The Channel

Central Rivers AEA staff members are invited to assist with strengthening of relationships and culture within our organization by participating in a climate and culture audit. Since the health of an organization begins with individuals, the agency felt it was important that each individual had an opportunity to learn about their own approach to leadership and provide perceptual data about the health of the organization.

In mid to late January, you will receive an invitation to participate in an all-staff survey designed to gather your feedback regarding the health of our organization and your individual leadership approach. The survey is completely anonymous and will be administered by Tamara Konrade and Tammy Fellers, INspired Leadership Trainers and Master Energy Leadership Index Practitioners. In addition, Tamara and Tammy will be working with teams of 12-14 the weeks of February 4-7 and February 25-28 to further process responses and delve deeper into the work.  There will be a total of 32 groups meeting during these two weeks. Groups will meet Monday-Thursday and the times will be 8-11:30 am and 12-3:30 pm. All staff members are asked to participate with the following exceptions: 1.) Anyone who has already taken the training on August 1-2, 2018; 2.) CRAEA Administrators; 3.) River Hills staff.

We ask that you sign up with your discipline/department for the three and a half hour session through our agency registration system by January 22. Within the next few days, you will receive an email from either Amy Moine or Marcia Brolsma with an individual link to get registered from a set of options provided. (You will not need to go through the steps of requesting permission from your supervisor since this is an all-agency activity.)  Agency support staff: You will receive an email with your time slot assigned. The goal of this time is to review your personal attitudinal assessment results, listen to celebrations and concerns about the climate and culture at Central Rivers AEA, and empower you to lead in a way that unites, heals, and helps individuals, relationships and cultures.

There are two additional actions we need from you by January 22:

1. View the brief video about energy levels here.  https://essdk.me/VentureIn7levels  
2. Complete the Energy Leadership Index (ELI) which will come to you by email. (Please note: If you took this for previous learning workshops (August 1 and 2 or January 23, 24), you do not need to take it again.

Details about the assessment for those that haven’t taken it:

• You will be receiving an email in early January and it will come from the sender: “assessments do not reply”. It is not junk mail. Please open it to find the link as well as your unique password at the bottom of the email to take the assessment. Copy and paste the password as it is case sensitive. If you do not receive the assessment email within 24 hours, please respond to this email.
• Please complete the assessment by Monday, January 22, 2019. It will take about 20 minutes to complete. You will receive your personal results during the session you choose in February. Your results will not be shared with or seen by anyone else.

All individual results are confidential and names will not be used in the report. A written report with collective quantitative and qualitative data will be given to the Central Rivers AEA Cabinet and Board.

Questions? Please contact your supervisor or Sam Miller, CRAEA Chief Administrator.

Traditional organizational charts often depict the hierarchy of an organization but fail to depict the vital role that every employee plays in the organization. Last month, Ad Cabinet took another shot at our traditional organizational chart and created a second version designed to show the collaboration that exists among us to support the children, families and educators we serve. Can you find your role?

Several staff members recently participated in CPR training to ensure each location has people ready to assist in the event of an emergency. Shout out to Carolyn Wanatee and Larry Wylie in the Marshalltown offices and Dr. Carol Sensor, Laura Rinnels, Donna Perry, Amanda Hennigar, and Deb Hanson in Clear Lake.

Need a refresher on our Emergency Procedures? You can always find them on our staff website under Resources. (Remember to use your email credentials to access the staff website.)

Iowa’s AEAs bestow three awards annually to outstanding candidates for their contributions to education and the work of Iowa’s AEAs. These awards are the Friend of the AEA Award, E. Robert Stephens Award, and the Innovative Creator Award.

Further details for each award and its criteria can be found in this document. To submit a nomination, complete this application by Feb. 15, 2019. Anyone is welcome to submit a nomination.

The board of directors approved the office calendar for 2019-20 at their January meeting. The calendar contains the required 260 workdays and lists holidays and office closed days for the school year and can be found on the staff website under Resources.

The Culture & Climate Committee has created another round of bingo challenges for January through May. New cards were distributed at the December regional meetings and can also be downloaded from the portal. Be sure to submit your January Bingo by January 31, 2019. You’ve got this!

In the past couple days, the agency has received several fraudulent emails pertaining to direct deposit/banking information requests.  Please be careful when communicating any personal or sensitive business information via email.

Emails may appear to be sent from valid accounts that you may know.  But upon further inspection are actually from nefarious email accounts.  Please remember to use caution when asked for sensitive information pertaining to your personal accounts or CRAEA accounts.

Below are some useful guidelines to help you determine the validity of any emails in question.

1. Don’t give out personal information – legitimate organizations (e.g. banks, healthcare organizations, etc.) will never ask for personal credentials (username and password).
2. Look but don’t click– hover your mouse over any embedded links. Look at the domain, if it ends with a country code, beware (.br = brazil, .cz = Czech Republic, ru = Russia, etc)  If the link looks weird don’t click on it.  Many phishing attacks are orchestrated outside the United States.  If you think it is a valid shared Google document, log into your Google account first via your default Web browser, then click on the link.  If it is valid it will no longer ask you for your credentials.  Be aware, you must log into Google with your default Web browser first.
3. Don’t click on attachments – including malicious attachment that contain viruses or malware is a common phishing practice.
4. Don’t trust the display name – many phishing attempts spoof the display name (e.g. the “From” address”.  Hover your mouse over the From address to see the actual sender email.
5. Check for spelling and grammatical mistakes – organizations are serious about email.  Legitimate messages usually do not have major spelling errors.
6. Analyze the salutation – Is the email addressed to “Valued Customer” or such generic terms?  If so, watch out; legitimate businesses will often use a personal salutation.
7. Beware of urgent or threatening language in the subject line – invoking a sense of fear or urgency is a common phishing tactic.
8. Review the signature – lack of details about the sender or how you can contact the organization strongly suggests a phishing attempt.
9. Don’t believe everything you see – phishers are extremely good at what they do.  Just because an email has convincing brand logos, language, and a seemingly valid email address does not mean that it is legitimate.  Be skeptical when it comes to suspicious emails.  If it looks even remotely suspicious don’t open it and send it to your Info Tech support staff to verify its validity.

It’s hard to believe that it’s time once again for what’s quickly becoming an annual tradition. The Ugly Christmas Sweater competition will be held on December 19 for Rivers Hills staff and December 20 for all others. Separate contests will be held at each location with first place prizes of $25 gift cards and runner-up prize of $15 gift cards. Feel free to pair that ugly sweater with jeans as is appropriate for the day’s responsibilities. Let the games begin and the odds be ever in your favor! Happy holidays!

Hats off to the Marshalltown staff who worked together to make blankets for families impacted by tornado damage. Many children and families will be warmer this winter because of your efforts. Amazing!

The Climate & Culture Committee wishes to thank staff for participating in the Crazy Sock Day!  Overall, Central Rivers AEA raised $746.00 in donations to be given to the House of Compassion in Marshalltown.  The Clear Lake office staff raised the most money.

Great job everyone! The money collected will help families during the holidays who were affected by the tornado.

Just a friendly reminder that employees on a reduced contract will continue to have that option. Reduced contracts are considered on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the programmatic and workload needs of each department or discipline. Key considerations are overall efficiency and capacity to ensure equitable service to children, families and educators.

Should you have a question about reduced contract status, please contact your supervisor or Karl Kurt, Assistant Chief Administrator/Director of Human Resources.  Any new requests for a change to your existing contract should be made by March 1 by using the attached document. Staff members currently on a reduced contract do not need to take action to continue partial status.

The Culture & Climate Committee would like to applaud each one of you for accepting, attempting, and/or completing the Own it! Bingo challenge. Just a friendly reminder that bingo submissions are due on Friday, December 14. Even if you have not participated, we encourage you to consider an additional New Year’s Eve Challenge. All gift cards for individual BINGOs and BLACKOUTs will be distributed at the December 20 regional meetings.  Included with this distribution will be your Own it! t-shirt (if you placed an order). Those not part of regional meetings will receive their prizes via their supervisor.

Due to the success and positive feedback, we will be creating another round of bingo challenges for January through May. Cards will be distributed at the December regional meetings and available at each location. Can’t locate one? Feel free to download and print your own from the portal.

The deadline for submission of EQ individual 16 hours is December 20, 2018, with payment made on January 18, 2019. Please submit your hours on this Google document. The next and final deadline for submission will be June 8, 2019, with a June 20, 2019, payout.

Longtime board member Richard Vande Kieft passed away on Wednesday, November 7. He resigned from the Central Rivers Area Education Agency (AEA) Board of Directors on July 11 following an extended illness. Richard began serving on the board in 2008 and held the Director District 7 seat representing the school districts of Cedar Falls, Denver, and Janesville. In addition to serving on the AEA board, he also served 31 years on the Cedar Falls Community School District Board of Directors, including nine years as board president or vice president.

At the state level, Richard served as a member of the board of directors of the Iowa Association of School Boards (IASB) from 1993 to 2011. Elected to leadership positions of president-elect, president or treasurer of the association from 1998 to 2011. He served on the IASB Legislative Resolutions Committee, and also served and chaired the Board of Trustees for the Iowa Schools Joint Investment Trust (ISJIT), Iowa Schools Cash Anticipation Program (ISCAP).

At the national level, Richard served as an Iowa representative to the NSBA Delegate Assembly and has served on both the Central Region and National Nominating Committees for NSBA directors and president.

“Dick Vande Kieft is an incredible example of selfless service to the community,” said Sam Miller, Central Rivers AEA Chief Administrator. “He worked quietly behind the scenes for decades serving children, families, and educators in the Cedar Valley. His leadership will be sorely missed.”

For information about arrangements as well as a complete obituary,  please visit http://www.dahlfuneralhome.com/obituary/richard-vande-kieft.

An email was recently sent from HR regarding the annual review of agency policies and other informational items.  Included in this email was a link regarding mandatory trainings for Central Rivers AEA staff. Please take a moment and review the listing of mandatory trainings as they pertain to you. It is each staff member’s responsibility to keep up-to-date on these trainings.  If you have any questions, please contact the Human Resources Office at 319-273-8245.

To support a timely staff replacement selection process and assist in budget planning, the Central Rivers AEA Board of Directors approved an early retirement/resignation notification incentive for Administrative staff, Certified staff, and Non-Union Support Staff for 2018-19.

The incentive will be administered as follows:

1. Commitments of separation by resignation or retirement at the end of the 2018-19 work year submitted by Certified, NUSS, or Administrative Staff, and
2. received in the Human Resources Office between October 8, 2018, and December 3, 2018, and
3. accepted by the Board no later than the regular meeting on December 5, 2018,
4. will receive an early notification incentive payment of $1,500 to be payable June 20, 2019,
5. subject to the employee fulfilling their individual employment contract obligations for the 2018-19, work year.

Retirees that separate prior to the end of the 2018-19 calendar year are not eligible for the early notification incentive and this incentive is not available to CWA staff.