Superintendent Position Open at Osage CSD

Osage Community School is accepting applications until April 10 for the position of Superintendent of Schools. Osage is the county seat of Mitchell County. The school has an enrollment of 900+ students. Application materials can be found on the district website.

Now Taking Orders for 2015-16 School Planners!

Quality and affordable student planners are available for your school through Heartland AEA’s Creative Services. Basic planners will have a plastic cover and coil binding and will contain intro pages, planner pages, note pages and different calendars. The planners include a full-year calendar to accommodate extended year schedules.

Choose your preferred cover, intro pages, planner pages, note pages and calendars from our set styles for basic planners (see Planner Guide). Optional pages can be added for an additional fee (student handbook, activities calendars, etc.). Order quantities must be a minimum of 50 planners.

Standard Planner Prices
5.5” x 8.5” - $1.70 per planner
8.5” x 11” - $2.80 per planner
7" x 11" - $3.10 per planner

Click here for the Planner Guide (shows options for covers, intro pages, calendar pages, etc.) and here for the Planner Order Form. Please have your planner orders placed by May 15, 2015 and approved by June 2, 2015 so they will be ready for the beginning of the school year.

For more information or to ask about personalizing your school's planners, contact our Creative Services at creativeservices@heartlandaea.org or (800) 255-0405 ext. 14368.

Check Your Inbox for Educator Connection!

Earlier this week the Heartland AEA Communications Department sent out the second issue of the Educator Connection newsletter in its new format. The Educator Connection is intended to keep our educators better connected to our agency and to the many programs and services we offer to educators, students and families. Educators can subscribe to receive the newsletter here.

If you have any comments or suggestions for articles you’d like to see, please e-mail them to the Heartland AEA Communications Department.

Would You Like Education News of the Day Delivered to Your Inbox?

Each morning, the Heartland AEA Communications Department provides links to local and national education news headlines to those who have signed up for our “News Clips” email list. If you would like to be added to the News Clips list, contact the Communications Department at comms@heartlandaea.org.

We’re Social, Are You?

Have you followed Heartland AEA and the AEA system on social media yet? If yes, great—now tell a friend! If not, what are you waiting for? 

Heartland AEA 
• Facebook 
• Twitter

AEA System 
• Facebook 
• Twitter 
• Blog 
• Pinterest

First-Ever Heartland AEA Education Career Fair: A Resounding Success

On March 4 Heartland AEA held its first-ever Education Career Fair, seeking to help match school districts in our service area with education applicants. For a first time event, it was a resounding success, with approximately 350 job seekers in attendance! We were happy to see a great mix of attendees -- from veteran teachers, to new teachers to college students preparing for life beyond spring graduation.

In addition to being able to meet on-site with 12 districts, applicants had the opportunity to do mock interviews, resume critiques and gather graduate program information from area universities. The mock interviews and resume critiques proved to be very popular as attendees stood in line for a chance to receive these services.

“We were excited to hold this education job fair for multiple reasons, first and foremost to provide a service to the districts and schools in our service area,” Tony Chiaramonte, Heartland AEA Human Resources Manager, said. “Our agency is aware of the high turnover rate in the teaching profession, especially during the first few years a teacher is in the classroom. We wanted to gather as many districts as we could in one place, so that educators can meet representatives from many districts at the same time and get a feel for what multiple districts have to offer. We want to be part of the solution and help keep new teachers from leaving the profession and from leaving Iowa by helping them find a district where they enjoy what they do.”

With the success of our inaugural event, we look forward to holding a second Career Fair next year. We hope to see you on March 2, 2016!

Find pictures of the event on our Facebook page.

Call for Student Presenters for AEA Boards’ Conference

Iowa's Area Education Agencies are seeking students who are interested in sharing their innovative projects and learning. Every year, about 80 board members from all of Iowa's AEAs gather for a two-day conference. AEA board members want to learn more about the unique and exciting learning that AEAs are supporting in Iowa's schools.

Students would set up a booth/table from 6:15-7:45 p.m. April 16 at the West Des Moines Marriott. Board members will have a 90-minute block of time to visit with students at their booths/tables. Each table will have room for a display board and physical artifacts (e.g., robots, things from a 3D printer, photos, whatever) and also will have electricity and Internet access. Some ideas include...
•    VREP
•    Robotics
•    Lego League
•    Makerspace
•    Drones
•    Minecraft
•    Blogging
•    QR codes
•    Virtual reality
•    Stop motion
•    Social media projects (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.)
•    Video projects
•    Digital animation
•    App creation
•    ...anything that may not have a household name but that you've enjoyed and are anxious to share!

This would make addition to a college resume and is a great chance to enhance presentation skills. We will be capturing this event so it can be added to your portfolio and shared across the state/nation.

If you're interested in being a presenter, please contact Dr. Scott McLeod, dr.scott.mcleod@gmail.com.

Recipients Announced for 2015 STEM Education Award

Six Iowa teachers received the 2015 STEM Education Award for Inspired Teaching sponsored by Kemin Industries. The highly-competitive award brought in more than 150 applications from across the state. These six K-12 teachers, one from each Iowa STEM region, have demonstrated an unparalleled dedication to inspiring students to explore the world of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) in Iowa:
•    Kacia Cain, Des Moines Central Campus (South Central STEM Region)
•    Lisa Chizek, North Tama Elementary (Northeast STEM Region)
•    Jason Franzenburg, Davenport West High School (Southeast STEM Region)
•    Allison Gregg, Sidney Elementary School (Southwest STEM Region)
•    Shelly Vanyo, Boone High School (North Central STEM Region)
•    Mike Wedge, Sibley-Ocheyedan High School (Northwest STEM Region)

After being nominated for the award by a colleague, school administration, parent, student or community member, each nominee completed an application showcasing their contributions toward STEM education. The awardees were selected by a panel of judges based on that application. Each winner will receive $1,500 for personal use and another $1,500 for their classroom. A formal award ceremony and special panel session featuring the award recipients will take place at the 2015 Statewide STEM Summit on March 30. To learn more about the award, please visit: stemaward.fluidreview.com or register for the Summit at iowastem.gov/2015Summit.

Congratulations to the winners and a special thank you to all the nominees! Thank you for being outstanding STEM educators and bettering the lives of students across the state.

Made Plans to Attend the Career Fair?!

In this video, Heartland AEA’s HR manager Tony Chiaramonte goes into more detail about our upcoming Educator Career Fair. Learn more about the event on its Google Site.

Introducing the New Educator Connection Newsletter

Earlier this week the Heartland AEA Communications Department sent out the inaugural issue of the Educator Connection newsletter in its new format. The Educator Connection is intended to keep our educators better connected to our agency and to the many programs and services we offer to educators, students and families. Educators can subscribe to receive the newsletter here.

If you have any comments or suggestions for articles you’d like to see, please e-mail them to the Heartland AEA Communications Department.

Educators Encouraged to Attend First-Ever Heartland AEA Education Job Fair!

Heartland AEA is pleased to announce that it will hold its first-ever Education Career Fair in March 2015! 

March 4, 2015 
2:00-5:00 p.m. 
 
Heartland Area Education Agency 
Johnston Regional Education Center
 
6500 Corporate Drive 
Johnston, IA 50131 

• The job fair will be an opportunity for teachers and other education professionals to meet with over 15 central Iowa school districts at one location to apply for jobs for the next school year. Positions will range from administration to teaching to support positions. 
• Heartland AEA will also be recruiting for careers such as speech therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, school psychologists, school social workers and special education consultants. 
• The job fair will be packed with opportunities for job seekers, including mock interviews, resume critiques and graduate program information from area universities. A number of districts will also be offering candidates interviews right on the spot! 

Visit Career Opportunities page to view a list of the districts that will be participating in the fair as well as the positions they will be hiring for. There is no registration required, and the fair is free of charge.

Reminder: Substitute Teacher Recruitment Toolkit Available

A common theme we hear among area school administrators is the need for more substitute teachers. Heartland AEA is an approved provider of the substitute authorization program, and we would like to assist you in recruiting more substitute teachers from your communities. Below are some tools to help assist you in this effort.

Poster
These posters may be hung in your schools during parent/teacher conferences and sporting events and around the community. There is space at the bottom of the poster where you can write in the district’s/school’s hiring contact information. Posters can be ordered through our Creative Services department. Posters will be printed on 13x19 hardy poster paper and cost 40 cents each. Complete a Creative Services order form and under item description, write “Substitute Teacher Poster” with the quantity. Completed forms can be sent to Jill Crees, Production Facilitator, at creativeservices@heartlandaea.org. Allow two weeks for process and delivery.

Link to the Heartland AEA website
Ask your technology personnel to include a “Become a substitute teacher!” link on your district’s/school’s website that links to the Heartland AEA substitute authorization page: 
http://bit.ly/AEA_SubAuth

Press Release
Consider sending a press release on school letterhead to your local newspaper. Be sure to revise and personalize the press release linked above. The press release can also be used as an article in your district/school newsletter.

Substitute Teacher Recruitment Toolkit Available

A common theme we hear among area school administrators is the need for more substitute teachers. Heartland AEA is an approved provider of the substitute authorization program, and we would like to assist you in recruiting more substitute teachers from your communities. Below are some tools to help assist you in this effort.

Poster
These posters may be hung in your schools during parent/teacher conferences and sporting events and around the community. There is space at the bottom of the poster where you can write in the district’s/school’s hiring contact information. Posters can be ordered through our Creative Services department. Posters will be printed on 13x19 hardy poster paper and cost 40 cents each. Complete a Creative Services order form and under item description, write “Substitute Teacher Poster” with the quantity. Completed forms can be sent to Jill Crees, Production Facilitator, at creativeservices@heartlandaea.org. Allow two weeks for process and delivery.

Link to the Heartland AEA website
Ask your technology personnel to include a “Become a substitute teacher!” link on your district’s/school’s website that links to the Heartland AEA substitute authorization page: 
http://bit.ly/AEA_SubAuth

Press Release
Consider sending a press release on school letterhead to your local newspaper. Be sure to revise and personalize the press release linked above. The press release can also be used as an article in your district/school newsletter.

Elementary Substitute Authorization Renewal Class Available

As was announced by the Iowa Board of Educational Examiners, substitute authorization holders can now teach at the elementary level as well as the secondary level. It is encouraged that authorization holders take a renewal course geared to help better prepare them to substitute in the elementary setting. A renewal course is being offered in February. Please pass this information on to interested candidates.

Substitute Authorization Renewal: Teaching in the Elementary Classroom
Dates: Feb. 20 & 21, 2015 
Location: Heartland AEA Johnston REC
Activity Number: SU000592111501

2015 Legislator Contact Sheet

Monday, Jan. 12 will mark the opening day to the Iowa Legislature’s 2015 session of the 86th General Assembly. Find a list of contact information for all Iowa House and Senate members in Heartland’s area.

IEC December 2014 Newsletter

The December issue of the IEC newsletter focuses on the Health Supplies category as well as a few other notable items to share and dates to remember.

Never want to miss an issue? Subscribe to have the newsletter sent directly to your inbox!

Broken iPad? Call Heartland AEA!

Heartland AEA is pleased to now offer a repair service for iPads that are no longer under warranty. Our repair technician should be able to repair any iPad model, but we are not currently providing repairs for iPhones.

We will use our van delivery service to pick up and drop off iPads, but schools are always welcome to bring them directly to our repair technician at our Johnston Regional Education Center. During the school year, we anticipate an approximate turn around time of 2 weeks, counting pickup and delivery.

For items that need repaired, please complete the Equipment Repair Form and attach a hard copy to each iPad. After repairs are completed, we will return the iPad(s) via our vans, and we will send a repair invoice to your school business office.

Many districts use Specialty Underwriters to pay for repairs. If you plan to use Specialty for your iPad repairs, please get a purchase order from them ahead of time and send a hard copy of that order with the iPad(s) you need repaired. Remember that we also need that information on the Equipment Repair Form for each item you send to us.

Contact your Tech Coordinator or visit our website for more information.

New Family & Community Engagement Toolkit Available on Agency Website

Purpose of Family & Community Engagement 
To ensure that the students of today are ready for the careers of tomorrow, families, schools and community groups need to work together to promote engagement that is systemic, sustained and integrated into school improvement efforts. 

Research over the past 30 years has shown that engaging families in their children’s education increases student achievement and decreases dropout rates. Effective family engagement is not a one-time program or the choice of a good school, but rather a set of day-to-day practices, attitudes, beliefs and interactions that support learning at home, at school, after school and during the summer. - SEDL National Center for Family and Community Connections with Schools 

Family & Community Engagement ties directly Heartland AEA’s goals: Growth, Gaps, Graduation and Gateways. “The evidence is consistent, positive and convincing: families have a major influence on their children’s achievement. (Gaps) When schools, families and community groups work together to support learning, children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer and like school more.” (Growth/Graduation) This statement summarizes the conclusions of A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family and Community Connections on Student Achievement, the most recent comprehensive review of the research. 

Key findings include: 

• Students whose families are involved in their learning earn better grades, enroll in higher-level programs, have higher graduation rates and are more likely to enroll in post-secondary education. (Graduation/Gateways) 
• When families take an active interest in what they’re learning, students display more positive attitudes towards school and behave better both in and out of school. 
• Children do best if parents can play a variety of roles in their learning: helping at home, volunteering at school, planning their children’s future and taking part in key decisions about the school program. 
• Children from diverse cultural backgrounds tend to do better when families and school staff join forces to bridge the gap between home and school cultures. 

Purpose of the FCE Toolkit Family engagement is a shared responsibility of families, schools, and communities for student learning and achievement; it is continuous from birth to young adulthood; and it occurs across multiple settings where children learn. Toward that end, the Family & Community Engagement Toolkit provides users with resources, tools and opportunities to: 

• Connect (make positive connections with families) 
• Engage (create opportunities for families to be fully engaged) 
• Sustain (strategies for staying connected and keeping families/community engaged) How can the toolkit help? 

How can we put these findings into action? 

• Recognize that all parents—regardless of income, education or cultural background are involved in their children’s learning and want their children to do well. 
• Design programs that will support families to guide their children’s learning, from preschool through high school. 
• Develop the capacity of school staff to work with families. 
• Link efforts to engage families, whether based at school or in the community, to student learning. 
• Focus efforts to engage families and community members on developing trusting and respectful relationships. 
• Embrace a philosophy of partnership and be willing to share power with families. 
• Make sure that parents, school staff and community members understand that the responsibility for children’s educational development is a collaborative enterprise.  
• Build strong connections between schools and community organizations.
•  Include families in all strategies to reduce the achievement gap among white, middle-class students and low-income students and students of color. 

If you have any questions about the toolkit or its contents, contact Terry Mendell, Lead Parent Coordinator, at tmendell@heartlandaea.org or ext. 17135.

Heartland AEA Holiday Schedule

New this year, all Heartland AEA offices will be closed to the public Dec. 24-Jan. 2. Please take note of the following schedule as you plan to send and receive items through our van mail.

    Dec. 22 & 23 Regular Van Delivery
    Dec. 24-Jan. 2 No Van Delivery
    Jan. 5 Regular Van Delivery Resumes

Additionally, there will be no Administrator Connection blog updates on Dec. 26 or Jan. 2.

Agency Holiday Schedule

All Heartland AEA offices will be closed to the public Dec. 24-Jan. 2. Please take note of the following schedule as you plan to send and receive items through our van mail.

    Dec. 22 & 23 Regular Van Delivery
    Dec. 24-Jan. 2 No Van Delivery
    Jan. 5 Regular Van Delivery Resumes

Additionally, there will be no Administrator Connection blog updates on Dec. 26 or Jan. 2.