Department of Pupil Services
Special Education Updates - Fall 2022
Welcome Back to the 2022-2023 School Year!
The Pupil Services Department is excited to have had a smooth transition into the start of the school year. Our department has worked in coordination with parents, teachers, and building administrators to ensure that our students had a successful start to the school year. We are looking forward to a school year full of growth - academically, socially, and emotionally!
Happy fall! 🌰 🍂
Department Goals
We look forward to sharing how we have begun addressing these goals since the start of the school year at the Monday, October 17th Board of Education Meeting.
Learning Never Stops!
Additionally, we have continued our partnership with FDU for Orton Gillingham training for both a second and third cohort. Teachers who completed the first cohort have on-going training with Ms. Shapiro, which includes coaching and honing their skills for small group instruction.
We have also partnered with the Institute for Mutli-Sensory Education (IMSE) to train our Curriculum Support Teachers and Reading Interventionists. To date, 15 staff members have been trained utilizing the IMSE Impact OG Course, which provided 30 hours of hands-on, interactive, and personalized training that provided a complete understanding of IMSE's enhanced OG method, the essential five components of literacy, and the tools necessary to apply these skills in the classroom. Through this course, teachers developed a stronger understanding of the research behind the Science of Reading, as well as the basic knowledge of how to assess and teach students in all three tiers of RTI as well as students with dyslexia.
Welcome to the Team!
Each of these team members come with valuable experience and knowledge to help our students on their road to success.
Speech Therapists
Brittany Tamburro
Jessica Perez
Patrina Caruana
Rosaline Rempel
BCBAs
Alyssa Stephen
Courtney Davis
Teacher of the Deaf
Laura Lavin
Psychologist
Cassia Mosdell
Also, Grace Furnari has transitioned from her role as BCBA to Psychologist.
The department still has openings in the disciplines of School Psychologists and LDT-Cs. We are still actively searching for qualified candidates for these positions, as well as paraeducators. If you know interested candidates, please direct them to Montclair Board of Education Job Opportunities.
Partnerships
Department Overview
In future newsletters, Ms. Maggie Shaver-Dock, the district's Mental Health Coordinator, and Ms. Tina LaGala, Head Nurse, will be sharing updates from their departments.
The goals for the Mental Health Team include:
Identifying and securing resources to address the social-emotional needs of students: mental health, physical health, acute/chronic stressors, behavior manifestations, family transitions, academic challenges
Identifying & implementing programs to enhance our School Climate & Culture including fostering collaborations with community resource providers in the areas of loss & grief, trauma informed education, suicide prevention, and dating/domestic violence
We look forward to updates from Ms. Shaver-Dock and Ms. LaGala in the future!
Dr. David Goldblatt
Mrs. Jennifer Finnerty
DLC, Bradford, Hillside, Nishuane, Watchung
Dr. Shivoyne A. Trim
Montclair High School
Email: strim@montclair.k12.nj.us
Ms. Carla A. Perez
Edgemont Montessori, Buzz Aldrin, Glenfield, Renaissance at Rand
Email: cperez@montclair.k12.nj.us
Twitter: @CPerezEd_Leader
Ms. Tameka Stafford
Charles H. Bullock, Northeast
Ms. Maggie Shaver-Dock
Email: mdock@montclair.k12.nj.us
Ms. Tina La Gala
Email: tlagala@montclair.k12.nj.us