Heartland AEA

As Chief Administrator, Dr. Jon Sheldahl oversees special education services, instructional services, professional learning, library and digital resources and technology support provided by Heartland Area Education Agency (AEA) to over 147,000 students and 10,700 educators in Greater Des Moines (DSM). Sheldahl was previously chief administrator at Great Prairie AEA and a former district superintendent. Sheldahl earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa and master’s and doctorate degrees from Northern Arizona University.

As Director of Resources and Library Services at Heartland AEA, Susan Schrader provides support to K-12 educators and teacher librarians in the Heartland AEA service area, including selection and purchase of instructional materials, coordination of instructional resource sharing among Iowa schools, training on 20 online reference databases, development of a discovery search tool, copyright compliance education and writing various publications. Schrader earned her master’s degree in library science from the University of Northern Iowa.

As Regional/Instructional Services Director at Heartland AEA, Amy Wichman works closely with local schools to collaborate around the delivery of quality services, including special education programs. She provides instructional leadership around curricular initiatives focused on student achievement, including Multi-tiered Systems of Support, ESSA Iowa and Standards-Based Learning. Her past administrative roles have included Director of Technology & Instruction, Teacher Leadership and Director of Student Services. She has served on numerous special project teams for the State of Iowa. Amy earned her bachelor's degree in English and political science from Buena Vista University and her master's degree in educational administration from Drake University.