Reason #1 (among many) why we love Bend...

We both have jobs!  As mentioned earlier, the reason for this exciting move was because of my job as a school psychologist with the Bend- La Pine School District. Well, as of today.... Dave has a job too!  He will be an inclusion educational assistant at Mountain View High School where he will work with special education students (primarily those with learning disabilities, adhd, and other "mild" cases).  He will work under the special education classroom teacher, helping to implement IEP goals (long story short, an IEP or Individualized Education Plan is a document that is drafted when a child qualifies for special ed that has all the goals and objectives for that students learning plan.  For example, if they have a reading learning disability, a goal may read: "By April 2011, Johnny will answer who, what, where, why and when questions to 70% accuracy on a given  written passage."  It will be Dave's job to help Johnny reach that goal.  Interestingly, MY job is to be the person who assesses, diagnoses, and creates the goals for these students and their IEP's.  So essentially, our jobs work hand in hand- only we won't be at the same schools!  This job will be a great opportunity for Dave to get more classroom experience as he completes his teaching credential.


In this world of employment uncertainty that we live in, we are certainly counting our blessings to be employed in this lovely town.  We are both so excited to start work, and plan on enjoying our last few days of summer vacation.  Unfortunately, I have to go back to work a week before Dave, but once the school year starts we will be on the same work schedule! woo hoo!