District Chooses Special Education Director ; Bernalillo Picks Current Employee
Posted on: Friday, 23 December 2005, 12:00 CST
By ELAINE D. BRISEO Journal Staff Writer
The Bernalillo Public Schools selected a current employee to become director of special education. Superintendent Barbara Vigil- Lowder this week appointed Bernice Life to that position.
Life, who has an extensive special education background, volunteered to step in as acting director after the departure of
Deborah
Dominguez-Clark in the summer.
Vigil-Lowder said Life's experience
made her a good choice. Life worked for the Espaola school district for 27 years, retiring in 1999. She spent time there as a special education teacher and as the director of special education service.
After her retirement, Life stayed on as a consultant and diagnostician. She came to Bernalillo two years ago as a diagnostician. She was responsible for determining whether a student should receive special education services and, if so, what type.
"She has a vision of what the entire area of special education encompasses," Vigil-Lowder said. "She is focused."
Life said she agreed to work for BPS two years ago because she was impressed with the way it handled the special education process. By law, every public school special education student must have an Individual Educational Plan. The document is developed with input from parents and the teacher and outlines what a student needs in terms of services and what must happen for the student to be successful in school. Often, Life said, special education teachers are overwhelmed by the paperwork involved. BPS has in place at each building a person who handles all the clerical work involved in the IEP process.
"This is a good system," Life said. "We can now meet with parents without the stress of who is going to fill out all that paperwork."
She supports the district's approach to teaching special education students. The district follows an "inclusion" philosophy, which means special education students are taught alongside regular education students.
Life said, although she is technically retired, she does not mind the responsibility of the director's position. She said her goal as director is to see special education students performing at state standards.
"I enjoy the challenge," she said. "I always want to make things better."
Source: Albuquerque Journal
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