“In this role she has been asked to serve as our students in a variety of settings throughout the special education continuum and across several different content areas,” the superintendent said. “To this end, Miss Russo’s support of nature, passion and expertise made her extremely versatile, showing professional competency in the areas of targeted reading instruction and Spanish language support.
“In addition, Miss Russo emerged as a technological leader within the Special Education Department, quickly mastering such district initiatives as Encore Systems, PowerSchool Google Platform and Frontline IEP,” Labbe continued. “She did this well before hybrid learning made these platforms necessary. In fact, Miss Russo has been the go-to person for help in setting up or troubleshooting our technology platforms for many years. She has presented to fellow staff members during staff development day on these initiatives.
“Over the years, Miss Russo also served on many committees, including professional development, the district evaluation advisory council and on the district technology committee. Miss Russo should further be recognized for her commitment to the art of instruction. She is research-based, always infusing the most recent methodology into her teaching. In fact, Miss Russo set out to teach herself Spanish as a second language and within one year, became a much requested co-teacher by her colleagues for the in-class resource center setting.