{"id":177396,"date":"2026-04-27T17:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T17:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/177396\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T17:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T17:07:09","slug":"bciu-dedicates-new-playground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/177396\/","title":{"rendered":"BCIU dedicates new playground"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Berks County Intermediate Unit last week celebrated the dedication of a new playground at its Learning Center at Melrose Plaza.<\/p>\n<p>The creation of the playground was made possible by a $5,000 sponsorship by Fleetwood Bank.<\/p>\n<p>The playground was designed for children ages 3 to 5 with disabilities. It includes safe, engaging and developmentally appropriate equipment intended to support early learning, exploration and play-based skill learning.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"Officials from the Berks County Intermediate Center and Fleetwood Bank gathered last week to dedicate a new playground at the BCIU Learning Center at Melrose Plaza. (Courtesy of the Berks County Intermediate Unit)\" width=\"870\" height=\"559\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/REG-L-BCIUPlaygroundDedication-01.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"5284756\" \/>Officials from the Berks County Intermediate Center and Fleetwood Bank gathered last week to dedicate a new playground at the BCIU Learning Center at Melrose Plaza. (Courtesy of the Berks County Intermediate Unit)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday\u2019s celebration represents more than the dedication of a playground \u2014 it reflects an investment in our children, our families and our community,\u201d Dr. Michelle Reichard-Huff, BCIU director of early childhood and student services, said during the ceremony. \u201cFleetwood Bank\u2019s continued commitment to strengthening the communities it serves has made a meaningful and lasting impact on our youngest learners.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The playground will serve the BCIU\u2019s early intervention program, which provides special education services to more than 2,800 preschool-aged children across Berks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen we moved our early intervention classrooms to Melrose Plaza, we knew it was essential to create an outdoor space where children could build social, motor and problem-solving skills,\u201d Dr. Christi Weitzel, BCIU assistant director of early childhood and student services, said during the ceremony. \u201cThanks to Fleetwood Bank, that vision is now a reality, and we are already seeing the positive impact this playground is having on our students.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Officials from Fleetwood Bank said they were happy to help with the effort.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFleetwood Bank is pleased to be able to partner with (BCIU Executive Director) Dr. Jill Hackman and the Berks County Intermediate Unit for this important facility,\u201d said Timothy Snyder, president and CEO of Fleetwood Bank. \u201cWhile our sponsorship is for the new playground, it is what happens inside this building that has a lasting impact on these children and the community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Berks County Intermediate Unit last week celebrated the dedication of a new playground at its Learning Center&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":177397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[349,227,182,139,28,128,130,129,706],"class_list":["post-177396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-reading","tag-berks-county","tag-education","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-reading-city","tag-reading-city-headlines","tag-reading-city-news","tag-top-stories-reg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177396","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=177396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/177397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}