GRCA Commerce Quarterly Summer 2020 - 18

Feature

State of Education Series:

Summer
2020

GRCA + Rebuild Berks
in partnership with BCIU
By Ellen Albright, Director of Talent
+ Workforce Development, GRCA

y the time you're reading this article, we'll be well into back-to-school
mode. While I cannot predict the
future, back-to-school mode may look a
bit more like: "back-to-school-part-time,"
"back-to-your-home-office," or "back-tosharing-your-laptop-with-your-child(ren)."
In light of the ever-changing school reentry
plans this summer, the Greater Reading
Chamber Alliance (GRCA) and the Berks
County Intermediate Unit (BCIU) teamed
up to spend the month of July hosting public
forums with professional experts and administration, allowing for discussion between
business owners/employees and educators.
Words like pivot, flexibility, and ever-changing were constant throughout each of the three
sessions, and rightfully so. As schools have
been working tirelessly to develop health and
safety plans, paired with revised curriculum
and scheduling, while also taking in parent
and community feedback, they were also met
with the desire to create a comprehensive plan
that could serve as a guideline for all 18 districts to provide consistency. This consistency
will be key not only for students, but also for
the parents who are employed by our county's
many businesses. With a more streamlined
return-to-school plan, employers will be
able to better address the accommodations
needed for parents to manage an adjusted
school schedule, likely including some sort
of a blended/hybrid approach.

18 COMMERCE QUARTERLY SUMMER 2020

To further break down each of the three
sessions, see the topics below:

SESSION ONE -
Wednesday, July 15:
Topic: The State of Education
in Berks County
The Details: Superintendents from Berks
County's 18 school districts, the two career
and technology centers, and BCIU's Executive
Director Dr. Jill Hackman have been working
together to map out a reentry plan for staff,
students and faculty. The goal of the effort is to
make collaborative decisions and implement
protocols consistently across Berks County
schools, while allowing for safe reopening.
The outcome of this work - the "Workplace
Readiness Essentials Roadmap: Berks County
Education Framework for Reentry" document - provides guidance to schools in key
areas, including human resources, operations,
education and student services, technology
and special education.
During this session, our guest speakers presented how this will impact our County's
70,000+ students and their families.
Speakers Included:
Dr. Jill Hackman, Executive Director,
BCIU; Dr. Randy Grove, Superintendent,
Conrad Weiser School District; Dr. Steve
Gerhard, Superintendent, Governor Mifflin
School District; Ellen Albright, Director of
Talent + Workforce Development, GRCA;
Katie Hetherington Cunfer, Director of

Government and Community Relations,
GRCA.
One Key Takeaway from this session:
Equity for all students will be at the forefront of our schools' ongoing decisions and
discussions. With 70,000+ students across
Berks County, it will be extremely important
to ensure that students are not left without
the resources they need to succeed, whether
it be virtual, in-school or a hybrid approach.
Businesses should be talking frequently with
their employees to get the latest school plans.
Constant updates to school plans should be
expected, and to keep top talent, it will be
important for employers to work with their
employees to do their best to make accommodations wherever possible. We understand
this is hard on business, but it will be essential
to the health of your organizations.

SESSION TWO -
Wednesday, July 22:
Topic: Education + the
Impact on Childcare
The Details: Here, we discussed the impacts
of childcare based on educational/school-day
structure. We engaged speakers from BCIU
and early childhood education to discuss
what is working/what is challenging, share
some best practices, and open up a forum for
employers to discuss their concerns as they
look to bringing employees back to work
that have school-age children.

GRCA Commerce Quarterly Summer 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GRCA Commerce Quarterly Summer 2020