Experience

July 2022- present Director of Special Education and Student Services

Responsible for all aspects of Special Education Services, Section 504, Social Services and McKinney Vento for Northwest Hendricks Schools. Named the ADA officer for the school corp., providing access and federally mandated accommodations to students and staff in an equitable manner. Duties include but not limited to planning, organizing, administering, coordinating, and evaluating all phases of the special education program. Providing supervision and evaluation of all special education staff. Hiring, providing coaching and coordinating staff to build culture and improve student outcomes. Monitoring program adherence and compliance with State and Federal statues, rules, and regulations along with high quality special education services. Monitoring of the completion and implementation of IEPs. Collaborating with building and stakeholder personnel in implementing and improving services/programs. Providing mediation, due process, and monitoring complaint issues and utilizing appropriate conflict resolution methods to provide uninterrupted services as written in the IEP. Participating in case conferences and Manifestation Determination conferences. The planning of ongoing, systematic training and professional development opportunities for all staff, school personnel, and parents/guardians. 

*Serves as ToD during school years 23-24 and 24-25.

Aug 2013- present TBD Partners, LLC Owner-Operator

Develop requirements and work with the cross functional teams to ensure products/services, and systems/processes targeting the Government and Education verticals are developed. Partner with the marketing teams for the development and delivery of go-to-market plans, oversee product releases, presentations, and road show/conference engagements. Define and implement product pricing and packaging strategies in partnership with the operating markets and the finance team. Represent the company at industry forums as the TBD subject matter expert for these verticals. Stay current with industry trends, government sector laws, research, Section 508 regulations for public school online deployment and to ensure TBD products/solutions stay relevant and competitive. Build and lead the team to support sales initiatives by providing technology, product and operational expertise/support. Provide product expertise and support the negotiation of business terms for contracts, master services agreements, vendor statements of work, and customer requests for information or proposal (RFI / RFP). Build and maintain solutions roadmaps by working with current and prospective customers to identify market and business requirements. Identify new growth and revenue opportunities through new product ideation and partnerships. Support partners with legal and access solutions for individuals with disabilities in their IT landscape ensuring productivity while being compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0).

Nov 2019- June 2021 Cooperative Schools Services

Responsible for assisting building administrators in South Newton School Corp. and North Newton School Corp., counselors, teachers and families in matters pertaining to special education services, student achievement/outcome measures and program delivery. Supports program development, assistive technology and training needs of staff and families in all areas of best-practices of special education services and professional training, serving 500+ families with active IEPs. Supported 45+ special education fulltime staff and service providers in delivering the services outlined in the IEP. Completed compliance monitoring and provided data reports for Special Education reporting and auditing purposes.

Aug 2019- Nov 2019 PCG Consultant

Worked to develop Para Education Modules focused on Para Education CEC Standards and align to Article 7 in Indiana. The modules developed include Assistive Technology and Communication. The modules were delivered within the contractual agreement and are currently available to all Indiana Para Educators statewide.

Aug 2017- August 2021 University of Central Florida, Adjunct

Department of Child, Family, and Community Sciences, University of Central Florida. Provides annual online advising to 25 Graduate Students completing capstone projects using the UDL framework. Develops course learning modules on an array of learning managements systems, grades assignments, provides valuable feedback and holds regular virtual office hours for both faculty and students on implementation sciences and UDL.

Aug 2016- May 2019 Flagler County Schools, Biology Inclusion Teacher

Designs and instructs fully included, diverse, standard Biology Courses to struggling readers. Data show student achievement at the state mean of all students testing, of 516 students taking the state-mandated end of course exam 56% earned a 3 and above.  Participates on district-wide teams writing common assessments and pacing guides. Uses the continual improvement model to rewrite curriculum on web-based platforms to share among faculty. Has annually maintained highly effective according to the Danielson evaluation model while also taking account for Title I school-wide data.  

May 2016, May 2017, May 2018 Lynn University, Adjunct

Ross School of Education. Provides online advising to 15 Graduate Students completing capstone projects embedding technology into authentic environments for diverse learners. Develops course learning modules on ITunes University, grades assignments, provides valuable feedback and holds regular virtual office hours.

Aug 2014- May 2016 Flagler County Schools, Literacy Coach

Provided technical assistance to Administration, Teachers and Special Education Teachers to embrace a new school-wide literacy model, adopt new Florida Standards and implement with fidelity two fully online Learning Management Systems and 2 fully online assessment systems. Redesigned the Intensive Reading Classes format for all level 1 and 2 readers who need critical research-based Structured Literacy Intervention. Provided school-wide literacy professional development to 70 teaching staff and provided coaching support. Supported instructional technology design for optimum literacy gains. Has coached faculty on the use of Google Educator tools, Edmodo, Schoology and other plug-in learning extensions such as Ever Note, Readability, and Movenote. Constructed the School Improvement Literacy Plan and contributed to the school-wide Writing Plan at BTMS. Supported the monitoring of professional development implementation and evaluation of learning growth according to the School Improvement Plan. Used the continuous improvement coaching protocols to support teacher development. Modeled exemplary teaching strategies in a non-threatening environment. Created cross-functional team to address the needs of students at BTMS that maximized learning and supported parent outreach, culminating in the Eagle’s Nest Community Center.

Oct 2010- 2011 Great Leaps Fluency Program, National Technology Specialist

Provided support and technical assistance through an online communications/coaching model to provide outreach with state, national and international communications. Facilitator of services that include, development of reading research, training materials and needed assistance with online training and strategy engagement, deploying strategies and supporting the communications with this work, collaborating with the states, national and international colleagues to ensure strategy implementation of the reading and math curriculums are implemented with fidelity, attending meetings and conference, as requested to support/report on Great Leaps Curriculum deployment.

2010- 2011 Visiting Instructor, Special Education Methods

Department of Child, Family, and Community Sciences, University of Central Florida. Provided online advising to 100+ pre-service general education teachers each semester, developed course learning modules, graded assignments, and held regular virtual office hours. Taught a 3X3 course load for a selection of courses at the Undergraduate and Graduate levels across 8 regional campuses and main campus.  Provided faculty continuous improvement of technology pedagogies, developed web-based course learning modules, graded assignments in both webcourses and LiveText, and supported program development with NCATE and integration of professional standards in teaching and learning. Supported student embedded field-work and service-learning at a local UCP Inclusive Learning Center.

Summer 2010 Washington, DC Intern, Special Education Effectiveness Specialist

Intern for the National Center to Improve Recruitment and Retention of Qualified Personnel for Children with Disabilities (Personnel Improvement Center at the National Association of State Directors of Special Education). Supported director in the continuation of funding report (3+2 Report), developed technology supported media to deliver the PIC’s mission and goal of increasing Web 2.0 technologies, participated in teleconference meetings, synthesized the annual board meeting materials and media assisted technology from national service providers, and presented at the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Annual Meeting in DC.  

2009- 2010 Teachers in Action, Project Coordinator.

Department of Child, Family, and Community Sciences, University of Central Florida. Co-coordinated an Inclusive Health Fair, “Fitness with Friends” at the College of Education, led 5 students on-site at the East Orange UCP Campus to create Universally Designed Science Curriculum, and contributed to the successful completion of over 200 service-learning projects through virtual advising to pre-service general education students, supported Co-PIs in authoring the proposal for funding and fully authored the evaluation portion of the proposal that received full funding at $570,000.

2008-2011 Lockheed Martin Academy, Lead Graduate Project Assistant.

Department of Child, Family, and Community Sciences, University of Central Florida. Led a 3-million-dollar endowment from Lockheed Martin Corporation to prepare teacher leaders in K-8 mathematics and science and supported career change teachers in middle school mathematics and science. Contributed to the annual research evaluation of program, maintained the daily operations that included: data base management, recruitment, projected funding requests, ongoing proposal construction, annual student orientation, supervision/training for new graduate assistants joining project, conducting annual faculty retreat under the support of the director.

2008-2010 Graduate Teaching Assistant.

Department of Child, Family, and Community Sciences, University of Central Florida. Provided online support/advising to 45-100 pre-service teachers each semester, developed course learning modules, graded assignments, and held regular virtual office hours.  

2007-2009 Grant Mentor.

Preparing diverse special educators using alternative course delivery methods and mentoring. Improving the Preparation of Personnel to Serve Children with High-Incidence Disabilities. Department of Child, Family, and Community Sciences, University of Central Florida. Mentored 32 teachers for an Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) grant. Provided direct support/advisement for classroom teaching and university course work through virtual and face-to-face coaching, evaluation and professional development plan support.

2004-2008 Special Education Co-Teacher/Case manager.

Exception Student Education, Volusia County Schools, Seabreeze High School, Daytona Beach, Florida. Co-taught inclusive Biology, Physical Science, Earth Space Science, Geometry and Algebra I, taught learning strategies using the Strategic Instruction Model, provided consultation to the Read 180 program teachers for students with disabilities and progress monitored over 50 students per year in the content area as a CAR-PD trained Reading Specialist. Maintained a caseload of 24 students with IEPs.

2003-2004 Teacher of Students with Emotional Handicaps and Behavior Disorders.

PACE Center for Girls, Volusia-Flagler, Florida. Taught life skills, reading, health and wellness, family and consumer science to girls with emotional disturbance while providing case management for 15 girls and their families.