Bedford’s Head of Special Education Retires

Linda Schluter is wrapping up her last few weeks in the Bedford Central School District with mixed emotions.

"I'll miss the kids the most—I've watched some of them grow up!" said Schluter, who is retiring after serving as assistant superintendent for special education and student services for the last eight years. "In my job, you're like a principal of a student body beginning in pre-K and ending with graduation."

Thanks to Schluter, many more children under her tenure walked across the stage with other Fox Lane graduates, instead of an alternative school, an accomplishment she's most proud of.

Jere Hochman, superintentdent of schools, said that Schluter boosted the knowledge base of how to work with all types of students for the faculty and staff, helping many overcome the stereotype about why students may or may not be learning.

"Many districts make the leap to classify a student as special education too quickly—it's a national issue," he said. "Linda helped us be a little more discerning about how we categorize and help students. It's not easy to be inclusive, but our district really is—and Linda is in large part responsible for that."

Schluter said there's a difference between kids who are truly disabled, and those who just need help. "It may be that the student is learning disabled, or that their education was interrupted or there are socioeconomic or cultural factors at play. By classifying too many kids and sending them off campus, children—and their parents—were disenfranchised from the community," she said.

During her tenure, the number of kids sent off campus went from 50 to 11.

Key to bringing it down was giving people in the district the tools to service those students, she said.

"I'm proud that we now have a true continuum of service—for kids who need life skills, to developmental aid to living with autism. We have better oversight of their progress."

Schluter was responsible for overseeing and developing services for students with disabilities including classroom instruction, speech, physicial and occupational therapies, counseling and social work service, among others. She also developed training materials for district staff, including definitions of an "alphabet soup" of acronyms related to state and federal regulation on special education.

Another significant change she's been a part of is the adoption of "Response to Intervention" strategies, a systematic district-wide approach to meeting individual needs, one that encourages early intervention and may even prevent some students from being classified as learning disabled.

Bedford's diverse student population made her job challenging, but it also enriched her work, said Schluter, who worked in Scarsdale public schools for 12 years prior to coming here.

"I definitely tapped into all my resources to work here and it's been wonderful.," she said.

Her retirement is effective at the end of August. The district will likely hire a replacement at a director level, not an assistant superintendent, according to Schluter.