Tales Of An Educated Debutante
on life, loss and the joy that rules the day.






























The future is far away and scary, but today is lovely.
Adrian H. Wood, PhD
A Letter to the West Virginia Department of Education
My name is Owen. I am 7 years old and a first grader at Berkeley Heights Elementary School in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Well, I was, but now I’m at a new school. I was diagnosed with mitochondrial disease as a baby and I also have non-verbal autism. I’ve been in the same classroom with kids with like me for two years. I had three teachers: Christina Lester, June Yurish and Kristin Douty. My mom liked that they were always hugging and loving on me. It was a big fa ..
Read moreWhen a School Fails Children with Special Needs
Martinsburg, West Virginia is home to Berkeley Heights Elementary School. It serves nearly 800 children (predominantly white) in pre-K through third grade, as well as a classroom for special needs children. Before I go on, can I tell you about the fear that plagues us? Us, the families who belong to those children who landed not so perfectly on this earth. Our kids can’t tell us what’s wrong or tattle when danger lurks and that truth is a mountain that I never stop climbing ..
Read moreDear NC General Assembly and NC Superintendent Mark Johnson
It’s a new year and you’ve got work to do. 1. Work together for NC. I adore a team, but y’all resemble power hungry vultures on a rural eastern NC highway. 2. Bring back Kindergarten. Research clearly shows that play fosters long term academic success, yet you have turned our earliest classrooms into sweat factories. 3. Scrap Read to Achieve. Senator Phil Berger (https://www.facebook.com/SenatorBerger/?__tn__=K-R&eid=ARAt0nq7kSkUQJMW2VL73dNLZZrfZZS56HC42eG6uBc81r ..
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