Dutchess BOCES’ Educational Resources (ER) team, along with the Arlington, Beacon, Rhinebeck and Wappingers school districts will host an inaugural Regional Professional Learning Day on November 4 featuring over 70 professional learning opportunities across five sites.
ER has previously offered regional opportunities at BOCES for school librarians and nurses, as well as some math and science options. After the March 2025 conference day, the Educational Resources Advisory Council (ERAC) met, and the idea to expand offerings was discussed. Several ERAC members agreed to work together to pursue this opportunity. Beginning in April and continuing over the summer, district teams planned workshops. The ERAC members have continued to meet together throughout the fall to ensure all the necessary details have been discussed and planned for. Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instructional Services Rebecca Green noted that the event allows BOCES to share presenters educators want to hear from and shows off the talents of teachers and administrators from BOCES’ component districts, who will facilitate some sessions.
“What we’re trying to do is build a cohort of expert teachers and leaders that can help support the whole county,” Green said. “We have teachers and leaders in our county who are masterful at what they do and how they do it and we can learn from them.”
In general, each location is connected to a regional goal and for the most part, the sessions at the location support teaching and learning around that goal. Sessions span five topic areas: ELA, Math, Science, Social Studies and SEL/Behavior, with many options that can be applied in any discipline. Arlington will show two screenings of the math skills-centric documentary “Counted Out” as part of its offerings while Beacon, BOCES, Rhinebeck and Wappingers will each feature a keynote speaker. BOCES will welcome Clinical Psychologist Dr. Jed Baker for a session titled “Managing Challenging Behaviors and Teaching Key Social Skills” which will maximize motivation and engagement of students with social and behavioral challenges.
“He does a lot of work around social skills training for students with disabilities,” Green said of Baker.
Green said the locations were chosen to make workshops accessible for all educators. More than 5000 seats to serve between 1,400 to 1,500 educators across the county are allocated to staff from Arlington, Beacon, BOCES, Rhinebeck and Wappingers, but staff from other districts can attend if seats are available. Green hopes to be able to offer this conference every year with more of BOCES’ component districts participating.
“We wanted to set locations around the county so that regardless of where a teacher lived or taught they would have access to workshops nearby as well as opportunities to meet and share ideas with other educators in Dutchess County,” Green said. “We’re excited to build leadership capacity for the county by highlighting educators that want to share their experience using best practices with other educators.”
Be sure to check out the Regional Professional Learning Day catalog from ER for more details about the offerings and how to sign up for them. Registration begins at 8:30, with the sessions beginning at 9 a.m. and concluding at 2 p.m.
