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Woods Celebrates School Safety on National Walkout Day

In honor of National Walkout Day, the Woods community came together to celebrate school safety and the importance of kindness and responsibility. The Woods community joined tens of thousands of students across the country, who staged school walkouts to protest gun violence and remember the 17 victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in February. Our participation did not focus on gun violence but on treating one another with kindness. Staff members gathered at the schools to join hands with students and high five as a sign of commitment and pledge to keep them safe.

 

“It was very inspiring to have so many of our Woods family of employees join us in the pledge for school safety. Their presence sent a very powerful message of support,” said Woods Education Administrator, Terry Czarkowski.

Woods Education Program Adopting Positive Behavior Support Plan

In the spring of 2017, Woods Education Department made a 3-5 year commitment to develop a School Wide Positive Behavior Support Plan (SWPBS) in our schools with the help of the Pennsylvania Positive Behavior Support Network. This network supports schools in creating and maintaining a comprehensive, school-based behavioral health support system in order to promote the academic, social and emotional well-being of students.

 

In general, SWPBIS emphasizes four integrated elements: (a) data for decision making, (b) measurable outcomes supported and evaluated by data, (c) practices with evidence that these outcomes are achievable, and (d) systems that efficiently and effective support implementation of these practices. (taken from http://www.papbs.org)

 

During the first phase of the plan (a year-long planning process), the core team for this project been working to complete assessments and training, as well as developing an implementation plan with the help of a consultant. Prior to this commitment, Brookwood School developed SWPBS classroom expectations for students and an acknowledgement system aligned to student performance. Students receive acknowledgement for demonstrating classroom expectations through the use of tickets. Those tickets are exchanged at school store for a variety of rewards and preferred activities that students select.  In many cases the school restocks the store with items requested by the students. Brookwood has also been tracking problem behaviors and student acknowledgement rates for the past year. A student awards program has also been implemented for top performing students.

 

This spring, Woods will kick off Tier 1 of SWPBS, which will implement a student point system in all schools to track student behaviors. The education program will continue to work with a consultant to ensure that all elements of Tier 1 are being implemented consistently. Tier 2 and Tier 3 of the plan will be implemented at a later date for students who have more challenging behaviors for whom Tier 1 was not effective.  For more information on SWPBS, visit http://www.papbs.org/.

Woods Staff Selected to Participate in Diversity and Inclusion Cohort

The Alliance for Strong Families and Communities’ envisions a healthy and equitable society that is just, fair, and inclusive, enabling all people to participate and reach their full potential. Building on this vision, the Alliance has launched a 15-month  “Building Organizational Capacity for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion” (EDI) cohort to advance specific, significant change for emerging leaders, organizations, and the human services sector.

 

Woods was selected as one of only 15 organizations to participate in the cohort.  As part of the application process, each organization had to identify an emerging leader of color (preferably under the age of 40) and a senior leader (not necessarily a person of color).  Abraham Kamara, Woodlands Residential Manager, and Peter Shubiak, Executive Vice President  and Chief Culture and Integration Officer, agreed to represent Woods. The cohort will coach and instruct organizations in deepening capacity to attract, develop, and retain leadership talent and advance the knowledge base in the sector.

 

Benefits of the cohort include:

  • Leaders, including emerging leaders of color, will develop a better understanding of themselves and the principles and practices of EDI.
  • Organizations will design and be equipped with plans to strengthen their equity, diversity, and inclusion practices.
  • The cohort will create replicable models for organizational excellence in creating environments and cultures that attract, develop, and retain racially diverse leaders, primarily those under 40, in human services organizations.

 

This is a tremendous honor for Woods and will help to enrich our organization in ways we can’t yet imagine. Thank you to Abraham and Peter for taking on this added responsibility and for representing Woods so well.

Wednesdays at the Woods’ Bike Repair Shop

If you ask Woods resident Shawn Cain what his favorite day of the week is he will respond enthusiastically by saying “Oh, that’s easy…Wednesday!” It might seem like an unusual response for an 11-year-old boy but for Shawn, Wednesday is the day that he gets to spend time working alongside his new best buddy, Steve Smalley, a maintenance worker in Woods’ Facilities Department. Each Wednesday the duo reports to the bike repair shop on Woods’ campus at noon and work together for an hour or so to get residents’ bikes back in working order. The repairs often require them to replace bike chains and tires but Steve allows Shawn to perform many tasks during their time at the shop.

 

“I let him unlock the door, turn on the lights, get the tools out, and put on a tool belt and then we get to work fixing the bikes,” said Steve. “We are only a few weeks in but he can already do so many things. I keep him busy with work and he keeps me busy with questions. He really wants to learn about all of this stuff.”

 

Shawn’s questions began even before the two started working together, a vision that came to fruition just a few weeks ago. The pair first met when Steve visited Gardner Education Center, the school at Woods that Shawn attends. Shawn showed interest in the work that Steve and other maintenance workers were doing and Steve certainly took notice. In November, Steve was honored at Woods’ annual employee recognition dinner for the creation of the bike repair shop, which is giving new life to dozens of residents’ bikes that are in need of TLC. A chance conversation between Steve and Woods’ CEO, Tine Hansen-Turton, led to an almost instant pairing of the two.

 

“I had this idea almost immediately after I started talking to Shawn. I really thought he could benefit from working with me,” Steve said. “I spoke with a few people about it but once I talked to Tine things were set up right away. I saw Shawn shortly after and he ran up to me and was so excited that we were going to get to work together.”

 

The quick bond that Shawn and Steve have formed is an unexpected surprise given all that the two have been through in their own lives. Shawn has experienced and overcome so many challenges and his friendship with Steve is a great source of comfort and happiness after difficult and abruptly severed relationships over which he had no control. Steve lost his son, also named Sean, in an accident in 2010. Sean shared Steve’s love of and talent for fixings things and the two often worked on projects together, something Steve has missed the last few years.

 

“I really enjoy working with him and Wednesday is now also my happiest day of the week. I know this has been really good for him but it has also been great for me,” said Steve. “I feel like someone was watching over us and brought Shawn and I together.”

Mortimer Bates receives award at Woods’ Fete & Fundraiser

It’s a long trip from Quincy, Florida to Langhorne, Pennsylvania, especially if you don’t like the cold weather in January, but friends and family of Mortimer Bates traveled from three states to attend the annual Woods Fete and Fundraiser on January 20 to see Mortimer Bates receive a well-deserved honor: the Jane Cowles Stewardship Award, the highest honor offered by Woods Services each year to one of its most loyal donors.

 

Mortimer came to Woods in 1948 at age nine. After attending school at Woods for nearly 10 years, “Mort” moved to Florida to be closer to his family. While at Woods, Mortimer developed an interest in Photography, which he studied after completing high school in Florida. He went on to become a wedding photographer, retiring in 2003.

 

In a video interview aired Saturday night at Woods Fete and Fundraiser, Mort remarked on the strong impact that Woods had on him, both in terms of developing his interest in photography and the life-long relationships he made, “As an adult, I realized how much Woods helped me.” One of Mort’s closest friends from Woods was on hand Saturday night for the Award Ceremony.

 

Mort’s loyalty to Woods has been sustained through annual gifts from his family foundation. His generosity has helped many individuals at Woods achieve their highest potential, reach their goals and lead fulfilling lives.

 

Last Saturday night, January 20, more than 275 guests attended Woods Annual Fete and Fundraiser in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. More than $318,000 was raised at the event to renovate and expand the Davenport Medical Center at Woods.

 

Woods has expanded and reorganized its new Medical Center to 1) add new primary care providers, additional exam rooms, a new lab and radiology services; 2) expand employee health services to provide acute and preventive care; and 3) expand training and educational opportunities for medical, nursing and related services to build a cadre of providers in Pennsylvania who can better serve its vulnerable population of persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

 

Click here to watch Mortimer’s story!