BCIU marks 50th anniversary
It was a site she wasn’t expecting, something Dr. Nancy Allmon wasn’t prepared to encounter.
It was the mid-1970s and she was a young teacher in the Oley Valley School District. As she walked down a school hallway, she spotted a box on the floor.
Inside the box was a stuffed squirrel.
Confused and a bit concerned, she stepped into a nearby classroom and asked the teacher inside if she knew there was a squirrel in a box just outside her door. The teacher said she did, explaining she was going to use it for a lesson.
“I got it from the intermediate unit,” Allmon recalled the teacher saying. “You’ve got to get to them, they’ll help you as a new teacher.”
And that, Allmon said, is how she discovered the Berks County Intermediate Unit.
On Thursday, April 21, Allmon was one of several local leaders and members of the education community to take a little time to reflect on what the BCIU has meant to education in Berks County as the organization celebrated its 50th anniversary at a special event. The BCIU actually turned 50 last year, but the COVID pandemic delayed the celebration.
“It’s a wonderful organization, and presently it’s better than ever,” she said.
Allmon would go on to serve as an elementary school principal, assistant superintendent and superintendent of the Fleetwood School District.
“In all of those positions I needed the intermediate unit,” she said.
The BCIU provided help with special education, transportation, curriculum and technology. They came through each and every time she turned to them for help.
She was so impressed by the BCIU that when she was asked to lead the organization it was an easy choice. In 2001 she became the BCIU’s fourth executive di
rector.
Allmon was one of four former executive directors to take part in Thursday’s event at the BCIU’s main office in Muhlenberg Township.
Dr. K. Robert Hohl, the BCIU’s third executive director, said the BCIU has become exactly what the state imagined when they established the system of 29 intermediate units back in 1971. It has helped Berks schools through difficult times, including the aftermath of a rash of school consolidations in the 1960s and, most recently, the COVID pandemic.
“Through all of the challenges we’ve had, and ones that are coming, this has turned into a great organization,” he said.
Dr. John George, who served as executive director from 2008 to 2014, recalled his first days leading the BCIU. He said his predecessor, Allmon, helped his transition by taking him to meet all the important players in the Berks education world.
At each stop, she spoke about passing the torch to George.
“That analogy doesn’t really work,” George said. “Because the success of the BCIU has little to do with the torch carriers and more to do with what the torch carrier represents.”
And what the torch carrier represents is an extensive team made up of board members, staff, students and members of the community, George said.
“It’s so many people working together, that’s what makes the Berks County Intermediate Unit a wonderful place,” he said.
George said it’s also important to focus on the torch itself.
“Watch the torch, which is the BCIU and its mission — to make the lives of students better and to serve others,” he said. “That is the torch we’ve been carrying for 50 years.”
Like George, current executive director Dr. Jill Hackman spoke about the importance of the support the BCIU has received over the past five decades.
“As we celebrate and reflect on our first 50 years of service, we would like to express how grateful we are to you for your continued collaboration,” she told the crowd of educators and local leaders. “Moving forward into the next 50 years, our goals as a service agency will be accomplished with the guidance of our board of directors, the continued commitment of our dedicated staff members, the visionary leadership of our administrative team, the partnership with our elected officials and key stakeholders, and the ongoing support of our schools.”