BOCES-Islip partnership opens a window for aspiring teachers

A new program gives students hands-on experience working with young children in Islip Town's recreation centers, putting the students on track to earn a teaching certification while still in high school. 

Following a partnership between Eastern Suffolk BOCES and the municipality, where students worked in the town’s mechanic shops, the collaboration expanded this year to include town-run recreation centers. There, the students work with the children, giving them experience required to gain their child development associate credential. While most of the students are high schoolers from 51 area school districts, the program also is open to adults. 

The early childhood partnership with Islip is in its first academic year and is the first collaboration of its kind with a town, said Carol Donohue, a BOCES work experience coordinator. BOCES, which has operated for more than 70 years, gives students a chance to gain work experience through classes. Leah Arnold, the career, technical and adult education director, calls the BOCES-Islip partnership “a talent pipeline.” 

“It’s a great opportunity for Eastern Suffolk BOCES students in the Early Childhood Learning track to be exposed to our Tiny Tots and Pre School programs,” said Islip Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter. “Students gain experience, and become aware of employment opportunities in the Town of Islip, that they can share with their fellow students. It’s a win-win."

The program prepares students for life after high school, whether they decide to dive straight into the workforce or further their education. About 80% of the students pursue additional education after BOCES, Arnold said. 

In their first year of early childhood education, the students in BOCES teacher Gini Wagner’s class learn how to draft lesson plans and craft learning experiences for young students. They also get a taste of being a teacher in the program-run preschool. The following year, they put their skills to practice in an external internship. Three students were placed this year in the Islip early childhood program. 

“You can’t learn to be a teacher from a textbook,” Wagner said. “You can’t learn from watching a video. You can’t learn how to do it from even watching other people. You have to learn by doing.” 

Troy Jones of Selden is in his second year with the program and is working with Islip. Twice a week, Jones, an adult student, attends the Greenbelt Recreation Center in Holbrook where he works with the children. 

The 20-year-old was drawn to early childhood education because he had no male teachers until high school, and then he had only one or two. His goal is to work with children on the autism spectrum. 

Madeline Gallagher, a 17-year-old senior at Sachem High School North, also in her second year, attends the Lake Ronkonkoma Recreation Center once a week where she assists in its child care program. She wants to teach high school English and credits her nascent experience in solidifying her decision to pursue secondary education. 

“Once you go into this class, you really see how much it takes,” she said. 

By Brinley Hineman

brinley.hineman@newsday.com

Brinley Hineman covers the Town of Hempstead and the City of Long Beach for Newsday. She previously was a reporter in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a West Virginia native.