By Laura Lane
When she walks down the hall, children know her, because she's made it her top priority to get to know them.
"I have a leadership role in North Merrick, but I'm able to make connections with children and parents," said Wortman, 38, adding that her goal this year has been to get to know the staff, parents and children. "With the children, I know who I'm talking about because I've seen them in the classroom."
David Feller, superintendent of the North Merrick Elementary School District, said he finds Wortman extremely effective. "We're fortunate to find someone who is experienced in special education and administration procedures and curriculum," Feller said. "She's also a warm and genuine person. The children are her primary mission at all times."
Wortman has had a variety of experiences in education, beginning right after her graduation from high school. Always certain that she wanted to teach, she accepted a job as a special education aid in New York City while attending college at night.
After graduating from Queens College in 1993, she became a history teacher in New York City. But soon she discovered that there were many students who needed more help than she could provide. "Many of the high school students were severely impaired," she recalled. "I had 17-year-olds in my class that couldn't read. I found I had to pull all kinds of tricks out of the bag and decided that I wanted to know more."
Wortman earned a master's in special education from Adelphi University in 1996. She decided to stop teaching history, and accepted a job as a special ed. teacher in Long Island City. After a year she moved on to the Oyster Bay-East Norwich elementary school district, where she stayed for five years, starting as a staff developer. Upon completion of her second masters, in administration and supervision, at St. John's University, she was promoted to assistant director of special services.
"It was a kindergarten-through-12 district but it was small and intimate and I enjoyed the age range," she said. "It really was a wonderful experience, and when I was offered a job at Harborfields, I struggled with the decision."
She accepted a job as director of pupil personnel services and special education at Harborfields, but stayed only a year. "I was the only administrator and I thought I could do it all, but the truth of the matter was I never saw a child; it was hard for me," Wortman recalled. "I was sitting at meetings looking at reports and making decisions, and I wasn't happy with that."
Wortman couldn't be happier at North Merrick. In her position she sees children all the time and feels comfortable making decisions about them. "I told the administration when I was in my interview that I'm a hands-on person," she said. "When I make a decision it needs to be informed, and I need to know firsthand before I sign anything or support a program. I've gotten a very warm reception from parents and from staff."
Christine Vogel, the co-president of the district's Special Education PTA, said she is very happy that Wortman has come to North Merrick. "She has an open-door policy and she answers questions directly," Vogel said. "And when you sit and talk to her, she encourages you to call her with any additional questions. I know she has the children's best interests at heart. She's great for the district." Wortman said she is working closely with the building principals to make sure that special ed. children will be in all classrooms. "There's more teaching support in these classes, so parents of general classroom children want their children there too," she said. "Placement is important, but at this time it's a work in progress. What's so exciting about this district is you don't have to plug kids in programs, you can create programs on need. Children change every year, so you should change the programs depending on the need."
"I like that everybody knows each other here, that there's an intimacy," Wortman said. "To be successful in this job, I believe you can never pretend to walk in the shoes of a parent with a child that has a disability. I always listen and never take anything personally, but I do take it seriously."
Comments about this story? LLane@liherald.com.
