SEPTA Presents Distinguished
Service Awards
The Huntington School District’s Special Education PTA is dogged in advocating for the student services and programs it cherishes. SEPTA takes delight in recognizing administrators, teachers and teacher aides who have made significant contributions to the lives of the young people they work with.
Huntington SEPTA established the Distinguished Service Award to honor those who have gone the extra mile and played a key role in helping students with special needs reach their full potential. The organization presented special education chairperson Diana Rich and teacher aides Colleen Fasciano and Ysrael Gonzalez with its coveted 2014 awards.
SEPTA actively solicits nominations for the awards and after they are received, a multi-member committee review essays and other materials that document how the individuals facilitate inclusion, interact with students, make a difference in the youngsters’ lives and share their special qualities with parents and other staff members.
SEPTA presented the awards during the Huntington PTA Council’s annual luncheon last month. The affair was attended by PTA leaders from across the district, building principals and district executives.
Diana Rich
Diana Rich, who oversees the district’s K-6 level special education program, was nominated for the SEPTA award by Southdown School speech therapists Shelley Stockner and Sarah Macaluso.
“Her commitment to including students in the least restrictive environment is paramount,” wrote Ms. Stockner and Ms. Macaluso in the pair’s nomination of Ms. Rich for the award. “She will sit and plan with teachers, related service personnel and parents to form new assumptions about how to adapt classrooms in order to accommodate unique equipment and additional staff to address the needs of students with severe and multiple disabilities. She excels in modeling leadership by actively participating in the ongoing management of the special education programs at the schools she works in, especially Southdown Primary. This approach to inclusive administration sets a tone within the school that promotes inclusion and values diversity.”
Ms. Rich carries out her responsibilities with a “very calm demeanor and is very well spoken,” states the nomination. “Information is clearly presented at meetings and always parent friendly. She is an exemplary individual who demonstrates all the qualities and criteria that is represented by the Distinguished Service Award.”
Colleen Fasciano
Colleen Fasciano was nominated for the SEPTA award by Flower Hill School speech therapist Yafit Lucas and Flower Hill parent and district SEPTA co-President Melinda Weissman.
“She has distinguished herself with colleagues by being full of questions and asking how she can do something in a certain way in order to develop the skills of the students she works with,” wrote Ms. Lucas and Ms. Weissman in their nomination of Ms. Fasciano for the award. “She is constantly determined to find ways to reach the children and is inquisitive when it comes to their disabilities and how to best teach them. She thinks outside the box so she can recognize ways to use their interests and dislikes in order to facilitate communication.”
Ms. Fasciano has enthusiastically embraced the use of augmentative communication devices by students. “Colleen has an innate ability of knowing just how much prompting she needs to give and when she needs to fade herself in order to let the student soar,” according to the nomination.
Known for her compassion and love for the children she works with, Ms. Fasciano is popular with Flower Hill’s students. “The children light up when they see her,” states the nomination submitted on her behalf. “She is caring and loving and the kind of person you want to work with your child. She has taught independence when it is called for yet she has shown how to ask for help when necessary.”
Ysrael Gonzalez
Ysrael Gonzalez was nominated for the SEPTA award by J. Taylor Finley Middle School psychologist Nina DiGioia. Mr. Gonzalez has worked as an individual aide with a Finley student in each of the past two years.
“Mr. Gonzalez carries out all of his responsibilities with fidelity and professionalism,” Ms. DiGioia wrote in her nomination. “What sets Mr. Gonzalez apart from his peers is his willingness to go above and beyond for the students he works with. He consistently gives his personal time by providing this student with experiences and opportunities that he would not have had the opportunity to participate in. He is more than an aide to this student. He is a mentor and an excellent role model. I truly believe that Mr. Gonzalez has changed the trajectory of this student’s life.”
Ms. DiGioia noted that this isn’t the first time that Mr. Gonzalez has had a profound impact on a student’s life. “The middle school years are the most challenging for all of our students, not to mention our students with special needs,” states the nomination. “Mr. Gonzalez’s dedication and sensitivity to our special education population is evident in everything he does and we have been very lucky to have had the opportunity to work with him over these years at Finley.”