Education for students aged 0-99

People hear the word BOCES, but all they know is it has something to do with education. It is much more than that according to Stacey Erickson, the BOCES director.

BOCES stands for Board of Cooperative Education Services and was formed in September, 2012 when the Western Wyoming Community College (WWCC) and the Carbon County School District No. 2 (CCSD2) Board of Trustees entered into a BOCES agreement.

This allows the two entities to provide education services to children and adults including postsecondary education, career and adult education and education services for children.

Erickson works part-time and her office is provided by CCSD2.

While she does a lot in education, she does not register adults for adult education. That has to be done through the Carbon County Higher Education Center (CCHEC) in Rawlins.

BOCES is funded through a special school district tax levy and WWCC contributes a small amount of funding.

Goals in education for all

The CCSD2 has goals for the BOCES director, but Erickson also has her own goals in growing programs in the school district.

The district goals include adult and student enrichment. Erickson started two years ago and, when she started, the Kindergarten Readiness Program was already in place. This is a program to help parents prepare their children for Kindergarten. Once a month, on the second Monday, the parents of pre-kindergarten students meet with the kindergarten teachers in CCSD2. This helps the parents know what the children are expected to learn when they start school.

Kindermusik is another program that was in place when Erickson started. It is a music and movement program in Saratoga for children up to the age of 5 years old. Saratoga Elementary School music teacher Ivy Palmer goes to Valley Village Daycare on Fridays when there is no school in CCSD2. She also does the program in her classroom, Erickson said.

A program which is very beneficial to students in high school is the dual enrollment program. Students can take college courses while attending high school and BOCES pays for up to four classes throughout the student’s high school career. The student gets a high school credit and a college credit for the same class. This helps students who want to attend college get a headstart on college-required courses. Erickson said four classes is the standard, but students can make a special request for two more classes.

A little over a year ago, BOCES prepared the paperwork for the Dolly Parton Library Imagination program to come in the area, using donations from HF Sinclair. This program is for children up to the age of five years old.

In the CCSD2 area, there are 75 children active in the program. Each month they receive a new age appropriate book from the Dolly Parton Library Imagination Program.

Adult Education

Erickson also coordinates classes for adults who are interested in learning new projects.

Recently she has offered classes on canning, bee keeping, quilt retreats and cooking. These are non-credit adult classes. Non-credit classes do not include a college credit. These classes are for personal growth and education.

She is always looking for someone to teach a class. They aren’t required to have a degree, just a skill they can teach since they are non-credit classes. They can call her at the CCSD2 office at 307-326-5271.

Erickson’s goals

One of Erickson’s goals for this year was to start a program for the senior population, particularly the senior centers in the CCSD2 area. She has a newsletter that comes out each quarter to try and keep them safe in a technology world from cyber criminals. The newsletter, called “Tech Bites,” is available at the senior centers in the eastern part of the county.

Andrew Hays, the technology specialist with CCSD2, helps her with the newsletter and going to the senior centers to talk about how to be safe when shopping online.

“People can get scammed at any age, but I think our seniors are especially vulnerable,” Erickson said.

She plans to visit all the Senior Centers in the eastern half of the county.

CNA Training

Certified Nurses Assistants (CNA) are in shortage nationwide, according to Mercer, a financial services company. Mercer stated in an August 29, 2024 report there will be a shortage of 100,000 CNAs by 2028.

Erickson said there are students who are interested in becoming CNAs and one particular student was trying to figure out how to get a CNA license.

Erickson did some research and found out Carbon County School District No. 1 has a CNA program with CCHEC that was for one semester and a dual program through CCHEC that she could enroll the student in.

Barb James, with the CCHEC, has been very helpful, Erickson said. They work together for the students to attend the classes in Rawlins. James also coordinates times for the students to do their labs in Rawlins.

The student who is currently enrolled takes online classes and then does her labs in Rawlins, when necessary. Erickson said James has made it easier for the student to schedule the labs around school and activity schedules.

“It has been an exciting thing, because we need CNAs,” Erickson said.

Providing laptops

With so many students on the dual enrollment program, Erickson found there were some students who had Chromebooks and were not able to complete their assignments in their college courses. She has 12 laptops for students in dual enrollment so they have them for their college courses. There are 30 students in dual enrollment in CCSD2.

Since CCSD2 provides her office and the business manager for CCSD2, Sally Wells, takes care of the business side of BOCES, she makes the school district her first priority by helping the students enrolled in CCSD2.

After that, she looks for creative ideas to help the community.

Amazingly, Erickson gets this all done in a 24 hour work week, as she is a part-time employee. She isn’t always in her office, as she is monitoring night classes or visiting classrooms.

Another responsibility Erickson has is coordinating the summer camps. The summer camp is a STEM Camp which includes a week-long class in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.

She also coordinates the program throughout the school year. The most recent one was held in Encampment November 15 and involved an activity for parents to help students with complex projects.

“My mind is always spinning with new ideas, but I just do what I can get done,” Erickson said.