BLaST Intermediate Unit 17 meets the needs of students, families, communities

By MIKE REUTHER Sun-Gazette correspondent

BLaST Intermediate Unit 17 provides student services, educational planning, as well as technology and management needs for 19 public and other schools across Lycoming, Tioga, Sullivan, and Bradford counties.

“IUS were created to prevent inequities in the state,” Executive Director Christina Steinbacher-Reed said. “Our vision is transforming lives and communities through educational services.

She oversees a staff of more than 300 people charged with helping bring schools and their students the educational support they need.

“Our greatest asset at the IU is our people,” she said. Their mission calls for focus and but also versatility to meet the changing and often complex demands in education.

“I like working with students and families to identity needs and working toward building services and programs to meet those needs,” Brooke Beiter, assistant executive director, said.

Steinbacher-Reed noted that many people perhaps have a vague notion of what specifically an Intermediate Unit does.

The state Legislature gave birth to IUs in 1971 to serve as liaisons between local schools and the Department of Education. Through the years, the IUs have expanded services to focus on the unique needs of communities.

“The IU started predominantly as a special education services provider,” Steinbacher-Reed said.

Special education remains a big part of the IU mission, through early intervention, alternative education, and itinerant services which focuses on students with specific disabilities.

The IU’s education planning focus includes training for workforce development, removing barriers for learning, as well as professional and career training opportunities.

The IU provides technology services for support and development of custom-designed software applications and network services for local school districts carried out by IT specialists who work out of a large room of the BLaST IU 17 headquarters at 2400 Read Road, Williamsport.

The IU has stepped up to fill the growing demand over the years for state-of-the-art technology services, according to Steinbacher-Reed.

“Cyber security is one of our growing needs we see for school districts,” she said.

BLaST offers internet filtering and security solutions, monitoring, outage notification, and utilization reporting.

“We host their data on our server,” she said.

The IU also brings technological consultation and expertise, website design and hosting solutions as well as social media integration needs.

“We provide whatever school districts can’t,” she said.

Steinbacher-Reed noted that special education services have expanded to help many students with both short-term and long-term disability demands.

“Our goal is that when a family comes up against something they need, we can try to come up with solution,” she said. “If we can’t solve it, we will find another IU.”

Early intervention, she noted, can be the key to helping a child in need of special educational services become successful in the classroom.

“We can develop an individual educational plan with the family,” she said. “We have our own specialized class- rooms for a child who needs more intensive services.”

Steinbacher-Reed feels that students have benefitted from the IU because “we put them on the path to success.”

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, BLaST has been called upon to meet more challenges facing school districts.

Behavioral issues, for one, have become rising problem across school settings.

“Although we weren’t started to provide mental health services, this is where we need to grow,” she said.

The IU’s first Partial Hospitalization Program opened in Bradford County several years ago with a satellite program opening later in Lycoming County.

The program provides three hours each of education and mental health treatment for children and adolescents experiencing behavioral or emotional needs that impede day-to-functioning.

The program, Steinbacher-Reed said, is invaluable in helping students transition back to school.