The Channel

Four teachers from AEA 267 River Hills School will travel to Minneapolis this month to present ideas on how to provide literacy to all children through the use of adapted books. Heather Kruger, Cynthia Gitta, Diana Scott and Jenny Schlader will present to educators from all over the world at the 2009 Closing the Gap conference. Congratulations!

The 2009-10 AEA 267 Board of Directors was sworn in at their regular board meeting on Wednesday, October 7. Former Educational Services consultant, Deb Rich, joined the board replacing retiring board member Betty Westmeyer representing Director District 4. Rich brings a wealth of knowledge to the board and has served in education in a variety of capacities.

Outgoing  board member Westmeyer was featured in a recent Waterloo Courier story celebrating over two decades of service to the board.

Denean Bauer, AEA 267 Teacher of Multi Disabilities at Gladbrook-Reinbeck passed away on October 4 following a lengthy battle with cancer. Services were held on October 8 in LaPorte City. A memorial fund has been established in her name to support education at Union High School. Our condolences go out to Denean’s family and co-workers during this difficult time.

The Iowa State Board of Education issued full accreditation status to Area Education Agency 267 (AEA 267) at their regular board meeting held Wednesday, September 9. The accredited status indicates that the agency has met all requirements for services designated by Chapter 72 of the Iowa Administrative Code.

“As an agency, we take the accreditation process very seriously and use it as an important way to receive feedback about our strengths and challenges,” said Dr. Dean Meier, AEA 267 chief administrator. “We are confident that our services are of the highest quality and this designation by the State Board of Education affirms that.”

Every five years, each of Iowa’s 10 Area Education Agencies (AEAs) undergoes an intensive review of services designed to ensure that the agencies are meeting all requirements. The process includes interviews with representative local school personnel as well as agency staff members. Local school districts go through a similar process.

Among a number of strengths noted by the accreditation review team, the agency was applauded for taking a leadership role in key areas including special education, school improvement, school media, and serving students for whom English is a second language.

For a full copy of the findings, visit the agency website at www.aea267.k12.ia.us and click on “About Us” and then “Continuous Improvement.”

For information related to Iowa AEA accreditation, visit the Iowa Department of Education website at http://www.iowa.gov/educate/.

The agency will soon be writing a new five-year comprehensive service improvement plan (CSIP) that we believe will respond to the needs of the districts we serve. As we prepare to write that plan, all school districts have been invited to react to a presentation regarding what we believe we have been told about our strengths, areas where we need to grow and future needs of our districts through the needs assessment process. Districts have been asked to send teams of up to four people (including the superintendent) to one of three sessions coming up in October.

For more information contact Dr. Dean Meier, Chief Administrator.

While the online searchable schools directory is current and accessible, the hard copy of the Ed Directory is still being finalized. The directory prints September 15 and will be distributed to staff members in the weeks following.

Questions? Contact Jan Alger, Secretary to Administration/Communication.

Health officials believe that with school back in session a new surge of H1N1 cases will be reported. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends the following strategies for reducing the spread of illness:

Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze OR cough or sneeze into your upper sleeve, not your hands.

Put used tissues directly into a waste basket.

Clean your hands after coughing or sneezing.

Wash hands with soap and warm water for 20 seconds OR clean with an alcohol based hand sanitizer.

If you become ill and experience any of the following warning signs, seek emergency medical care.

In children, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

• Fast breathing or trouble breathing
• Bluish or gray skin color
• Not drinking enough fluids
• Severe or persistent vomiting
• Not waking up or not interacting
• Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough

In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
• Sudden dizziness
• Confusion
• Severe or persistent vomiting
• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough

For more information, visit the CDC website.

Iowa AEA Online is a statewide collaborative project that provides no-cost access to high-quality, web-based resources for all Iowa students and teachers. These electronic, across-the-curriculum resources allow all schools, regardless of financial or geographic constraints, to offer a “library without walls” that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, from any Internet-accessible computer.

Iowa AEA Online is funded by Iowa’s Area Education Agencies. The resources include:

• AccuWeather provides current weather information to enhance science curriculum for projects, research, and presentations.
• AP Images is the database of the Associated Press Archives offering teachers and students access to AP articles, audio clips, charts, graphs, tables, maps, and photos from the 1840s to moments ago.
• Atomic Learning is an electronic help desk and training system for computer applications. New for 2009-2010 – Assistive Technology Collection focused on helping educators, students and parents use and apply assistive technology.
• iCLIPART for SCHOOLS is new for 2009-2010 and is a collection of more than 7.8 million photos, clipart, fonts, animations, sounds, and HD video backgrounds.
• DE streaming is a web-based digital video delivery system from Discovery Education, which provides more than 6,600 full-length videos and more than 68,000 video clips searchable by keyword, subject area and grade level. New for 2009-2010 – Games, skill builders, math tutorials, and more.
• EBSCO is the largest school subscription agency of full-text periodicals, newspapers and reference tools for elementary, middle, and high school students, and offering teachers access to more than 500 education journals.
• Learn360 is new for 2009-2010 and is a web-based digital delivery system for streaming and downloading full videos, video clips, images, audio, digital files, and podcasts.
• SIRS Researcher offers thousands of relevant full-text articles and analysis on today’s social, scientific, health, historic, economic, political, and global issues. New for 2009-2010 – New interface and expanded coverage.
• World Book Web includes continuously updated articles from the 22-volume print set plus thousands of additional articles, pictures, maps, videos, animations, primary source documents and links to other websites. New for 2009-2010 – French and Spanish encyclopedias, World Book Discover for differentiated instruction, and three new World Book Digital Libraries.

Iowa AEA Online supports the content standards for the Iowa Core Curriculum by bringing a wealth of information to teachers and students. These online resources offer students and teachers carefully selected resources to enhance classroom learning, featuring content that is continuously updated, often within hours of an event.

By contracting for online resources for all school districts statewide, Iowa AEA Online provides equity of information for all learners and educators in Iowa.

Questions? Contact one of the AEA 267 Media Specialists today.

Need a replacement or additional health care card? Information on how to order online can now be found on the staff website. Look under “Resources to Make your Life Simpler” then “Benefits Forms and Information.” The Business Office is working on a similar resource for ordering dental and vision cards.

Questions? Contact Betty Beauregard, Benefits Specialist.

The AEA 267 Board of Directors met at 4:00 p.m. on September 2, 2009 in the AEA 267 Conference Center for their regular meeting.

During the meeting, the board:

• Heard a review of the audiology program from Discipline Facilitator/Audiologists Christine Hull and Marlys Ebaugh who demonstrated the impact that stimulus dollars have had on the audiology program through the purchase of updated equipment.
• Accepted with regret the resignation of Sheryl Frascht, Consultant for Professional Development (Cedar Falls), who resigned on September 3.
• Motioned to hire Bill Aguiar, Teacher of Behavior Disorders (Devonshire); Jennifer Aldrich, Teacher of Early Childhood Special Education (Castle Hill); Vickey Basgall, School Social Worker (Sector 1); Heather Gould, Consultant for Reading/Language Arts (Marshalltown); Sarah Holden, School Social Worker (Sector 5 & 6); Nathan Johnston, Teacher of Multi Disabilities/Resource (Denver Elementary)); Kathy Kline, Teacher of Multi Disabililties/Resource (Sumner-Fredericksburg High School); Angie Koop, School Social Worker (Sector 6); Tara McGrath, Early Childhood Special Educator (Sector 7); Melanie Roby, School Social Worker (Devonshire/Bremwood); and Dan Ryan, Teacher of Multi Disabilities/SCI (State Training School).
• Appointed Charlotte Upah and Susan Grimes as delegate and alternate to the IASB Delegate Assembly.
• Approved the lease agreement with Blue Bird Bus Company for the lease of a special education bus.
• Approved the recommendation from the River Hills Foundation Committee for purchase and installation of playground equipment and surface at River Hills.
• Approved the contract renewal with the Iowa Department of Public Health for substance abuse prevention.
• Accepted the Excellence in Education Enrichment Grant from the R. J. McElroy Trust.
• Approved the specifications for the Clear Lake remodeling project and authorized advertisement for bids on the project.
• Approved the contract for the window/door project at the Clear Lake building.
• Conducted a public hearing regarding Acceptable Use Policy 101.4 and approved with no changes for 2009-10.
• Authorized reserving funds for Retro Program for worker’s compensation.
• Approved the 2009-2010 lease agreement of the Coop Warehouse in Marshalltown.
• Heard a variety of reports from directors and fellow board members.

Read a recap of the board meeting in the Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier.