IU Opening Day Brings Professionals Together From Throughout Bucks Co.

DOYLESTOWN, PA. – A single Bucks County student with complex needs might depend on professionals across many areas, each addressing a different need while coordinating their work around one child.

That coordination is the core of what the Bucks County Intermediate Unit (Bucks IU) does for thousands of students across the county: assembling the full range of expertise a student needs into one aligned team.

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Once a year, that same principle plays out across the entire organization.

On opening day, Bucks IU brings its full roster of specialties into a single space, gathering this year at William Tennent High School. For a few hours, disciplines that spend the rest of the year embedded separately across dozens of schools and 13 districts are literally in the same room, aligning around the same mission before dispersing across Bucks County to put that coordination into practice, student by student, all year.

Welcoming Bucks IU staff to the 2026-27 school year, Executive Director Dr. Mark Hoffman likened their work to that of a band. Through music, he illustrated how individual expertise becomes more powerful when coordinated toward a common purpose.

"Something remarkable happens when talented people bring their individual strengths together in pursuit of a shared purpose," Hoffman said to the staff.

(Bucks County IU)

Putting Opening Day's band metaphor into practice, keynote speaker Brian Buffington (guitar and vocals), Bucks IU paraeducator Aretha Williams (harmonica), and Bucks IU Executive Director Dr. Mark Hoffman (bass) performed together to close the day. (Bucks IU)

(Bucks County IU)

Opening Week extends that alignment beyond the gathering at William Tennent, with staff completing organization-wide and discipline-specific training through in-person sessions, virtual learning, and online modules. Topics span the breadth of Bucks IU's work, from safety and crisis intervention to audiology and early childhood development.

Pamela Dinan, Supervisor of Education at Bucks IU and the coordinator of opening day activities, said the gathering gives staff who spend much of the year working in individual classrooms and school buildings a broader view of the organization's work.

"I think the significance is really the why. Why are we bringing everyone together? What do we need to do in person that we can't do separately? What can we do together?" said Dinan.

For staff, opening day provides a rare view beyond their own specialty, showing how each role at the Bucks IU fits into the larger picture of a student's support and the breadth of student support Bucks IU provides throughout the county.

"When I was pulling in, it felt like I was going to a concert with all the cars coming and going," said Alyssa Surridge, behavior analyst for Bucks IU. "I'm excited to network, meet new people, and collaborate with people that I don't get to see in person all the time."

This year's opening day also featured keynote remarks from Brian Buffington, founder of the popular EdTech newsletter "Buff Nuggets," and a national speaker on AI and educational technology.

Buffington challenged staff to think about how they use their time, particularly as technology continues to change education, emphasizing the value of the moments that require human connection.

"What we do, it's got to count," he said. "That doesn't happen by accident," said Bucks IU Board President John D'Angelo. "That happens because of you and working together as a team."

D'Angelo credited Bucks IU staff with making a difference in the lives of students and families throughout the county.

For Bucks IU teachers and professional staff, opening day marks the start of the new school year. Within days, the specialists gathered at William Tennent will be working across Bucks County in classrooms, therapy spaces, and school buildings.

For students whose needs cross disciplines, the coordination reflected on opening day continues through the teams supporting them throughout the school year.