Returning to Van Nuys for her second year of teaching special education, Ms. Maria Lomeli is now the new resource teacher in room 604A.

As a resource teacher, Ms. Lomeli teaches one lab class and provides additional support to students with an Individual Education Plan (IEP) in their classrooms. An IEP is a plan that helps students with their goals and academic needs.

As a young girl, Ms. Lomeli wanted to become a teacher. Initially surprised by how she ended up in special education, her passion towards it grew as she looked forward to working with students with disabilities.

Before joining the faculty at Van Nuys High, Ms. Lomeli has had 14 years of experience as a special education assistant. She also taught as a special education teacher at Maclay Middle School for one year.

Having grown up in the San Fernando Valley, she chose to teach at Van Nuys because she wanted to work with students who are from a familiar area. “I loved it. My first year here (at Van Nuys)  I loved it. I thought I was in teacher heaven. I like the students, the staff was very nice, very helpful. There’s a lot of support here for both teachers and students,” said Ms. Lomeli.

Her new special education teaching job is very different from her previous teaching positions. As a research provider, she now joins students in their classes and gives them additional support in their education. In her previous teaching positions she taught english and math for special education students.  As she starts another school year, Ms. Lomeli looks forward to learning more about her position and growing as an independent teacher.