Friday was a Staff Development Day for DCMO BOCES and its component schools, and we were pleased to welcome John Whalen and Alan Krenek from edtomorrow back to the Robert W. Harrold Campus to provide additional training in restorative practices to staff from both campuses. The focus of their training was approaches to accountability and school discipline. They provided training to instructional staff, in groups of Career and Technical Education staff, Alternative Education staff and Special Education staff, tailoring each to the different needs of those students. Career & Technical Education teachers and alternative education teachers also participated in a session focused on the principles of UDL and the application in career and technical education presented by Joy Adams, PhD, Educational Consultant and Instructional Designer (Elevated Learning Design) and Mike Woods, Director of the CTE Technical Assistance Center of New York.
Special Education staff spent the afternoon working with Amanda Wheeler, Assistant Principal of Harrold Campus, and Laurel Acunto, a special education teacher at Pole Campus, who introduced a “toolbox” of strategies for working with students and one another. Related Service Providers had the opportunity to access discipline-specific training through Summit Professional Development, and joined the Special Education staff for the afternoon training. English as a New Language teachers met for the day to discuss best practices for working with English Language Learners and share ideas, and the school nursing staff and school counselors and social workers participated in regional trainings relevant to their fields.