Our newest coordinator is Teri Odegaard. Teri has recently transitioned into the role of PreK coordinator. She has worked with South Washington County Schools ECFE and School Readiness programs for the past 18 years. Thirteen of those years were spent with children and families in ECFE. For the past 5 years, Teri has been a PreK teacher at Liberty Ridge Elementary. Teri got her teaching degree from the University of Wisconsin-Stout. In her new role as PreK coordinator, she will be supporting our 3’s preschool and 4 year-old PreK teachers in the elementary buildings throughout the district. She is looking forward to visiting the classrooms and working collaboratively with our wonderful teachers. Outside of her position here, Teri lives in Wisconsin with her husband, Jeremy, their two daughters, Emily and Megan, and dogs, Zoe and Oscar. Their family enjoys visiting National Parks and have been to 11 out of 52 so far.
Susan Somers began working in the district as a parent educator and early childhood educator in the fall of 2012. She became an ECFE Site & Outreach Coordinator this past August. Susan recently received her Masters Degree in Family Education in August from the University of Minnesota…Go Gophers! In her position as coordinator, her time is split between overseeing ECFE programming at our Central Park location and our Outreach programs (which includes assisting teachers with home visiting, Woodwinds hospital partnership, WIC partnership, early learning connection, young parents, social media and online parent education, and the LEAP program that pairs ECFE with ACCESS/ELL). Susan’s favorite part of her job is personally connecting with families. She loves to watch parents and children get plugged into our fun and supportive learning environment. Helping ECFE grow and reach new families in our community is great, too. Outside of work, Susan is a mom to three sons, Tyson, Nathan and Justin. She also enjoys traveling to see friends, home decorating and DIY projects, and spending time with family.
Kari Deslauriers has been with South Washington County Schools ECFE and School Readiness for 3 years. Within those three years, she has been on the Pyramid Implementation Team and a Pyramid Coach as well as on the Social Emotional Support Team and Site Based Management. Kari loves working and teaming with staff and seeing how their hard work influences the learning of their students and their connections with families. She received her degree in Early Childhood Education and Early Childhood Special Education from the University of Minnesota. As a site coordinator, her main role is to keep the DPC running smoothly every day. That can be everything from ordering supplies, finding substitutes, and tweaking schedules to climbing ladders and small repairs. Kari strives to support teachers by listening to what they need and helping them in anyway that she can. She also enjoys getting into the classrooms to build relationships with students and families. Her favorite part of her job is probably a tie between working with amazing teachers, paras, and administrative team members and seeing smiles of children as they come to school each day! When Kari isn’t at work, she enjoys reading, crafting, taking classes or working in the garden. She also enjoys taking in live music with friends as well as going to theater productions. She has a niece and nephew who she enjoys spending time playing with and watching their sporting events. Kari got married this fall. Congratulations!
So, the next time you are at one of our sites and see Teri, Susan or Kari, please take a minute to thank them for all their hard work. Of course, you can always reach out to them with questions too.
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