed and approved the current mileage reimbursement rate.
• Approved the office calendar for 2015-16.
• Approved the lease renewal with North Iowa Community Action Organization for the Charles City sector office for 2015-16.
• Heard a variety of reports from directors and fellow board members.

Starting February 1, and lasting throughout the month, AEA PD Online kicks off its brand new OLLIE online community for teachers. Part of their Online Learning for Iowa Educators (OLLIE) series, the community provides educators resources, live events, discussions, sharing and networking with other educators. It is the perfect learning place for teachers looking to add blended or flipped learning to their classroom.

Featured during 28 Days of OLLIE will be daily events, activities and even contests with prizes to help acclimate educators to the community.

Educators at all levels and those who support them are invited to participate. The first step is to join the community, which can be done in seconds at http://bit.ly/1wWps6k . Once you’re signed up, you’ll receive regular updates about:

• Webinars and other real-time events
• Forums on topics related to teaching and learning online
• Activities that you can be part of
• Resources that are available
• Badges you can earn
• And much, much more!

To learn more, visit http://www.aeapdonline.org/2015/01/coming-soon-28-days-of-ollie.html

In a nod to good customer service, most of us have been changing our voicemail greetings on our phone daily or at least weekly. However, given everyone’s busy schedule and the itinerant nature of our roles, for many, this was a challenge. Thus, please adopt this new approach: Your voicemail greeting should contain a standard greeting that indicates that you will return calls within a 24-hour period and the name (including the extension) of the person the caller can reach for immediate assistance. During times when you are not able to return calls within the 24-hour window, please change your greeting to reflect this. Here are two examples of scripts to use:

Standard greeting:

Hello, this is Dr. Roark Horn, AEA 267 Chief Administrator. 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, Kerri Wilson, at extension 8201. Thanks and have a great day!

Greeting for when you are not able to return calls within 24-hours:

Hello, this is Dr. Roark Horn, AEA 267 Chief Administrator. 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, Kerri Wilson, at extension 8201. Thanks and have a great day!

Just a friendly reminder that voicemail guides for all three offices are available on our staff website under Communications & Technology>Voicemail Guides (use your email username and password to access).

AEA 267 has recently completed an upgrade to the Marshalltown office telephone system. This upgrade, along with upgrades to the Clear Lake and Cedar Falls office telephone systems that occurred over the last several years, have allowed the agency to integrate the individual systems at each of the three main offices into one system. This integration allows four-digit dialing between the offices, as well as the ability to use the phone book feature to look up telephone numbers in all locations.

To dial someone within the three offices, rather than dialing the entire number, i.e. 319 273-8227 you can simply dial the last four digits of their number. In this example it would be 8227. Because there are some duplicate numbers between the Clear Lake and Cedar Falls offices, to dial any Clear Lake number that starts with a 4 you must change that first digit from a 4 to a 2. For example, 4280 becomes 2280 for four-digit dialing purposes.

To use the phone book feature on your telephone, simply press the “phone book” button, type in the last name of the person whose number you are looking for and press the “Lookup” button. With that process you can look up the number of any user within the three offices. If you have questions you can always contact Greg Ehrig, Terry Davis or Dave Schaefer and they will be glad to help.

Thank you to everyone who donated both cash and prizes for the 2014 Food Bank Drive. Together, we were able to raise $2,241 to help stock food pantries in Iowa. What a great accomplishment! Special thanks to Dyan Johnson, Morgan Frederick, Beth Strike, and Lori Thomas for their support and assistance with this process.

On December 19, a random number generator was used to pick the winners of the prizes donated by our administrative staff. The winners were:

Do you love working at AEA 267? If so, feel free to nominate us for the honor of one of Iowa’s Top 100 Workplaces! Earlier this year, Prairie Lakes AEA and Grant Wood AEA received this honor. We think we have a lot to be proud of as well.

If you plan to complete the nomination form, please note that:

• We have approximately 615 employees
• Kathy Enslin, Assistant Chief Administrator/Director of HR should be listed as the contact at 319-273-8245.

Did you know that 88% of Iowans filed their income tax returns electronically last year? Filing electronically or “e-filing” is easy, safe, and decreases the time it takes to receive your refund. Those individuals who are 25 or younger, 65 or older, or in the military may qualify to efile for free. For more information, visit www.iowa.gov/tax  The Business Office will be mailing W-2’s to all employee’s homes toward the end of the month. They will also be available through the iVisions portal.

The Iowa Public Employee Retirement System (IPERS) website offers a convenient feature called “My Account” which offers individualized information about your IPERS benefits. This feature allows you to view a record of contributions, keep your contact information up-to-date, estimate your benefits, and update beneficiary information. For more information, visit www.ipers.org