A customer-first attitude is evident every day in the service Megan Giaffoglione provides for members of the public, faculty and staff at Iowa Education for Deaf and Blind. She earned recognized the Board of Regents, State of Iowa Staff Excellence Award Nov. 9 for her ability to anticipate the needs of individuals and departments and consistently respond to them with a positive demeanor.
Giaffoglione joined Iowa Education for Deaf & Blind in the fall, 2014 and serves as the administrative assistant.
She was immediately involved in the logistics of several campus and agency projects, ranging from coordinating monthly meetings for the deaf and for the blind state stakeholders to relocating the operations of Iowa Braille and Sight Saving School in Vinton to the Council Bluffs campus. Giaffoglione thought through every aspect of moving thousands of accessible library materials, archived records, assistive technology equipment and recreational equipment to Council Bluffs. She also ensured there was a dedicated place for these items, and helped oversee the renovation projects in Council Bluffs in areas which would store these items as well as office new staff.
“If you see a big project at ISD, you can rest assured Megan is in the middle of it,” said John Cool, interim superintendent at Iowa Education for the Deaf & Blind. “She is the go-to person you can rely on. The most incredible thing is, she never complains.”
Having facilitated this successful across-the-state transition, Giaffoglione was again appointed a critical role in the renovation of Long Hall. This year-long project required relocating all teachers and staff to other buildings during school year 2021-2022. Meticulous coordination was needed to ensure all teaching materials followed teachers to their new classrooms, and furniture in storage was organized and labeled.
Giaffoglione was also involved in the renovation of the relocation areas. When the renovation project completed this summer, she orchestrated the reverse move- checking that all moving boxes and supplies were placed in the right classrooms, furniture returned to its intended users and each classrooms had new white boards and functional electronic teaching walls.
Giaffoglione facilitated development of the COVID-19 safety protocols, and continues to bring department heads together to keep the protocols updated. She attends accreditation meetings which number in the dozens during an accreditation year, and schedules the extra interviews required with these site visits. She was also instrumental in the creation of a comprehensive school-wide emergency operations plan for Iowa School for the Deaf.
