Our Team

Sherlunda is a special education teacher at North Middle School in the Everett School District.

Jennifer has 6 years experience in emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) and 8 years as a Resource Teacher at Juanita High School in the Lake Washington School District – currently, the Special Education Department Leader at her school, a member of the district’s Special Education Advisory Board, and the high school education representative for the ELA adoption committee. Her areas of specialty/expertise are related to Behavior and Autism.

Benjamin currently serves as a secondary mathematics educator in Pierce County, working with middle school and high school students. Having graduated from the University of Portland with a Bachelor’s, Benjamin explored public service in education as a multi-term AmeriCorps VISTA member before returning to complete a Masters in Teaching from Concordia University.

While learning the ropes of being a parent to a child with medical needs, Jamie developed a heart for families and individuals doing the same.  This led her to her job at the Arc. She has worked for the Arc of Snohomish County for over 10 years. In the position of Program Director she uses her talents to demonstrate a passion for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families through both fun and educational opportunities.

Brenda starting out studying cardiology, but kept getting “bumped into other programs and somehow just could not get out of the education classes that were being offered.”  She has held a number of positions with the Spokane Public Schools, since 1998: Resource Math – High School, Multi-handicapped, Orthopedically Handicapped – Elementary Level, and Special Education, Self-contained – Middle School. 

Chris is a Special Education Director through ESD 113 where he supports special education programming within the Lewis County Special Education Cooperative and other districts in the region. He has previously worked in the Central Kitsap and Edmonds School Districts. Chris has both elementary and high school special education experience.  His focus: students with Autism and Emotional/Behavioral Disability. He holds a Masters in Teaching Special Education and Functional Behavioral Analysis from Gonzaga University. 

Amy is an ASHA-certified Speech/Language Pathologist, receiving her Masters of Science degree in Speech Pathology from Eastern Washington University.  She currently works for Wenatchee School District and has also worked in Malheur County/OR, Meridian/ID and Edmonds School District, totaling 38 years in Education. She’s worked in Early Childhood for the majority of her career and has been the Early Childhood Coordinator for Wenatchee School District since 2002. 

Aneeka hires, onboards, and coordinates all aspects of the Substitute Office for the Renton School District. She is a cadre member of the NEA ESP Leadership Institute and NEA Educator Diversity Collective. She’s active in the Renton Professional Technical Association and Rainier Uniserv Council.  Aneeka is a core team member for the Rainier Educators of Color Network Equity Team and a certified lead trainer in the areas of Implicit Bias and Equity.  She holds a double master’s degree in Business and Public Administration and a Bachelor’s degree in Communications.

Rebecca previously worked as a Special Education teacher and a K-12 Life Skills coordinator in the Bellevue School District.  She holds a BS in K-6 Primary Collaboration and Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE), a masters degree in ECSE, and a masters in Administration. Rebecca is Nationally Board Certified in the area of ECYA/ENS Sever/Multiple for ages-21 and has worked in a multitude of environments fron K-12 to higher ed. She has served as a head coach for Special Olympics for 10+ years.

Suzanne has a Masters Degree in Speech and Language Pathology from Nova Southeastern University, and Bachelors Degrees in Elementary Education and Communication Disorders from Eastern Washington University. She has 24 years experience in K-12 education: 9 years as a General Ed Teacher in a variety of grade levels, and 15 years as a Speech-Language Pathologist.

Mindy teaches Special Education in the Kennewick School District. Throughout her career, she has held several teaching positions including: middle school resource teacher and inclusion teacher, elementary life skills teacher, and elementary resource room teacher. Mindy is currently a full-time mentor teacher, facilitating the development of new-career special education teachers. With her Master’s in Elementary Math Education, Mindy also has taught Math and Science, in the Early Education department at Columbia Basin College.

Colleen earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Michigan Technological University and began her teaching career in Michigan. For the past 18 years, she has been teaching at Prairie High School in Vancouver, WA. Colleen especially enjoys teaching Geometry and AP Statistics. She recently finished a Master’s in Educational Leadership/Administration and regularly participates on math leadership teams. 

Rachael is a Nationally Board Certified EYA Science Teacher and holds a BA in Elementary Education as well as a Master’s Degree in Curriculum and Instruction-English as a Second Language from Arizona State University.  She started her career teaching 3rd grade in Arizona but has spent the majority of her nineteen plus years teaching middle school Science.  Currently, Rachael teaches middle school Science in Spokane, Washington and has been with the Cadre since 2016.  Rachael is also a parent of a typically developing child, a child with a 504 plan and a child on the Autism Spectrum. 

Heather is currently Elementary Para Educator. She has worked in education for more than 10 years, as a:  preschool teacher, tutor with the AmeriCorps program,  and para in both elementary and high school resource rooms.  For the last few years has been a para in a self-contained special education classroom both in-person and online. Heather is a parent of an adult child with a physical disability.  During the school years she learned how parents can navigate the system to assure that their child’s classroom needs are met. During her time in special education Heather has grown in knowledge through both the SESC classes, experience and her own research.

bio coming soon.

Tamra began her career working at a residential treatment facility for students with significant emotional and behavioral disabilities.  In part, those experiences led her to become a school psychologist. She has worked in Colorado, Oregon, and Washington, and is currently with the Battle Ground School District.  She later became a district PBIS coach, aiding in the development and implementation of the district’s Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports system. Tamra now works in special education administration.

Heidi has several degrees from Washington State University – endorsed in both Early Childhood General Education and Early Childhood Special Education. Over her career, Heidi has taught K-5 Resource Room, A K-5 Life Skills class, General Education Kindergarten, General Education 1st grade and Special Education Preschool. She currently teaches an alternative classroom for preschool students on the Autism Spectrum and coaches in an inclusive preschool classroom. Heidi recently launched a consulting business assisting new Special Education Teachers with classroom organization and teaching strategies.

Katja is an ASHA certified speech-language pathologist with 27 years of experience, mostly public schools.  She has primarily worked in early childhood serving students with autism spectrum disorders, Augmentative Alternative Communication (AAC) needs, language delay, and speech sound disorders, and has taught workshops for parents of children with social communication needs.  Katja received both a B.A. and M.A. in Speech and Hearing Sciences from WSU.  Prior work experiences include Santa Barbara County Education Office (CA), and Midstate Education District (MN). 

Joan is a middle school teacher in the Ellensburg School District. She works with students with moderate and significant disabilities, and is an adjunct instructor at Central Washington University. Joan earned a Bachelor’s degree from Central Washington University and a Master’s degree from City University.  She is National Board Certified as an Exceptional Needs Specialist, Severe and Multiple Disabilities. Joan has been in education 25+ years, teaching students with all levels of abilities and in a variety of inclusive settings. Joan’s husband, Steve, is also a teacher.  They have 4 children, 2 dogs, plus several horses and mules.  

Kari lives in Vancouver, WA with her husband Tim and son (now 20 years old) who was diagnosed with autism at age 2. Kari has been a strong parent advocate and classroom volunteer: a PTA member, on the board of the local Special Education PTSA, coach & board member for Miracle League baseball, and volunteer for local disability organizations. Kari’s main goal is to help create an inclusive and accepting school and community environment – advocating for inclusion in general education classes and helping support differentiated instruction – recently organizing a parent advisory group to work with staff to improve the Evergreen Transition Program.

Emily has been a special education teacher since 2004, beginning in a South Texas high school level through Teach for America. She’s worked in Life Skills classrooms and resource rooms; currently teaching in a dual language elementary school in Wenatchee, during which time she has also earned an NBCT certification. Emily strives to incorporate UDL principles in her daily teaching practice.

Currently in the Tukwila School District, Micheal has worked in Special Education for 12 years supporting students with a variety of cognitive, physical, social and behavioral needs. He’s worked with with organizations providing mentorship to youth and has spent the last 7 years as a district resource guiding Educators through the process of developing, modifying and implementing behavior supports for students.

Mark is a life long special educator who previously served as Coordinator of Special Programs for the WEA. Since retirement, Mark has continued his interest in special education by serving as a Special Education trainer, advisor, and critical friend, for the WEA Special Education Support Center.

Gary has served in various roles in support of WEA projects and programs, beginning in the mid-80s with the Restructuring Schools initiative and later with the NEA Keys to Excellence program. For more than a decade, he has been a consultant to the Special Education Support Center in the design, maintenance, and promotion of the SESC website, and in the facilitation of online support for the WEA Special Ed Cadre.