The Bucks County Intermediate Unit is ready to serve students in the 2024-25 school year.
Staff members throughout Bucks County have worked the past few weeks to prepare their classrooms and attend required training sessions to prepare for the new academic year. Team members participating in the preparations include the wide variety of employees that make up the Bucks IU team, including but not limited to administrators, teachers, paraeducators, job coaches, drivers, social workers, nurses, guidance counselors, behavioral analysts, specialists and therapists.
“Opening Week is a prime time for the Bucks IU to deliver professional development to our team members across Bucks County,” said Pamela Dinan, the Bucks IU supervisor of education who coordinates Opening Week activities. “We typically offer a full week of training opportunities with over 70 events scheduled. Trainings are a mix of in-person, live via Zoom or recorded.”
The “Opening Week” work, which began on Aug. 19, prepares the Bucks IU team in its mission to serve students and adults countywide. During the 2023-24 school year, the Bucks IU served more than 18,000 students and adults, according to organization statistics, predominantly from Bucks County and surrounding communities.
Opening Week begins as “a giant, blank puzzle,” Dinan said. She and her colleagues at the Bucks IU’s main office in Doylestown work for months to develop and coordinate Opening Week activities to ensure that all staff are prepared to meet student programming needs. The goal, Dinan said, is “to provide a positive experience for everyone.”
Opening Week activities vary by Bucks IU program. Each training is a critical part of preparing for the school year, staff members said.
“I feel it is important,” said Candice Lees, a paraeducator – registered behavior technician at the Bucks IU at Samuel Everitt in Levittown. Everitt staff serve approximately 150 students aged kindergarten through 21 years of age in autism support, emotional support and multiple disability classrooms.
“We do get a lot of new staff before the school year starts, so to have trainings outlining important information that they will need in the classroom is beneficial especially to obtain this information before the students arrive,” Lees said.
“Opening Week also gives staff members a chance to make sure they have everything in place before students arrive,” said Ervina Eva Ajderi, Head Start family support provider at the Bucks IU’s Mid-County Early Learning Center in Warminster.
The early learning facility serves almost 90 students in Head Start, Pre-K Counts, developmental delay and autism support classes.
As part of Opening Week activities, staff members hosted an Open House on Thursday, Aug. 22, for the center’s students and their families.
“The students get familiar with the school,” Ajderi said. “And the parents are able to address any concerns they might have and complete their child’s paperwork before school begins.”
In his back-to-school greeting to Bucks IU team members, Dr. Mark Hoffman, the Bucks IU executive director, encouraged staff members to use the Bucks IU’s vision “Learn-Flourish-Contribute” to guide them in their approach during Opening Week and throughout the 2024-25 school year.
“How are you going to challenge yourself to learn, so your students may learn?,” Hoffman asked. “In what ways do you want to flourish so your students may flourish? And, in what ways are you going to contribute to the success of the Bucks IU so the students that we serve and the districts that we serve can contribute to their own success as well?”
Opening days for students vary depending on each Bucks IU program location. Several Bucks IU programs welcomed some students back on Monday, Aug. 26. Other programs began serving students after Labor Day in September.
Visit BucksIU.org or call 215-348-2940 for more information.
