Bucks IU honors board directors for their volunteer service

Students and staff at the Bucks IU at Lower Southampton ELC (Early Learning Center) created a giant heart montage to show their appreciation for the agency’s board of school directors during School Director Recognition Month. (Photo by Joan Hellyer)

The Bucks County Intermediate Unit recently honored the 13 school directors who volunteer their time year-round to serve on the agency’s governing board. “This organization feels your commitment to our mission,” Bucks IU Executive Director Mark Hoffman told board members at the School Director Recognition Month proceedings in January. “Thank you for what you do.”

During the presentation in Doylestown, the school directors were treated to messages of thanks in wall montages created by IU students and staff throughout the county. They also received gift bags filled with tokens of appreciation, including sweet treats baked by students in the W.O.W. (We’re Outstanding Workers) program. Plus, the school directors were presented with thank you notes designed by IU students in various agency programs.

“We are very honored to have such a wonderful group of people here at the IU,” said Central Bucks and IU board member Dana Foley. “I feel particularly passionate about the work being done here.”

The IU board directors represent each of the 13 school districts served by the regional educational service agency. The directors are charged with overseeing the IU’s extensive special education programs that operate throughout the county, the agency’s professional development offerings, and its business and technology services.

IU board president and Bristol Borough school board member John D’Angelo says serving in the volunteer capacity with the intermediate unit is one of the greatest honors of his life. “It has allowed me to truly understand the important role that the IU plays in helping our member districts navigate the difficult challenges involved in providing the specialized services that the children enrolled in our schools require,” he said. “I am proud to be a part of an organization made up of great professionals across all employee classes who provide the programs needed for today, while continuing to address the changing needs of our partners for tomorrow.”

School directors volunteer to serve on the intermediate unit’s governing body for a variety of reasons, said IU board vice president and Quakertown school board member Ron Jackson. “For me, I wanted to be one of the people who made the decisions, rather than just a member of the public who reacted to them,” Jackson said. “I wanted to be a person responsible for enacting change, rather than just advocating for it. Being a member of the IU board increases that ability by providing me with access to legislators, industry leaders and other persons of influence. In so doing I can personally advocate for the goals of the IU with the people who craft policy and funding legislation and provide resources that affect students.”

The IU board directors say they typically volunteer three to five hours of their time per week to serve on their school district board and the intermediate unit’s governing body. Those hours include preparing for and participating in board and committee meetings and attending other district or IU related activities.

“I volunteer as a board member because I want to give back to the community where I am raising my family,” said IU and Bensalem school board member Karen A. Winters. Winters is in her 25th year of teaching in the public school system in New Jersey and brings a wealth of educational experience to the IU board’s governing body. “I enjoy seeing the different programs that the IU has to offer,” Winters said. “I feel that they make a difference for kids, which is what I am all about doing as a board member. I am finishing my first year on the Bucks IU board and am happy to be a part of an organization that helps educate valuable and sometimes vulnerable members of our community.”