At Berks County Intermediate Unit, collaboration between employees is essential to the mission of enriching the learning experiences of Berks County\u2019s 70,000 students.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking with multiple programs, there\u2019s this value that comes that we actually help the whole child,\u201d said Kamie Rothenberger, an educational coach for Head Start, a free preschool program BCIU offers.<\/p>\n
Rothenberger, who has been at BCIU since 2014, believes the support her co-workers give each other keeps the community thriving.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe catch each other in those moments where you\u2019re thinking like, \u2018This is a really tough day. I don\u2019t know if I can do this right now,\u2019 \u201d Rothenberger said. \u201cIt\u2019s in that moment that you look to your co-worker and they\u2019re like, \u2018You got this.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
It was this supportive spirit that helped BCIU to be named to The Morning Call\u2019s Top Workplaces survey this year for the first time, placing ninth among large companies with 500 or more employees.<\/p>\n
With more than 40 locations, BCIU served more than 37,000 early childhood and school-age students during the 2024-25 school year. BCIU aims to give neurotypical and neurodivergent children a sturdy educational foundation, though its impact stretches further as educators work with public and private schools in the county. The intermediate unit has more than 200 individual programs and services, from free preschool for low-income families and early intervention for learners with developmental delays to career readiness programs that prepare older students for life after school.<\/p>\n
BCIU staff bring a passion for educating that underscores everything they do, according to Executive Director Jill Hackman.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a service agency, we\u2019re here to serve and support, and you just don\u2019t turn that on and off, right?\u201d Hackman said. \u201cThese people are committed all the time to this whole mission of service.\u201d<\/p>\n
The learning does not end when the students leave. Professional development opportunities are abundant at BCIU. Two years ago, the company developed an Emerging Leaders program, which included classes and gave employees peer mentors.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe felt we needed something internally for our staff to continue to grow, because look at the leaders we have, and how do we tap into that and learn from one another?\u201d Hackman said, adding that she still regularly interacts with her first peer partner.<\/p>\n
More than 100 staff members have attended the program.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes it means more to me to hear this information from colleagues than sitting in a college classroom from a professor that I\u2019m never going to interact with, who doesn\u2019t know what I do on a daily basis,\u201d said Cheri Heebner, a lead teacher for the early intervention program, who was a part of the first round of leadership training.<\/p>\n
Amy Slovick, a lead speech therapist in the early intervention program, said that she often looks for people in the company who are doing a great job, so she can share that growth with their colleagues. Recent staff-led training has included delegating data collection and writing education plans for students with disabilities. Using different technology platforms has also been a consistent topic.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the staff train internally, there\u2019s that passion that is presented, which gives the staff the drive to take that information, to go back and apply it to their daily work life,\u201d Heebner said.<\/p>\n
BCIU offers a comprehensive benefits package, including tuition reimbursement opportunities.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs leaders, we are really focused in on being intentional about supporting our staff members and their professional growth, but just as importantly, the overall well-being,\u201d Hackman said.<\/p>\n
She said being able to connect people and resources helps give educators the tools they need to address complex educational challenges.<\/p>\n
For some employees, the impact of BCIU and its staff is personal. Rothenberger learned to use communication assistive technology for her daughter from Slovik and her team.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith me having the experience as a parent, I\u2019ve now taken that, and I tell my teachers how to use it, how to integrate it and in a way that it\u2019s seamless for them,\u201d Rothenberger said.<\/p>\n
Heebner \u2014 who was supported by BCIU in raising her daughter with special needs and son \u2014 said that her 25 years at BCIU have been full of \u201ccompassion, growth, extreme support, both professionally, but also personally.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith raising a child of special needs, the support that I received, I don\u2019t know if I would receive it anywhere else,\u201d Heebner said. \u201cI have never left. I won\u2019t leave. I\u2019m here till I retire.\u201d<\/p>\n
Isabella Gaglione is a freelance writer.<\/p>\n
Berks County Intermediate Unit<\/p>\n
Founded: 1971<\/p>\n
Ownership: Nonprofit<\/p>\n
Sector: Education<\/p>\n
Lehigh Valley employees: 664<\/p>\n
Website: BCIU.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At Berks County Intermediate Unit, collaboration between employees is essential to the mission of enriching the learning experiences…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[60,128,130,129,58385],"class_list":["post-124512","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-business","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-workplaces"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124512","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=124512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/124512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=124512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=124512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=124512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}