It was with great excitement that I joined the Tri-County Special Education Association on July 1, 2011. Before joining TCSEA, I was a Director of Special Education for more than 5 years, a special education administrator for 8 years and a school psychologist for more than 20 years. My vision is to see TCSEA become a premiere educational cooperative and assist our member districts in enabling all students to learn and become productive members of society.
Beyond my 20 years as a professional educator, I have lived with individuals with disabilities most of my life. Fragile X, a chromosomal abnormality, and Myotonic Dystrophy, a degenerative muscle disease, runs in my family. I have numerous relatives who are affected by these diseases. While these are not the only diseases that have impacted me personally, they have shaped me as an educator. Obviously, my years in education as a teacher’s aide, substitute teacher, Psychologist/therapist, and administrator has also shaped my philosophy on education.
That philosophy is centered on that fact that all students have different strengths and weaknesses. Our job in education is to assist all students in growing their strengths and acknowledging and improving upon their weaknesses. The use of Response to Intervention (RTI) in schools enables us to use data to determine each child’s strengths, weaknesses and which interventions are best suited to enable each child to learn. The flexible use of RTI gives all learners access to early intervention support by encouraging professionals and family members to pull together in effective teams that enables each student to reach their potential.
