By Cameron Johnson, Katie Mazzotta, and Melanie Weber
Class of 2017
Most sixth graders do not know what they want to be when they grow up. Their only worries are making friends, getting their first phones, and playing video games. However, one particular teacher here at Walpole High School is an exception. At a very young age, this teacher knew exactly what she wanted to do as an adult. Today, she is living out her childhood dream educating and working with special needs kids. As of the 2014-2015 school year, Mrs. Meghan Naylor is the new Team Chair at Walpole High School.
Mrs. Naylor has taken on a big role with several duties as the new Team Chair, but she predominantly works with the special education program. In addition, she supervises other teachers and ensures that the special needs students are receiving all of their necessary services. She also attends the IEP (Individualized Education Plan) meetings where she reviews and signs the students’ IEPs and sends them out to parents for approval. The IEP is a program that creates an opportunity for teachers, parents, and students with a learning disability to establish accommodations to improve educational results.
After high school, Mrs. Naylor graduated from Boston College. Mrs. Naylor then went back to her hometown in Manhattan, New York to attend Columbia University for graduate school. She continued her education at Pace University where she got another Master’s Degree. During her first thirteen years of being an educator, she taught in schools specifically for students with special needs, each school containing no more than 100 students. Hence, a school like Walpole with 1200 students presents a significant change for her.
“I feel like a little fish in a big pond,” said Mrs. Naylor; however, she enjoys new challenges.
Although becoming part of a new school can be nerve-wracking and overwhelming, Mrs. Naylor is already enjoying her time at Walpole High. Mrs. Naylor said, “My favorite part so far is getting to know all of the staff and learning all of their different personalities. I also like working in a general education school where the special education students are included in the general population.”
All new jobs have some aspects that take some adjusting to as well. “The hardest part is just learning the ins and outs of the new place,” Mrs. Naylor said. “It is the little things like where the closest restroom is, and where my parking spot is that I have to get used to.”
In the future, Mrs. Naylor hopes to continue on the administrative path, and she would like to go back to school to get her Masters Degree in Administration. “I hope to become a superintendent or principal someday,” Mrs. Naylor said. “But right now, I just want to focus on passing the MTEL test and starting to take classes for administration.”
Until then, Mrs. Naylor lives her middle school dream of working with special needs students. Her positive personality creates an upbeat ambience for both herself and her peers. As the year progresses, Mrs. Naylor will continue to adjust to her new environment and contribute a wide variety of tasks to Walpole High School.
