February 2024 Employee of the Month
It is with pleasure that we honor Leslie Cox, Principal II in the Special Education department, as the February 2024 Employee of the Month.
Leslie has been a Principal for the Special Education department since 2011. Her role of Principal is unique and highly specialized in that she oversees staff assigned to work with students who have low incidence disabilities. Low incidence disabilities include students who are deaf, deaf-blind, hard of hearing, visually impaired or orthopedically impaired. This group of students comprises just 1% of all students with disabilities and requires highly specialized instructors and employees to meet their needs. Leslie's ability to lead this highly specialized group of instructors has been exceptional.
Leslie decided to pursue deaf education when her son was diagnosed with a hearing impairment at a very young age. Recognizing that a parent is the child's first teacher, Leslie enrolled in school and immersed herself in deaf education. She learned how to use sign language and worked tirelessly to maximize her son's abilities. Leslie's knowledge of deaf education grew through all the stages of her son's development, and she concurrently launched a professional career centered around students with low incidence disabilities.
Leslie has accomplished a great deal in her tenure with FCSS. One of her greatest accomplishments occurred in 2014 when she was instrumental in creating, developing and opening six regionalized classrooms for students who are deaf or hard of hearing in grades preschool through high school. This process involved recruiting six teachers with deaf and hard of hearing credentials, sign language paraeducators and sign language interpreters. It also required that Leslie locate a school district that would be willing to host four of these classrooms on a single campus. The single campus concept is essential when opening programs for students who are deaf so that a critical mass of peers is obtained for this unique population.
Together with the new team, Leslie developed the program and ordered furniture, curriculum and all supplies needed for six new classrooms. She attended countless Individualized Education Program meetings with parents to describe the new program and obtain consent. Leslie's connection to the deaf community and her credibility as a parent of a deaf child contributed to the success of this program launch.
Leslie has worked diligently to recruit and retain low incidence employees. She is successful due to the strong relationships she maintains with community partners. She has taught classes at California State University, Fresno in the Deaf Studies department which keeps her in touch with up-and-coming students. She is a member of several committees and consortia designed to promote education for students who are deaf. Recognizing the difficulty of hiring sign language interpreters, Leslie applied for and became certified to administer the Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment, so candidates do not need to travel out of the Central Valley to test. This is a tremendous asset to Fresno County as there are only a few testing sites in California.
