The Channel

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.

Congratulations to everyone in the Marshalltown Office who has worked to coordinate and complete a number of facility improvements. New conference room furniture and “soft seating” for informal gathering areas were installed earlier this month along along painting and other improvements.

A small token of appreciation from the agency in honor of American Education Week will be distributed next week. Our agency enjoys a strong reputation for delivering high-quality services…and that’s because of you! Take time during American Education Week to reflect on your many contributions to the children, families, and educators we serve.

Congratulations to everyone who is participating in the Own it! Bingo challenge. We are very close to meeting the 90% goal that was set during the all-staff kickoff meeting in August which means everyone earns a free Central Rivers AEA t-shirt!  

To order your t-shirt, please access the webstore  and indicate your choice. (Please note that the store opens on November 9 and closes on November 18.) There is a limit of one shirt per employee. Shirts will be distributed by your Regional Administrator/Supervisor (selected at checkout) after the orders are completed. Please also note that the deadline for the November Own it! Bingo challenge is November 9. Let’s do this!

Chief Administrator Sam Miller, along with agency executive directors, visited each of our three offices in October and provided updates on a variety of topics including budget, health insurance, and important initiatives such as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and Social Emotional Learning (SEL). A recorded version is available for those who were not able to attend in person or via Zoom.

Central Rivers AEA has committed to serving our communities during the holiday season and again this year those in the Cedar Falls office have the opportunity to support the Boys and Girls Club of the Cedar Valley.  The annual “Fun with Frosty” event will take place on Wednesday, December 12 from 4:30-6:30 at the Boys and Girls Club located at 515 Lime Street, Waterloo.

Volunteers are needed to help serve dinner and run the various games and activities for the kids. If you would like to have some fun while helping make the holidays a little brighter for others, please sign-up on this Google document by Monday, November 26.

Please change your voicemail greeting and set an away message to your email during the holiday breaks so that callers and/or emailers will know when they can expect to hear from you.

Voicemail example:

“Hello, this is (your name). Our office will be closed beginning Monday, December 24 and will reopen on Wednesday, January 2. Please leave your name, telephone number and a detailed message and I will call when I return. Thank you!”

Email example:

“Thank you for your email. I will be out of the office beginning Monday, December 24 through Tuesday, January 1 and will respond to your email upon my return. Thank you and have a wonderful holiday!”

If you need assistance with either task, please visit with your supervisor or administrator.

Chery Roberson, Supervisor of Media Services

What is copyright?  Copyright is a form of legal protection automatically provided to the authors of “original works of authorship,” including literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works.  Copyright protections arise automatically the moment an original work is fixed in a tangible medium of expression. It does not need to be registered, published, or have a copyright notice on it.  Works found on the Internet should be assumed to be protected by copyright law, even if it is not stated on the site.

Central Rivers does have a Copyright Policy that is board approved that can be found online.  All of our school districts will have a similar document in their board policies.

In your work with schools, you probably confront questions about how to share legitimately with your school staff and students, the many articles, videos, music, images and other intellectual property created by others. Sorting out what you can or can’t do is often confusing. Lack of clear-cut answers may translate into delays, doubts, fear of liability, and decisions to err on the side of caution and non-use. But frequently your use of materials may already be permissible or rights to use may have already been licensed by Central Rivers AEA or reserved under law.  

Central Rivers AEA Media Services shares a brochure called Copyright Brief Notes for Students and Staff to help guide both you and the districts you serve. This brochure gives information about Fair Use and also lists specific use information about the digital resources offered via Iowa AEA Online, a suite of resources available to all students and staff. The Technology Integration section on our website also hosts a page listing important information about digital citizenship which includes copyright information.

If you have any questions about use of copyrighted materials in your work, please contact Cheryl Roberson or Cari Teske.

Just a friendly reminder that calculating mileage remains the same as in previous years. As you might recall, a committee comprised of staff and administration developed a proposal last spring to address concerns with our current mileage policy. While the proposal had merit in addressing some of the issues, continued conversations led to a decision to discontinue plans for implementation. Thus, the current mileage policy has remained in effect with no change.

One of the new features of MackinVIA makes the creation of individual accounts or backpacks even easier using Google accounts. Most of our school districts, including Central Rivers AEA, use a Google domain for our e-mail and productivity tools. Media Services is working with our school districts to encourage the creation of backpacks for students and staff to increase the instructional power of the MackinVIA resource. So, since we are encouraging our schools to use the Google integration feature to create backpacks, Media Services decided to create backpacks for all of Central Rivers AEA staff using the new Google integration!

All staff now have an individual account created within the MackinVIA eBook portal. To access your account, you go to MackinVIA.com, enter Central Rivers AEA Staff VIA, Cedar Falls, IA (the location will pop up after typing in a few characters) in the top box labeled “site” and the screen will prompt you to login with your AEA Google login.  Having a backpack within MackinVIA will allow you to use the underlining, highlighting and note-taking features within the eBooks and also will allow for downloading to your Google Drive, making assignments within Google Classroom and downloading eBooks for reading/listening offline on any device you might use.

All of the schools that you support have access to MackinVIA, so please consider using these eBook resources in your work with students and LEA staff. MackinVIA contains a wealth of resources for teaching and learning! Please contact Cheryl Roberson or Cari Teske if you have any questions about using MackinVIA in your work with students and teachers.

Sam Miller, Chief Administrator

As many of you know, I spend a fair amount of time traveling around our service area meeting with those in our local school districts that are the recipients of your service. On a near daily basis, I’m meeting with superintendents, principals and teachers who share with me the challenges they are facing and how Central Rivers AEA staff members play a role in overcoming those challenges. To say that there is appreciation in the field for what you do is, honestly, a gross understatement. Put simply, you are doing an amazing job and I thank you! I have never been more proud of our agency and the important work we are doing in schools.

Later this month, I’ll be circulating around to our three main offices (along with some of our executive leadership) to provide updates on a variety of topics including budget, health insurance, and important initiatives such as the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) and Social Emotional Learning (SEL). I hope you’ll be able to make time in your schedule to join us for the conversation and share your views on what’s happening in the field. We have a Zoom option available for those that are not able to attend in person. Please consider these meetings both an opportunity to hear updates and also a time to share your success stories, concerns, frustrations, or ideas for improvements in our agency. We are here to listen and collaborate.

Cedar Falls: October 22 from 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/603133042

Marshalltown: Tuesday, October 23 from 3:30-4:30 p.m. Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/649401473

Clear Lake Office: Monday, October 29 3:30-4:30 p.m.
Zoom: https://zoom.us/j/589933852

See you soon!