Two new staff members have joined Cooper Elementary's special education department this year. While both are certified teachers, their roles will be very different.
Lisa Breeling will lead a classroom with approximately 15 second, third and fourth graders, although she may not see them all at the same time.
Some of her students will attend classes in traditional classrooms and, sometimes, she will go along to help them. Other times, she'll be teaching her diverse group in her own room.
Breeling came to Cooper from Ann Ardis Middle School along with Chad Mims, the new principal at Cooper.
She's taught special education at all levels and says there are few differences between older students and younger. They all need the same thing, she said.
She taught in Springdale before moving to the Bentonville district and also in Corpus Christi, Texas.
It was a professor at University of South Dakota who recruited her to special education. She had planned a career in general education, but after the professor singled her out in her first class in special ed, she fell in love with the program.
A native of Iowa, she now lives in Rogers with her children. She earned her masters degree in special education at Arkansas State University.
Kenny Timbrell is also a certified special education teacher but this year his title is "designee."
He splits his time between two schools. It's a new position and he works as a liaison between the teachers and administration and between the school and parents. He's responsible for much of the paperwork associated with special education.
He expects he'll miss the daily student contact he enjoyed as a classroom teacher, but he'll be able to work with the students at certain times. Last week, he brought his ukulele into a classroom to teach a lesson on friendship.
Timbrell grew up in Colorado but came east to go to college in Joplin, Mo. He graduated from Southern Missouri State. When he spent a semester filling in for a special education teacher on maternity leave, he decided he liked it.
"Kids who need special education deserve as good a teacher as any other kids," he said.
Timbrell calls himself a professional student. He has two master's degrees -- one from Harding University in special education and one from ASU in administration. He's already been certified in school administration and expects that the designee job will provide some administrative experience. He's also working on his doctorate degree and teaching a class at NWACC.
Timbrell is married but doesn't have children of his own.
General News on 08/26/2015