What did you do before coming here?

I worked as a special-ed para at Hingham Middle School for three years.

What’s a “para?”

It’s a paraprofessional, a special-ed aid.

What do you do at the high school?

I am a special-ed math co-teacher, so I co-teach five classes that have a heavy load of students with Individualized Education Plans. It’s kind of an interesting thing, where there’s a math teacher, because I don’t have any background in math, and then me as the special ed teacher, and we work together to teach the class. So they [the teachers] focus on the content, and I make sure the kids are getting all the services and the help they need. Certain kids might need a rephrasing, or a visual, or clarification, but we teach the same lesson to the entire class.

What are your hopes or goals for the future of the special-ed program at BHS?

Together as a department we’ve been talking about how we envision what  special ed is going to look like in the year 2020. [Headmaster Deborah Holman] has a whole philosophy about the school in 2020, when we have so many more kids, so based on the fact that we’re going to have so many kids coming in, we’re trying to figure out what we want the program to look like by then, just to make sure that every single kid is really getting what they need. We would like to see all of our special ed students graduate, and to have a really cohesive team of special educators. I feel like we already are very tight, but there’s little gaps. There’s always room for improvement, but so far I think it’s excellent.

Why did you decide to enter the field of special education?

I actually didn’t know that was what I wanted to do at first. I thought I wanted to be a guidance counselor when I graduated, so I talked to my guidance counselor at my high school, and she was like, “Start working in a school doing anything you can, to network and figure it out.” I got hired as a paraprofessional, not really knowing what that was, and I just fell in love with it. I worked with an excellent special ed teacher who encouraged me to then go get my Master’s degree in special ed.

Do you still see yourself becoming a counselor in the future?

I could for sure see myself down the line doing that. My guidance counselor in high school was awesome, so I was just like, “I want to do this, because I love you.”

What were you like in high school?

I started playing soccer, whatever, changed to basketball all year round, I was captain of the basketball team, I was a good student, had a lot of friends. I like to think I was nice to everybody.

How do you think Brookline compares to your high school experience?

Brookline is bigger. In terms of academics, and the “future” of the students here, I think they’re both excellent school systems, and most of the kids graduate and are prepared for either the workforce of college, or whatever it is.

Sarah Cardwell-Smith can be contacted at [email protected].