Renowned speaker addresses NE BOCES educators and educational leaders

Northeast Board of Cooperative Educational Services was able to host Ruby K. Payne, Ph.D. at the Northeastern Junior College on Monday, Aug. 15. Dr. Payne presented to over 325 educators, counselors and administrators from the Northeast region. Eight school districts including: Akron, Julesburg, Haxtun, Holyoke, Merino, Peetz, Revere and Yuma participated, as well as the NE BOCES staff.

The entire auditorium was filled with attentive and engaged educational professionals throughout Dr. Payne's daylong presentation. Dr. Payne is an engaging and down-to-earth speaker who addressed the topics of her 2018 book Emotional Poverty in All Demographics. Topics included: the impact of emotional poverty in the classroom, brain structure and function, causes of behavior, bonding and attachment, gender issues, emotions and emotional development, motivating good (compassionate) behaviors, life as an educator and application to classrooms and our lives. Dr. Payne translated abstract concepts into concrete strategies with a sense of humor that left Monday's participants in smiles and laughter throughout the day.

Event organizer Alan Nall, NE BOCES Director of Secondary Student Services, said, "The Emotional Poverty professional development with Ruby Payne provided a great opportunity for school districts and NE BOCES to begin their year developing knowledge regarding students' emotional needs and learning techniques to assist the social emotional and academic development of our youth. Feedback from participants has been overwhelmingly positive."

Dr. Payne has a global reach and has worked in Australia, China, Europe, India, North America and Southeast Asia. Repeatedly, participants from Monday's event at NJC communicated their pleasure to have experienced Dr. Payne's presentation and to have learned from her. Each participant was provided a hard copy of her book and a wealth of applicable strategies to take into their classrooms as they begin a new school year.

NE BOCES was able to fund Dr. Payne's visit and the purchase of the books, in part, through a grant from the Colorado Department of Education called the American Rescue Plan-Homeless Children and Youth grant. NE BOCES' ARP-HCY II funded grant proposal focuses on professional development for teaching staff in NE Colorado to help them better respond to the needs of all youth, including youth experiencing housing insecurities. In addition to this professional development opportunity, the grant is also funding training for school staff to recognize and identify students that need additional support and provides funding to assist districts with meeting the nutritional needs of students.

Another related grant NE BOCES has received is a separate ARP-HCY I grant that funds services to directly impact students with housing insecurity. Some services included in this grant are: short term housing, counseling, tutoring and necessary supplies to assist students' school success.

For more information on Monday's event, services available through secured grants or Northeast BOCES' work in your region, please call Executive Director Tamara Durbin at (970) 521-2771.