The Channel

Beginning July 1, AEA 267 Media services (including the lending library) will be operated from the Marshalltown Office. The move will create greater efficiencies in both staffing and van routes. Locating the program in Marshalltown should not significantly impact services to either AEA staff or our LEA partners given that van delivery will still take place weekly. However, ordering cut-off times may need to be adjusted. (Details about changes to van routes and ordering cut-off times will be communicated later this spring.)

Along with changes to Media, Creative Services will be based in Cedar Falls with some on-demand availability for print in both the Clear Lake and Marshalltown offices. Keep sending your print orders as the same great service is in place; however, please be mindful of quick turnarounds where possible. The more planful you can be about your order, the better. Due to decreased visitor traffic over the years, the Production Lab in the Clear Lake Office will be closing on June 30. Lamination and letter cutout (die cut) services will still be available by sending orders to Creative Services.

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

Voice mail example:

“Hello, this is (your name). Our office will be closed beginning Monday, December 26 and will reopen on Tuesday, January 3. Please leave your name, telephone number and a detailed message and I will call when I return. Thank you!”

Email “away” message example:

“Thank you for your email. I will be out of the office beginning Monday, December 26 through January 2 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.

Last month, ten AEA 267 staff members participated in No Shave November and in the spirit of fun, each put up $10 for the man who was able to grow the best beard in 30 days. It was a difficult decision, but the ladies of Ad Cabinet, the business office, and HR determined that one man, above the rest, grew the best beard!

Congratulations to the winner Dean Baldwin, Lead Custodian/Maintenance in the Marshalltown office! And kudos to Sam Miller, Karl Kurt, Dave Nicholson, Jerry Schnabel, Chad Pinkston, Greg Ehrig, Bryan Knecht, Matt Webber, and Shane Wolf for helping raise awareness of men’s health!

Of special note is that Dean is graciously donating all the money he won from the other men to the memorial fund for the fallen Des Moines police officers. Way to go Dean!

According to Food Bank of Iowa, one in five Iowa children do not have enough food to eat. For every $1 donation, four meals can be provided to needy families in our area. From now until December 16, AEA 267 staff members are invited to donate funds to support area food pantries. For every $1 you donate, your name will be entered into a raffle for prizes donated by the AEA 267 administrative staff.

To participate, take your monetary donation to Lori Thomas in Cedar Falls, Laura Rinnels in Clear Lake, Jennifer DuVall in Marshalltown, or Joan Coffin at River Hills School. Prizes include gift cards to places like Casey’s, HyVee, Kohls, Target and Walmart, along with incredible gift baskets.

The AEA 267 Board of Directors met Wednesday, December 7, 2016 in the Cedar Falls Conference Center. The board packet is available online and the minutes will be published online after approval at the next month’s board meeting.

Uncommon Sense, a project rooted in Iowa stories about Iowa families and communities affected by life on the spectrum, is premiering January 21 & 22,  2017 at the Gallagher Bluedorn on the University of Northern Iowa campus in Cedar Falls. This three-year collaboration began with interviews of Iowans and captures the stories of the people in the narrative of the play with humor, love, and understanding. Uncommon Sense has been valued for its capacity to affect a vast audience and is devoted to elevating public awareness of neurodiversity through its story.

For more information and to request your complimentary tickets, visit UNI’s Uncommon Sense website and select, GET TICKETS.

To support a timely staff replacement process and assist in budget planning, a retirement incentive is being provided for Certified and Administrative Staff who provide early notification of their intent to resign or retire at the end of the 2016-17 work year.

The proposed incentive would be administered as follows:

Commitments of separation by resignation or retirement at the end of the 2016-17 work year submitted by Certified or Administrative Staff, and received in the Human Resources Office between October 3, 2016, and December 2, 2016, and accepted by the Board no later than the regular meeting on December 7, 2016, will receive an early notification incentive payment of $1,500 to be payable June 30, 2017 subject to the employee fulfilling their individual employment contract obligations for the 2016-17 work year.

This incentive is only being offered to Certified and Administrative staff due to the challenge in securing replacement licensed staff in these categories.

 In an effort to raise awareness for men’s health issues, as well as have a little fun, 10 AEA 267 team members are joining with countless others by participating in No Shave November.

The rules are simple, on November 1st the men agree to shave their faces and then put down the razor for an entire month. At the end of the month, the women of Ad Cabinet, the Business Office, and Human Resources will be the judges as to who was able to grow the best beard.

The winner will be announced in the December edition of Intersections.

This summer, Iowa School Alerts (the weather notification system that brings you text and email alerts regarding office closings and professional learning cancellations) switched over to a new system. This means that everyone who wants to receive alerts must register to continue. 

Simply visit the Iowa School Alerts website to subscribe. You may choose email or text alerts from the drop-down menu; however, please note that in order to receive both, you must go in and subscribe separately for each preference.

The agency will continue to post office closures to the front page of our website and also using our alerts line at 866-923-1089, but it is important that you re-subscribe to the new system to receive an alert by email or text message.

In addition, please be sure that you take time to thoroughly review the information on the inclement weather page of our staff website. (Use your email login and password to gain access.)

This page provides all of the details you will need to learn about cancellations and office closures as well as updated procedures and answers to your most frequently asked questions about weather-related travel. If you have questions after reviewing this information, please visit with your supervisor. Stay safe and please exercise good personal judgement at all times!

Walking workstations are now in place at each of our office locations to help encourage more movement throughout the day and it is great to see staff taking advantage of their benefits.

Copies of Eat, Move, Sleep are available for check out to any staff member interested in reading the book. This book is full of great information on improving one’s health by taking small specific actions. Please contact Lori Thomas if you would like to check out  a copy.

When you think of a playbook, you typically think of a collection of high impact strategies or “plays” that a coach uses to direct his or her team to victory. The agency has put together our own playbook that guides where we will focus our efforts to yield the highest impact change for students. Very soon, copies of the playbook will be available to each team as well as conveyed through a laptop cling and other formats to communicate our strategic priorities to those we serve.

Watch for it!

The AEA 267 Board of Directors met Wednesday, November 2, 2016 in the Cedar Falls Conference Center. The board agenda and packet is available online and the minutes will be published online after approval at the next month’s board meeting.

Those of you who have been with the agency since the time of our merger know that our agency name has a storied and interesting history. For some, the name “AEA 267” is synonymous with the joining of three agencies into one. For many, the name is a constant reminder of separateness. This theme was reported by the Iowa Department of Education during previous site visits where both staff and our LEA partners voiced that our name was part of a larger concern around not yet fully uniting as one organization despite over a decade of efforts.

For those reasons and many others, the AEA 267 board took a bold step during their October meeting to change the agency’s name. The new name, Central Rivers Area Education Agency, is a nod to the many rivers that run throughout our 18-county territory, uniting us and flowing freely without regard to geography.

“The board rarely makes unilateral decisions, but in this case we felt it was appropriate to move ahead without a lengthy process that detracted from the important work that our staff and schools have to do ,” said Roberta Kraft-Abrahamson, AEA 267 vice president. “The timing is right given recent conversations around updates to facilities, the fact that our website is in the midst of a complete overhaul, and many of our building signs are in need of replacement. From a dollars and cents standpoint we had to make these improvements anyway. Why not take advantage of the timing and forge ahead?”

The new name will be phased in around the first of the year when the new agency website is launched. Supplies bearing the agency’s current name will be used up throughout the spring and the official changeover will take place on July 1, 2017.

Please help us embrace and celebrate this positive change!