The Channel

The AEA 267 Board of Directors met September 7, 2011 at 6 p.m. in the AEA 267 Conference Center for their regular meeting.

During the meeting, the board:

• Heard a review of the agency finances and Maintenance of Effort (MOE) from Dennis Scudder and Dr. Roark Horn.
• Motioned to accept a variety of resignations, retirements and hires.
• Appointed David Giese as the AEA 267 Board delegate and Charlotte Upah as the alternate for the IASB Delegate Convention to be held on November 16, 2011.
• Approved the 2010-11 Certified Annual Report (CAR).
• Approved the contracts with Project Child Care and Head Start Programs with North Iowa Community Action.
• Approved the agreement with Mercy Medical Center in Mason City for Educare Instructional Programs.
• Approved the renewal of Partner Contract with Exceptional Persons for provision of Early ACCESS services.
• Approved the renewal of Memorandums of Agreement between NEICAC, Tri-County Child & Family Development Council Inc., NICA and AEA 267.
• Approved the reciprocal transportation agreement between Forest City and Garner-Hayfield and between Garner-Hayfield and West Hancock.
• Heard a variety of reports from directors and fellow board members.

Please remember to update your voice mail greeting daily! Scripts, tip sheets and more are available on the staff website (username: aeastaff/password: aea267ia). If you have questions, please contact your administrator or supervisor.

Darrel Lind, longtime board member and advocate for the AEA system has retired from the AEA 267 board. Darrel has served the AEA system as a board member since 2000 when he was sworn in on the Northern Trails AEA board.

Darrel’s wisdom, kindness and incredible respect for AEA staff members will be sorely missed. We wish him well and thank him for his tireless and gracious years of service.

Recently, Governor Terry Branstad announced a plan to make Iowa the Healthiest State within five years as measured by the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index®.  The Healthiest State Initiative is a community and business-led, government-endorsed statewide effort that will engage citizens throughout the state to improve their overall health and well-being.

Iowa’s 2010 overall Well-Being Index rank is 19th compared to all other states. The goal is to become number one in five years. While Iowa scores well in many areas, there is a significant opportunity for improvement in healthy behavior and work environment. Branstad also noted that addressing comprehensive lifestyle changes could allow the State to redirect as much as $16 billion* over the next five years to grow the state economy [versus being consumed by health care ($11 billion) and lost productivity ($5 billion)]. The success of this initiative is critical to the economic viability of the State and translates to a healthier Iowa and better quality of life for all its residents.

As a first step on the road to becoming the Healthiest State, all Iowans are encouraged to take part in a Start Somewhere Walk on Friday, October 7. At noon that day, communities, neighborhoods, schools, businesses, churches and other groups across the state will gather to walk one kilometer (0.62 miles, or about 7-8 blocks) as a way to demonstrate their support for the Healthiest State goal. AEA 267 staff members are encouraged to participate!

By now, you should have received your invitation to the all-staff “welcome back” meeting to be held in your area. If not, just a reminder about the following dates:

• Tuesday, August 16, Cedar Falls area staff (AEA 267 Cedar Falls Conference Center)
• Friday, August 19, Marshalltown area staff (AEA 267 Marshalltown Office)
• Monday, August 22, Clear Lake area staff (AEA 267 Clear Lake Office)

Meetings begin with social time at 8:30 a.m. followed by greetings from leadership team members, including a budget update from Dr. Roark Horn, AEA 267 Chief Administrator. Meetings will conclude by 10:30 a.m. See you there!

While you may not have been at the Iowa Education Summit held last month, you can still watch videos of the speakers involved! Visit the AEA 267 Eduvision site and search for “Iowa Ed Summit” to watch replays.

As of July 1, the agency will no longer use the news media as one of the channels for announcing office closings or professional development cancellations. Information will still be shared in the following ways:

• Under “Latest News” on the agency’s website.
• Cell phone text message or email from https://schoolalerts.iowa.gov/, an automated web-based service. Sign up today!
• The official agency announcements line at 1-866-923-1089.

This change was made due to the frequent inconsistency in how the news media handled messages and the popularity of the more reliable forms of communication above. If you were a person who previously relied primarily on the news media for your announcement information, please make plans now to adjust to the change!

More accurate location information has been added to the searchable staff directory available on the agency’s website. (The classification information was removed since it often created confusion.) Please search for yourself in the directory and ensure that the information we have for you is accurate. Contact Roxanne Colling, AEA 267 Personnel Specialist, to report a discrepancy in your information. If you have not had a staff photo taken, please contact Beth Strike, AEA 267 Communication Specialist, so that your photo can be added as well.

A new video has been produced to raise awareness among new teachers about the services AEA 267 can provide for them. While not every service is covered (that would be a nine-hour video instead of nine minutes!), the video highlights many of the basic services new teachers should know about. The video was posted to the AEA 267 Eduvision channel and was shared with all superintendents to use during new teacher orientations. New teachers also received a special publication to accompany the points in the video.