Holmdel Students With Disabilities Working At Bell Works

HOLMDEL, NJ — Both Holmdel Township and the Holmdel school system are collaborating with Bell Works to see if the business hub can provide employment to local students with disabilities.

Currently, there are three teen girls from Holmdel High School working in the Bell Works mail room. They started in March and the work is part time and unpaid. But Doreen Riegal, the transition coordinator for students with disabilities at Holmdel High School, hopes Bell Works will offer the young women permanent employment this fall. She also hopes to place some of the teens at the new Holmdel branch of the Monmouth County library, scheduled to open at Bell Works by the end of 2017. And if the promised hotel opens on site, she'd like to see students working there, as well.

“Evidence has shown that many students with moderate level disabilities acquire skills best when they practice them in natural settings. Our goal is for all students with moderate-level disabilities to acquire employment and an active community life before exiting school," said Riegal. "As of now the job-sampling experiences have involved mail sorting and delivery. Other employment areas to be explored included IT/data processing, hotel and catering services, office assistance and entrepreneurship."

According to Riegal, the students can also work as receptionists and work with computer software at many of the technology firms on site at Bell Works. They are also trying to place students at the new Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Holmdel.

There are currently about 15 students with intellectual/developmental disabilities at Holmdel High School who will benefit from the support services offered through this community-based learning program. Under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, these students can stay under the umbrella of the public school system until they are 21.

"Our goal is to have every student employed before they graduate," she said. "Our students have many strengths and skills, which will be matched to employer needs. These are talented students."

Currently, it's mostly technology companies operating out of Bell Works, the 2-million-square-foot building in the middle of Holmdel that once housed Bell Labs, AT&T and Alcatel Lucent. Software firm WorkWave just moved in last month, and NVIDIA, which designs parts for game consoles, as well as IT solutions provider MetTel both have existing offices there. Electricity company JCP&L is relocating to Bell Works from Red Bank and already moved into some of their offices. And Toll Brothers started construction on the 225 houses that will be located on the property.

"We'd also like to talk to some of the tech companies and train the students how to use their software. Our ultimate goal is to get these students into entry-level IT positions," Reigal said. "The Holmdel school district and Holmdel Township have really embraced us and they are really trying to help."

Former Holmdel Mayor Eric Hinds has been a particular standout, she said.

"He's been so wonderful. He's also talking to the new Sloan-Kettering facility and other local businesses to see if we can place students there He always ends every meeting with, 'Let me know what else I can do to help,'" she said. "And Holmdel's Recreation Director Robert Ward is working with us to place some students at summer camps, as well as at the senior center."

"An additional thank you goes to Mayor Greg Buontempo who has offered to help us set up an Advisory Board with township members and local business owners," she said.

And she wanted to give particular thanks to Dearborn Market.

"Dearborn Market always takes our students," she said. "The Lucarelli family is amazing."