This week’s issue of Friday News includes:

  • Recognizing our PLAEA board members
  • Seeking State Fair booth staff
  • News from the KIDS program
  • Iowa AEA online username/password reminder
  • Forms due!
  • New DE podcast

Honoring our AEA board members
This week is Iowa School Board Recognition Week and therefore, an opportunity to recognize and thank our Prairie Lakes AEA board members.

  • President Dean Saunders, Spencer, has been an AEA board member for 30 years as he was elected in 1978.
  • Vice President Ed O’Leary served on the board of directors for the Fort Dodge Community School District, and was a letter carrier for the US Postal Service and Human Rights Director for the City of Fort Dodge and Webster County. He was elected to the AEA board in 2000.
  • Todd Lundgren has been on the board since 2005. He farms near Lehigh and is also president of the Southeast Webster Grand school board.
  • Bruce Bahnson is in the insurance business in Jefferson.
  • Floyd Thies has served on the board for over a year and is retired from middle school counseling. He is from Algona.
  • Ray Fisher is a retired school administrator and teacher. He has been a board member since 1995 and lives in Humboldt. 
  • Steve Petersen taught school at Emmetsburg for about three years before entering the insurance business, which he’s been in for over 30 years. He is the owner of Peterson Insurance Agency, LLC in Estherville.
  • Sue Beers, of Jewell, is executive director of the Mid-Iowa School Improvement Consortium
  • Our newest board member is Rhonda Christensen, who is the Buena Vista County, ISU Extension Education Director.

Sign up for the State Fair
“You Gotta Love It!” The AEA system is planning to have a booth at this year’s Iowa State Fair. While we are waiting to receive “official” confirmation that our booth has been accepted, each AEA is making plans to staff the booth for one day. The Iowa State Fair runs from Aug. 7-17. If you are interested in signing up to help staff the booth on behalf of Prairie Lakes AEA, please contact Connie Johnson. More details will be shared at a later date!

Summer computer clean-up
It is time once again for the summer computer cleanup. To facilitate the cleaning and maintenance of computers, staff are asked leave their computers at their respective office (on their desk) on their final contracted day or June 9, whichever comes first. It will take approximately 4-6 to clean and diagnose all of the computers. Staff may pick up the computers when the cleanup for each site is complete. At that time, computers can be taken home and do not need to be returned to the office until staff return in the fall.  Notice that the cleanup has been completed will be in the form of an e-mail to the list serve of each office.  A schedule for the cleanup will be sent to the staff list serve very soon.

Staff are urged to consider alternate ways of checking mail during the cleanup.  Desktop computers at all offices will be available during the cleanup.  You may use these machines to check and send mail.  You can also access your e-mail from your home computer at any time by using the AEA 8 iMail server.  The address for this server is http://mail.aea8.k12.ia.us:8383.  The server can also be accessed via the Prairie Lakes web page.

Additionally, please contact technicians if you notice that your computer is running less than one hour on battery power.  An email regarding this concern can be sent directly to bgerzema@aea8.k12.ia.us, nschelle@aea8.k12.ia.us or mschmidt@aea8.k12.ia.us.

If you have questions concerning the summer cleanup procedure, please contact Mike Schmidt at 515-574-5500 ext 2115.  If you need to keep your computer during the summer months, please notify Mike directly so that we can make other arrangements for the cleaning.  Staff who are on 12 month contracts will receive direct notification of when their computer will be cleaned.

KIDS program seeking credentials
The KIDS program is in the process of working toward the Iowa Family Support Credential. To date, we have had one technical assistance visit, which included the state Family Support Coordinator, our technical assistance staff person and Cyndee Dather of Lakes Area Empowerment (the empowerment host). Linda Littlefield and Betsy Moritz.  During the visit, the team reviewed and completed a KIDS self-assessment of the 31 Iowa Family Support standards.  There are 15 first order service standards and 16 first order organizational standards, and each of those has second order standards. A technical assistance telephone conference has also occurred.

It’s an intense process, and KIDS is the first program in the state to begin the process. Betsy reports that the program has received many favorable comments from the technical assistance person as well as the Family Support Coordinator, which is very gratifying! “We are excited to participate in the credentialing program, and I think it will be a wonderful recognition of the work done by our dedicated home visitors,” Betsy said. 

Access to Iowa AEA Online
All AEA staff members and educators have access to a wealth of resources through Iowa AEA Online. Iowa AEA Online provides free dynamic, up-to-the-minute online reference resources to all Iowa educators, parents and students.  These resources are available 24/7 from school or home and are funded and provided by Iowa’s Area Education Agencies. Iowa AEA Online can be accessed via the Prairie Lakes AEA home page or at www.iowaaeaonline.org. 

Iowa AEA online provides easy access to: Accuweather Premium Weather Service, Atomic Learning, Schools.Clipart.com, EBSCOhost, AccuNet/Associated Press Multimedia Archive, SIRS (Social Issues Resource Series), Discovery Education Streaming (DE Streaming), and World Book Online. User ID’s are based on the location of your office.  For information, contact Karen Appleton, Dorothy DeGroot or Harriet Adams.

Forms reminder
A packet of insurance, flexible spending and other forms was sent to each staff member’s home in early May. These forms are due to Brenda Hebert in the Business Office by May 30!
 
DE podcast -  Taiwanese Teachers Examine Iowa’s Education System
The latest edition of the Iowa Department of Education’s podcast series is now available at http://www.iowa.gov/educate/content/view/1415/1599/.

As Iowa’s students move from the classroom to the workplace, they must be prepared to compete in a global economy. It is clear that students today must not only possess the skills and knowledge to help them succeed in this environment, they must also posses a global perspective of their world.

The Iowa Department of Education (DE) and the Taiwan Ministry of Education are working together to meet this need by providing cross-cultural experiences for both students and teachers, and by sharing education practices.

In this latest Iowa Department of Education podcast, Taiwanese Teachers Examine Iowa’s Education System, we talk with two Taiwanese teachers who recently visited Iowa.