Head of the Special Education department, Valerie Schmitz, said the reason the school hired new staff is because of the absence of several employees from last year.

“We had three retirees, and one got a job at a new school. Deb Porter, Leigh Abrahamson and Kathy Weiss all retired and Nick Alonzi got a new job in Minnetonka teaching Social Studies,” Schmitz said.

Teacher Anna Voinea said she worked in South Carolina for three years and four years in Iowa.

So far she said everyone at Park is very friendly and she enjoys the students she teaches.

Voinea said as a new staff member she is trying to bring new ideas to the table.

“I’m trying to bring in more technology to use in the classroom as well as some new strategies such as pals for reading which works with struggling readers,” Voinea said.

The other new teacher, Katie Molander, said she worked at Brooklyn Center at a charter school. She taught middle school special education and last year was her first year teaching.

“I wanted to get into a public school district and St. Louis Park seemed like a good fit. So far the students seem great, staff members are helpful and the Special Ed team is really supportive,” Molander said.

Molander said she planned to bring a good team oriented attitude to the Special Education department.

“When I first came I was hoping to bring collaboration to the team but I’ve found the Special Education department has already done a good job with that,” Molander said.

Schmitz said the new staff members are doing a good job of servicing the students in Special Education.

“I think they’re doing a good job of continuing to support students in the best way possible,” Schmitz said. “They’ve all previously had a position in either another school in the district or elsewhere, so they’re bringing their previous knowledge to Park.”