(From left) Bemus Point Superintendent Joseph Reyda, Councilwoman Betsy Healy, and Councilwoman Dr. Margaret awaiting Julie Verdonik to speak on the ALICE training.

BEMUS POINT – The school district will be holding an in-service day on Nov. 10. Teachers will use this time to train in a program to help them better understand what some financially limited families experience on a daily basis.

The day will be led by Katie Castro, who is native to the school district and currently has four children in the district. Castro is the Director of Advancement for the United Way of Chautauqua County, and plans to split the day of teachings between the high school and elementary school, according to Director of Student Programs Julie Verdonik. Castro will take this time to educate based on the Asset Limited, Income Constrained Employee program through United For ALICE, said Verdonik. This program will attempt to better educate teachers and help assist understanding of families that may be limited financially.

“It helps us to better understand our families who, you know, they’re asset limited, they’re income constrained; but they are employed where they cannot afford the necessities despite being employed. And we have a lot more families than we realize that experience that on a day to day basis,” said Verdonik.

United For ALICE has developed comprehensive and unbiased measurements and statistics on ALICE. The organization then uses this information to attempt to better the lives of ALICE. The organization partners with local United Ways in over half of the states to be able to use this data to better lives. This improvement is done through various means that utilize the organization’s information; means such as education, government, nonprofit, health, and policy.

The goal of the organization is to create further stability for ALICE, and a key first step to that is educating people on the topic. It is crucial for teachers to be well informed on ALICE due to the large number of families and children, from various financial circumstances, that they see on a daily basis. With measurements from the organization finding that up to 41% of households cannot make ends meet, teachers will certainly encounter children from low income households. Teachers must show sensitivity and understanding towards individuals in these situations, making this training so beneficial in education.

The education from this program will only be focused toward teachers during the in-service day, yet has targeted students in the past. Verdonik stated that the project was done with the senior class of 2025 during the previous school year and took place as part of the government class. Verdonik noted that the program was incredibly beneficial for seniors, and likely provided insight to situations some had never experienced. The school hopes to see similar benefits reaped by teachers after the day of in-service learning.