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Health & Fitness

District Social Workers Honored by SEPTA

The Huntington School District’s Special Education PTA presented its Distinguished Service Award to social workers Kathryn Costa, Linda Kohan, Vilma Matos and Gisselle Soto for their exceptional efforts on behalf of students across grade levels.

The group of professionals was nominated for the honor by Vicki Mingin, who retired two years ago after a long career as the district’s executive director of special education and pupil personnel services.

“The social workers provide ongoing support to all of the principals in each of our schools as they go about the task of assisting the development and maintenance of a safe and secure learning environment for our children, [including] those with and without disabilities,” Dr. Mingin said. “The social workers are the districts’ liaison to the community and parents. They provide the students and their families with needed information and resources that in turn optimizes students’ school engagement and performance.”

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The Distinguished Service Award was created by SEPTA to honor those who have gone far beyond the norm and played an integral role in assisting students with special needs reach their full potential.

The organization actively seeks nominations for the awards. After they are received, a multi-member committee reviews essays and other materials that document how the individuals facilitate inclusion, interact with students, make a difference in the youngsters’ lives and share their special qualities with parents and other staff members.

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Almost all of the social workers’ efforts occur behind the scenes and much of it is highly confidential. “Principals, on any given day, call on the expertise of the social workers to assist with a call to social services, the courts or to consult with a student’s doctors to address an issue that is having an adverse effect on the student’s performance in school,” Dr. Mingin said. They also play a key role with the Committee on Special Education.

Kathryn Costa

“During my first or second year of teaching special education at Finley Middle School, I faced a situation that no teacher wants to face,” Dr. Mingin said. “Fifteen minutes before dismissal on a Friday afternoon on the eve of the winter recess, a student in my class appeared distressed and shared with me that he tried to kill himself the day before. I knew I could not let this student go home without having someone intervene and contact his parents. I asked the aide in my class to go to the guidance office to ask Ms. Costa if she could come to my room. I can say that what Ms. Costa did that day to assist that student and family is what she continues to do to this day behind the scenes more often than we would like to think. Not only did she provide the student the type of care and support he needed at the moment and long-term to face the situation, but she gently guided the family to understanding how critical the situation really was.”

Ms. Costa’s support and skilled expertise has helped her Huntington colleagues address a variety of situations over the years. “I learned a lot that day and in the days and weeks that followed,” Dr. Mingin said. “Over the following 28 years, Ms. Costa and I worked together on hundreds of cases; each one a demonstration of professionalism and care.”

Linda Kohan

Ms. Kohan has always been there for Huntington students and parents in times of crisis. She is known to be available morning, noon or night, working long hours without fanfare to help those in need. Working past midnight to carry out her responsibilities is not unheard of.

Once when Dr. Mingin called after school and asked Ms. Kohan to help with the placement of a student in crisis into a residential therapeutic care setting, the social worker mobilized quickly.

“Linda provided the clinical staff at the [residential] school with the information they needed for the student’s intake and he was admitted,” Dr. Mingin said. “I do not recall the time we got back to Huntington that night, but I do know if was after midnight. I have been on the other side of not having students admitted or losing a needed CSE placement and watched as students decompensate. Because of Ms. Kohan’s clinical skills and understanding of this student’s needs, as well as her willingness to go the extra mile, this student’s life was changed for the positive.”

Vilma Matos

Vilma Matos has provided remarkable services to Huntington’s intermediate and middle school students over the years. “Ms. Matos has identified students at-risk and in need of mentoring or counseling,” Dr. Mingin said. “To this end, she has created a variety of supports for students in each of the buildings she is assigned. These supports include social skills groups, Banana Splits, counseling groups and individual mentoring of students. She also works with many students that have attendance issues by working closely with the families and assisting the parents.”

Ms. Matos has created innovative programs to help students “assimilate and acculturate to school life,” Dr. Mingin said. “She was instrumental in bringing to the district a program called ‘Why Try’ to address the needs of disenfranchised youth at the middle school level. I have witnessed the impact and positive outcome of her work many times.”

Known as a true professional, “Ms. Matos is a soft-spoken, caring individual that the students and parents trust and respect and because of those qualities students go to her before issues they face turn into serious issues,” Dr. Mingin said.

Gisselle Soto

Ms. Soto has played a key role in the implementation of positive behavioral supports the response to intervention programs in the schools where she works. As a result of her leadership and hands-on demonstration and modeling of behavioral strategies, the number of referrals to the CSE and school suspensions has been reduced.

“I can recall one situation when Ms. Soto called me due to her concern about a student and due to her quick response and extensive knowledge about that student she, along with outside agencies, were able to keep the student from harm,” Dr. Mingin said.

Principals have asked Ms. Soto to work with individual teachers to help them assist students in need. Like her colleagues, she puts in an enormous number of hours on behalf of the community.

“Principals and staff, as well as parents rely on the social workers on a daily basis with a myriad of situations and concerns, many of which are unexpected,” Dr. Mingin said.

 

 

 

 

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