Alumna Robin Fabiano discovered her interest in special education at an early age. As the current Brookline’s Director of Secondary Special Education, Fabiano is in charge of all Special Education programming at the high school. In her free time, Fabiano reads, spends time with her 8 year-old son and travels abroad.

What does your job entail?

I spend a lot of time working with teachers to make sure that students are getting what they need. I also spend a lot of time with parents [by] listening to their concerns and then thinking in the big picture about how we can make the school more inclusive and have it meet the needs of a variety of learners.

How did you get into special education?

My first experience in special education happened when my younger brother went to the John Pierce School. In his class, there was a student with multiple disabilities. I started babysitting for that family, and I got to know the student and his sister, who had a similar disability. When I was at the high school, I participated in the Peer Buddy Program, where I became a peer mentor to a student with a disability. We hung out during the week and did some fun things together. That’s how I got started with special education. I later decided I wanted to be a special ed teacher, and I became an administrator afterward.

What was your experience like at the high school?

There are things about the high school that are the same, like the cafeteria, auditorium and gym. We had a lot of freedom. We had an open campus, so we went to Pino’s [Pizza, in Cleveland Circle] for lunch. I think that what’s different is that there’s a new wing and there are just so many more classes and electives. We had just as many students, but we didn’t need such a big building.

What are your favorite places to travel?

I try to go to Europe, or outside of the country, once a year. I love Iceland. I’ve been there twice, and there’s probably more to see that I haven’t yet because it’s just such a cool place. Last year, I went to Amsterdam, which was really beautiful. This year, I’m planning to go to Banff, Canada.

I heard that you co-host a popular podcast. Could you tell me a bit about that?

It’s called “A Special Education Teacher, Administrator and Lawyer Walk into a Bar…All You Ever Wanted to Know About Special Education.” One of my good friends, a special ed lawyer, is one of the co-hosts. Our other co-worker is Abby Hanscom [the Director of Student Services at Hopkinton Public Schools]. The three of us do it, and we’re on season four and probably have 60,000 downloads. We’re up there on iTunes.