By Joaquin Aguilar-Flores, KFCS
Dena Haudenshild sat comfortably in her new office at the Klamath Falls City Schools District Office on a Zoom call Friday morning with big grin as she finished her second week as KFCS Director of Special Services. Haudenshild knows a thing or two about working in a school district's special services department.
For anyone familiar in preschool education in the Klamath Basin, Haudenshild has led a robust program for the last 10 years at Klamath Early Childhood Development Center.
Haudenshild is one of KFCS longest-standing employees as she is in the midst of her 25th year with the school district. Coincidentally, she began her first position at KFCS as a special education teacher, in which she was at for 10 years, along with being a resource room teacher at Mazama High School before a boundary realignment.
"I studied general education and was going to be an elementary school teacher. I took a long-term sub position and was released from my student teaching job a few weeks earlier to take a long-term sub position and it was in special education, and I loved it," Haudenshild said.
She had a brief stint as a District Office Coordinator for special services before she became the Ponderosa Middle School Assistant Principal in 2010. She then became Principal of Special Programs in 2014 at Early Intervention, Early Childhood Special Education.
Haudenshild then became the Director at KECDC in 2020. To her surprise and joy, she helped the school move to a new location, a building off Summers Lane, formally occupied by Triad School until the year 2020, when retired KFCS Superintendent, Dr. Paul Hillyer, brought the idea to have it be the school's new home.
"I've been in special education forever. It's kind of neat to be in this position now because now I have gone from teacher to coordinator, to running early intervention and early childhood special education programs, and I taught it in high school. I kind of have seen the whole realm of special education," Haudenshild said.
Haudenshild helped increase enrollment at KECDC year by year after the COVID-19 pandemic, which serves families in Klamath County and the City of Klamath Falls. On top of offering Early Intervention, Early Childhood Special Education, district childcare, the school grew into what it is now through a Preschool Promise grant as it became a part of KFCS and eventually moved to its new home during the 2021-2022 school year.
The next steps will be for Haudenshild to meet her entire special services staff and will open up a moment for questions and answers during the departments February meeting.
"I feel the district has supported me in growing in the profession. KFCS is my district. I want to make sure everything I do here helps to grow the program and be the best we can be. I think that's why I have dedicated so many years. I am kind of a loyal girl; they're my family," Haudenshild said, "I do not feel the need to jump anywhere else because when people support you, I want to support them. I fell in love with it after my first job in the district and then got my masters in special education. I want to leave my thumbprint on the special education program here."
