The Channel

Now through December 31, eligible VSP® members get an extra $40 to spend on bebe®, Calvin Klein, Columbia, Dragon®, and Flexon® frames. No extra paperwork, no hassle, just incredible frames for VSP members with applicable plan benefits.

The Central Rivers AEA Board of Directors met Wednesday, November 1st in Marshalltown. The Board was very complimentary and appreciative of all the hard work that went into the renovations for the Marshalltown AEA office. Kudos to all involved! Official minutes of the meeting will be posted following approval on December 6.

To support a timely staff replacement selection process and assist in budget planning, the Central Rivers AEA Board of Directors have directed that an incentive be provided for Certified, NUSS or Administrative Staff who provide early notification of their intent to resign or retire at the end of the 2017-18 work year. The proposed incentive would be administered as follows:

Commitments of separation by resignation or retirement at the end of the 2017-2018 work year submitted by Certified, NUSS, or Administrative Staff, and received in the Human Resources Office between October 2, 2017 and December 1, 2017, and

accepted by the board no later than the regular meeting on December 6, 2017, will receive an early notification incentive payment of $1,500 to be payable June 30, 2018 subject to the employee fulfilling their individual employment contract obligations for the 2017-2018 work year. Retirees that separate prior to the end of the Central River’s

AEA 2017-2018 calendar year, are not eligible for the early notification incentive. This incentive is not offered to Classified staff.

By Sarah Nelson, Technology Services Coordinator

Google Voice is a free service that provides you with a phone number you can use to make and receive calls, send text messages, customize your voicemail, read voicemail text transcripts, and more.

Why should I use Google Voice?

You may prefer not to give out your personal phone number to LEAs, parents, or colleagues. Instead, you can use your Google Voice number to protect the privacy of your real phone number. When people call your Google Voice number, the call will get forwarded to you, thus keeping your real number private. You can decide which one of your phones rings, or does not ring, whenever anyone calls that number. For example, when a parent calls, you may only want your office phone to ring. However, if a colleague calls, you may want your cell phone and office phone to ring.

What happens if someone calls my Google Voice number and leaves me a voicemail? Whenever you receive a voicemail, the message goes directly to your Gmail inbox. Even better, the voicemail will be transcribed into text.

What happens to my Google Voice number if I change cell phone provider?

Since your Google Voice number is not attached to a SIM card on your cell phone, it remains yours, even if you switch providers, move states, or change your home phone number.

Are there any additional Google Voice features I should know about?

(1) You can set up your Google Voice account so incoming text messages go to your Gmail inbox as an email message, in addition to being sent to your phone. When you reply to the email text message, it will convert back to a text message and send to your correspondent. (2) You can hold conference calls with more than two participants on Google Voice. (3) Google Voice can ring up to six phones at a time.

How do I get started using Google Voice?

To get started, go to: https://voice.google.com/u/0/about. If you need assistance, please contact Cari Teske (Marshalltown), Kay Schmalen (Clear Lake), or Sarah Nelson (Cedar Falls).

Do you need business cards? Check out the ordering form available on the staff website! The new form makes ordering quick and easy.

Bravo Sports Marketing is offering discounted tickets to select Iowa Hawkeyes football games. Tickets are available to employees in any AEA and this was offered at NO cost to the AEA system. Tickets are no longer available from Bravo at the discounted price for Iowa State tickets. 

Iowa Hawkeye ticket link: https://bravosportsmarketing.com/product/aea-iowa-tickets/

Staff members are invited to participate in Halloween festivities on Tuesday October 31.  Wear your best work-appropriate costume to participate in the Central Rivers AEA Halloween costume contest!   Staff are also encouraged to bring a snack to contribute to the Halloween-themed snack bar that will be available to all staff and visitors in Central Perk.  

If you would like to participate in the costume contest, please notify either Phil Hendricks or Tiffany Schmitt and they’ll add your name to the ballot.  Not in the Cedar Falls office?…no worries!  We would like all offices to participate!  Anyone in the Clear Lake or Marshalltown Office can email a picture of yourself in costume on Halloween morning to either Phil Hendricks or Tiffany Schmitt to enter yourself into the agency-wide competition!  Once the ballot is assembled, staff will have the opportunity to vote for best costume.

There will be a brief gathering in Central Perk at 2:00pm to socialize and reveal the winner of the costume contest!  Winner gets a prize!  Unleash your inner child and bring your “A” game for this fun and competitive activity!  

This month’s wellness tip (formerly Benefits’ Brief) focuses on protecting yourself and others during cold and flu season. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends three important steps to take to protect against both colds and influenza:

1. Get a flu shot
2. Practice frequent and thorough handwashing
3. Avoid contact with sick people and limit contact with others if you are ill

The agency recently held a flu vaccine clinic at all three office locations but it is not too late to get the flu shot. The CDC recommends everyone who is six months of age and older getting vaccinated by the end of October, if possible. While you can always visit your healthcare provider, many local businesses also offer the vaccine.

One of the best and simplest defenses against colds and influenza is frequent and thorough handwashing. This one simple habit can stop the spread of viruses and protect ourselves, family, and co-workers. If soap and water are not available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Don’t forget to disinfect all objects and hard surfaces that may be contaminated

Avoiding contact with sick people is not always possible but if you are ill with flu-like symptoms, stay home for at least 24 hours after a fever has gone. Seek medical treatment if your symptoms suddenly worsen as influenza can lead to dangerous health complications.

Those with compromised immune systems or conditions like asthma are especially at risk and should contact a physician immediately if displaying symptoms of influenza. Antiviral drugs can be prescribed to lessen the side effects and work best for treatment when they are started within two days of a viral illness.

As many of you are aware, the Central Rivers AEA office calendar recognizes many important holidays throughout the year. We recognize that our districts each follow a unique school calendar that may or may not align with our office calendar.  That being said, we request that all staff honor the AEA holidays/office closed days.

In the event a district specifically requests our staff to attend or provide district led activities or services, staff have the personal choice to participate and/or deliver those district directed services.  Events cannot be held at any of our closed offices. Any requests for office or remote office work will be denied on closed days.  Regional Administrators will oversee work being carried out on office closed days to ensure it is purposeful, serves our LEA partners, and aligns with Agency Procedures.

We appreciate your cooperation and understanding.  Further questions or clarifications should be directed to your regional administrator or direct line supervisor.

Having your personal information compromised is a very stressful situation and the agency, along with Madison National Life Insurance Company is offering free identity theft assistance services to staff.  

Further information can be found on the Portal under Benefits. Staff can also call 855-860-3727 24/7 for assistance. 

The Central Rivers AEA Board of Directors met Wednesday, October 4th in Cedar Falls for the annual organizational meeting. Four district representatives were up for re-election this year.  Congratulations to Roberta Kraft-Abrahamson on being re-elected as Director District 1; Dr. Debra Rich, Director District 2; Richard Vande Kieft, Director District 7; and Bryan Burton, Director District 8. The Board unanimously re-elected Dr. Debra Rich to serve as Board President and Roberta Kraft-Abrahamson to serve as Vice-President.

A huge thank you to the entire Board of Directors for leading the agency through another successful year of operations!

It’s that time again! Flu shot clinics are being held in all three Central Rivers AEA locations on October 6th from 6:30-8:30 am.

Employees and their families covered by Central Rivers AEA health insurance will not have to pay for the flu shot but will need to bring their insurance cards that day.

All information, including costs for those without agency insurance and how to sign up, can be found on this downloadable flyer

In addition, please refer to these individual flyers linked here about the 0ptional Biometric/Wellness screenings taking place that you can take advantage of. Please note costs related to each as these will need to be paid for on that day by check or exact cash. The provider will provide you with a receipt to file for reimbursement.

Clear Lake Flu Shot & Biometric Screening Information & Costs

Cedar Falls Wellness Screening Information & Costs

Marshalltown Wellness Screening Information & Costs

Please direct all questions to Betty Beauregard at 319-273-8202.

Please help us welcome the newest members of the Central Rivers AEA staff, most of whom are pictured here. Want to know more about our new staff? Check out their personal photos and bios in this fun slide deck created by Human Resources!

A few reminders from the Human Resources (HR) office. September 15 is the deadline for notifying HR of intentions to change lanes on the salary schedule (This applies to Certified staff only). Also, all professional licenses must be kept current. If you renew your license, just send an email to the HR office that it has been renewed. Our staff will look up your license on the BOEE website and update our records accordingly.

We would like to extend a big thank you to Lifetouch for being part of our opening day in Cedar Falls. They graciously took over 400 photos of our staff and, from our point of view, did an excellent job. They have also supplied us with courtesy photos for everyone who had their picture taken.  These will be distributed, along with new ID badges, in the next couple of weeks.  If you were not able to get your picture taken on the opening day, your previous photo will be used or you may stop in one of the main offices to have your picture taken.

As a service to our Central Rivers AEA staff, we have once again invited an IPERS representative to offer individual counseling sessions at each office. Due to limited IPERS resources, we will not be having a group presentation. Also, due to the popularity of this service by IPERS in previous years, we were not able to accommodate all staff who were interested; therefore we ask that only those who are planning on retiring in three to five years schedule an appointment with priority given to those retiring within three years.

Please contact the AEA contact person in the linked flyer if you desire to schedule an individual counseling session with IPERS. Please allow one-half hour per session. After scheduling an appointment, a form will be sent to you from the contact person below to be filled out and returned to the contact person before the individual counseling session. Please see this flyer for specific dates and locations.

Cedar Valley Cyclists (CVC) will host Ride For A Cause on Saturday, September 23 to support IHOPE. IHOPE is the local chapter of AMBUCS, a national nonprofit charitable organization with the mission of creating mobility and independence for people with a disability. IHOPE stands for Iowans Helping Others Participate Everyday. IHOPE focuses specifically on the AmTrykes program of AMBUCS which helps provide adaptive tricycles for children and adults that can be individualized to meet the needs of almost any rider.

There are currently five local children on the IHOPE wish list waiting for their very own AmTryke.

Proceeds from Ride For A Cause will go towards the purchase of an AmTryke for one or more of these children and Cedar Valley Cyclists will match all funds raised up to $1000.

The ride will begin at Key West Fitness, 2325 Crossroads Blvd., in Waterloo. Registration begins at 9:30am and the ride leaves at 10:00am. Riders can collect punches at local Waterloo stops along the route (Briqhouse Bar & Grill, Jameson’s Public House, SingleSpeed Brewing, Smitty’s Bar, and Waterloo Bicycle Works). The first 30 people to register will receive a free gift from CVC and there will be a prize drawing at 2:00pm at Waterloo Bicycle Works.

All abilities of riders are welcome. The route is 20-25 miles total on paved Waterloo bike trails. The event will occur rain or shine. Helmets are required. Registration is $25 for CVC members and $30 for non-members. For more information, contact Eric Penning, president, Cedar Valley Cyclists, at 319-239-1208 or eric@ridecvc.org.

The Department of Education is transitioning to a new statewide data system for K-6 literacy through FASTBridge Learning. To help school districts with this transition, comprehensive training via webinars and regional face-to-face meetings are being offered now through the end of October. These training slots are limited and information needed to register for the training is being distributed to district participants by their principals or superintendents.

Here are a few key answers to recent questions the DE has received about the training and the transition:

• The DE has the capacity to train a few people from each school or district, and the expectation is that the people who receive training will use the available resources to help train others in their building.
• The DE is still considering how to collect screening data from schools not using the FAST system.  
• The screening windows for 17-18 for all schools (other than the three Iowa year-round schools) are defined by the IDOE and shall not be changed by the district:
  • Fall: September 11 to October 6
  • Winter: January 15 to February 9
  • Spring: April 23 to May 18

The Department will provide ongoing communication and support throughout this important transition. AEA Staff who are interested in more frequent updates can sign up to receive regular Early Warning System email updates.