“An old cliché is ‘we fear what we don’t understand.’ I think when people see [students] with disabilities, they shy away because they think something about them is different. Once you get over that, and realize these are people just like you and I, you get more into it,” Pete Nadler, Special Education Department Chair, said.

Nadler is the new department chair for the Special Education department, bringing his experience to the table in making changes for the department.

“This is my 13th year in education, all special education, and I’ve done everything from teaching up to where I am now,” Nadler said. “There has not been a person dedicated to the administration of this program in this school [in the past]. This year [for me] is a lot about watching people teach and learning more about the kids.”

In addition to watching and learning, Nadler hopes to improve the department and make changes for the students.

“I develop classes, help with curriculum, help co-teaching pairs, and [develop] our documents involving Special [Education]. I want to take a look at some of our Special Education classes and make sure they are closely aligned with our general [education] classes,” Nadler said. “We dedicate a lot of resources to co-teaching so I want to make sure that those are running how they should.”

Other than being in his job description, his motivation to improve the department stems from a more personal experience with disabilities.

“I think with a lot of people in my field, the [interest] comes from having a relative or somebody with disabilities. In my case, I had an aunt with very severe disabilities so I’ve always been around people with disabilities,” Nadler said. “It’s a personality fix. Exposure to the field is the only way to get into it.”

Aside from his own personal motivation to get involved, Nadler hopes students can find motivation to get involved as well.

“I’m not running SNAP [Special Needs Athletic Program], but anything we can do [to get involved] is great. I want to see any of the [Special Education] activities have more stuff going on during the school day rather than just after school,” Nadler said.

According to Nadler, getting involved is not only beneficial to students with disabilities, but impacts the students helping.

“We have a couple hundred kids in this building with disabilities and you wouldn’t know it,” Nadler said. “If you can’t spend time with those kids and be joyful, then I don’t know. I think they have a great impact on the students and I would like to see them more in [general education] classes.”