The Channel

Although the weather so far has been unseasonably warm and dry, winter weather is most certainly just around the corner. Need a refresher on how decisions are made with respect to office closures and professional learning cancellations? Check out the staff website under Resources>Inclement Weather & Emergency Closing Information. Please understand that administration has no control over the weather and how many times a regional office may be closed due to unsafe circumstances. Our priority is always staff and LEA partner safety!

Fly Your Colors: Friday, December 8

Swish! Zoom zoom! It’s hoop & loop time! Show your support for your favorite basketball/Nascar team by wearing your favorite team gear or colors. If you’re not a basketball/Nascar fan, feel free to wear your favorite school, college or sports team of your choice.

Ugly Sweater Contest: Thursday, December 21

Similar to the Halloween costume contest, we dare you to wear your best/most festive or if you desire, ugliest Christmas Sweater, during the Administration/Regional meetings.  A reminder to tread lightly with your colleagues as there might be a fine line between most festive and ugliest   

Don’t forget our holiday giving opportunities! There are still spaces available to give in all locations.

Students representing the vocal music department from Union Community School District will perform on Thursday, Dec 21 at 8:40 a.m. in Room B in Cedar Falls. The performance will last approximately 20 minutes and staff members in the Cedar Falls building are welcome to attend! The group is comprised of 16 students who perform for various organizations. Another great opportunity to have students in our new building!

The Technology Integration team will be hosting Hour of Code events for CRAEA staff in celebration of Computer Science Education Week which is the week of December 4th. You’re invited to complete an Hour of Code!

What is it? The Hour of Code is a global movement reaching tens of millions of students in 180+ countries. Anyone, anywhere can organize an Hour of Code event. One-hour tutorials are available in over 45 languages. No experience needed. Ages 4 to 104.

Why? With technology changing every industry on the planet, computing knowledge has become part of a well-rounded skill set. But fewer than half of all schools teach computer science! Come learn how computer science connects to your work with schools and gain general knowledge about what coding and the impact of computer science.

Also, there is a Senate File requiring schools to offer the following computer science experiences for students by July 1, 2019:

• every elementary school will offer instruction in the fundamentals of computer science;
• every middle school will offer exploratory computer science; and
• every high school will offer at least one high-quality computer science course.

Where & When? Please join us in person at one of our three agency locations:

• Clear Lake 8-9:00 am Tuesday, December 5, Room H
• Cedar Falls 12-1:00 pm, Wednesday, December 6, Central Perk
• Marshalltown 12-1:00 pm, Thursday, December 7, Room A

Complete an Hour of Code on your own using this link: https://www.smore.com/s1fyt

What? Please bring a device (laptop or tablet), headphones/earbuds, and be ready for some fun!

Please let the Technology Integration Team know if you have questions!

Michelle Cowell; Sarah Nelson; Lea Ann Peschong; Corey Rogers; Kay Schmalen; and Cari Teske.

Join us for Central Rivers Assistive Technology Conference: Leveling the Playing Field for all learners. This one-day conference will be held in Cedar Falls on February 23, 2018 from 8:00 am -3:10 pm.

Questions? Contact one of the Central Rivers AEA Assistive Technology conference planning team members:  Lea Ann Peschong; Abby Martin; Lisa Jellum; Shira Gebel; or Sarah Nelson.

Are there exciting and innovative programs going on in your school related to family and school partnerships? Would you like to be recognized by the Iowa Department of Education for these programs?

Application for this recognition involves four steps:

1. Select a Promising Practice based on the criteria outlined in the Overview document
2. Complete the narrative application and save as a PDF
3. Complete this Google form
4. Upload the PDF copy of your application materials at the bottom of the form

Resources

• Information about the Promising Practices
• Review the timeline for Promising Practices
• Application requirements for Promising Practices
• Additional Promising Practices resources (including law and definitions) to assist with your application

If you have questions, please contact Kim Drew, Family and Educator Partnership Consultant or Deb Chiodo, Family and School Partnership Project Coordinator, ASK Resource.

The federal agency known as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was established in 1971 to set national standards in order to ensure the safety and health of America’s workers. Since OSHA was created, occupational deaths have been cut by 62% and injuries have declined by 42%. While this is great news, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, problems still exist in that approximately 2.9 million nonfatal workplace injuries and illnesses were reported last year alone.

Prevention of workplace injuries is the duty of all employees and there are several ways we can protect ourselves and our fellow co-workers.

• Be on the lookout for possible dangers.  Keep the work area neat, clean, and free of safety hazards.
• Notify a supervisor immediately of any possible dangers. (Icy parking lots or sidewalks)
• Remediate potential safety issues. If you see water on the floor, wipe it up.
• Get up and move. Employees need to take small breaks and move around regularly during the work day to combat the physical problems staying in a static position can cause.
• Pay attention to ergonomics. Use ergonomically designed office furniture and arrange the workspace to allow for easy reach.
• Team up. Ask for help when you need it and willingly help others.

Aside from the physical suffering workplace injuries can cause an employee, they also place a financial hardship on the employer. By law, the AEA is required to pay an insurance premium; however, the cost of the premium is something that can be controlled by reducing workplace injuries. The agency also has the added cost of hiring a substitute to fill the injured employee’s position while he or she is unable to work.

With proper work environments and addressing safety issues, not only will the incidences of workplace injuries decrease but the associated agency costs will be reduced, thus benefiting both staff and those we serve.

Financial advisors tell us that if we depend solely on Social Security as a form of retirement income, we will not be able to maintain our current lifestyle. For many, it will be very difficult to even provide ourselves with the most basic necessities including food, shelter and healthcare.

As public employees in Iowa, we are also eligible for the Iowa Public Employees’ Retirement System (IPERS) that will also provide us with retirement income. IPERS serves many of our retirees well; however there is more that we can do to help ourselves be self-sufficient and enjoy our retirement years by saving through a 403b plan. An added benefit is that the money we have deducted from our paycheck and deposited into our 403b plan can be deducted pre-tax to lower our tax liability now.

Check out the Retirement Investors’ Club for some useful information on investing. Make sure you go directly to the site via the link provided above or via the Infinite Visions portal (My Benefits>Retirement>403b RIC State Website) to ensure you accessing the applicable information for educators.

Each year, the Business Office sends an annual notice with your W2 form. Here is the 2017 Annual Notice if you would like to review this document. If you haven’t taken time to review the notice, please consider doing so as it contains some important information on this topic.

2018 Contribution Limits: Contribution limits have increased for calendar year 2018. Additional RIC 403b plan contribution information is available at https://das.iowa.gov/RIC/403b/contributions.

Central Rivers AEA is discontinuing the use of Iowa School Alerts for weather-related announcements regarding office and professional learning cancellations. The new system, School Messenger, has additional options to make communication clearer while still giving recipients the option of receiving messages by specific region (Marshalltown, Clear Lake and Cedar Falls) via text and email. School Messenger also has the option for voice delivery of announcements.

In order to receive messages from School Messenger, recipients will need to actively sign up as we are not able to automatically roll over data from the old Iowa School Alerts system. Please use this Google form to provide us with your information and preferences which we will use to set up your account. Sign up will be open until November 6.

Please note that we will also be posting messages on the front page of our website if you prefer to receive announcements that way. We will, however, be discontinuing the agency announcements line.

Questions? Contact Beth Strike or Bryan Knecht

A huge thank you to everyone who participated in the variety of Halloween gatherings that were held this past week. The costumes were epic! Winners of the costume contest were:

Check out a recap of all the costumes and have a few laughs! A special thank you to Tiffany Schmitt and Phil Hendricks for their efforts to pull the contest together as well as decorate Central Perk.

Wondering where internal postings for open agency job vacancies can be found? Look no further than the Infinite Visions portal. Once you log in, check out the top half of the home page for any current vacancies. Questions? Contact Robin Billerbeck.

Central Rivers AEA has recently unveiled an MTSS structure to meet the social, emotional, behavioral and mental health needs of students. This MTSS structure provides districts with research-based information on the necessary components to have universal, targeted and intensive supports in place. This powerpoint has been shared with superintendents and regional administrators to share the structure with others in their respective regions. Please watch for additional information or ask your regional administrator if you have questions.

Many thanks to Sarah Nelson for developing these easy-to-use instructions for creating a polished, branded email signature. Please take five minutes out of your day to follow the steps to update your signature!

Signature example:

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.

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.