More than 50 Very Special Educators Honored This Year

When Tricia Carnovali was diagnosed with cancer, she worried about her son. Michael was in the pre-kindergarten special education program at the .

Four special education staff members “treated him like he was their son,” according to Carnovali. They even marked his birthday at school, she said, while she was having chemotherapy.

“Seeing him happy was the best medicine,” she recalled.

That’s why Carnovali nominated four special ed staff members for this year’s fifth special education honors and appreciation ceremony:  Michael’s teacher, Jenn Swan; two paraprofessionals, Lauren Malcolm and Mary Hanson; and Michael’s speech teacher, Tara Karebian.

Fifty-one people nominated by parents and children with special needs received kudos and an award this year, according to Kerstin Lochrie, chairman of the city’s special education Parent Advisory Council. She started the event, she said, based on another organization’s idea.

Since the program started, roughly 260 people have been recognized at the ceremony, Lochrie told Woburn Patch. They range, she said, from special education professionals to a grandfather. One person has been nominated each year for five years, Kerstin said:  Donna Malcolm at the , for her dedication to her students and their parents.  Lochrie said she nominated Malcolm the first year; others have named her every year since then.

A child on an education plan or his or her parents may nominate “anyone who has made a difference in a child’s life” for recognition, Lochrie explained.

This year’s honorees follow, by school or organization.

– Amy Givens and Amy Holland.

– Janice Gibbons, Linda McLaughlin, Roseanne Walsh and Joanne Young.

– Christine Dudley-Marling, Donna Janas, Christy Nickerson, Judi O’Neil and Julie Veno.

– Kathleen Cedrone.

– Linda Burns, Laurie Greene and Maureen Kozachik.

– Michelle Dionne, Cara Dougherty, Carol Frasca, Megan Grskovic, Lauren Healy, Donna Malcolm, Karen Panetta, Linda Shannon and Ernie Wells.

– Ina Burdine and Maryann Scalley.

– Audrey Crowley, Eileen Cudmore, Tricia Donaghey, Maura Embler, Debra Groskin, Mary Hanson, Tara Karebian, Lauren Malcolm, Brooke O’Neil, Melissa Richards, Lisa Sullivan, Jenn Swan and the Pre-K Team.

– Cheryl Breen, Kimberly Ciasullo, Peter Roketenetz, Judy Rosenbaurm, Debi Tierno and Tracy Wood.

 , Woburn – Leeann Dukas.

Beverly School for the Deaf – Jennifer Schroeder.

Occupational Therapy Associates, Wakefield – Sabra Vachon.

Peer Projects, Beverly – Linda Murphy.

St. Mary’s, Danvers – Kathy Armstrong.

South End Community Health Center –Dr. Martin Schotz.