When resources are needed and support is paramount, trust is the most important catalyst.
When the Rome City Schools Special Education program (SPED) developed a parent mentor position, they found the perfect person for the job.
Simply upon speaking to Caroline Threadgill, compassion and warm amiability quickly become evident. Being a SPED parent mentor isn’t just a job. For Threadgill, it’s a mission that is very close to her heart.
Threadgill’s youngest son, Anthony, has Williams Syndrome, a genetic condition characterized by medical problems, developmental delays and learning challenges. She said that her experiences with her son motivated her to accept her parent mentor position, so that she could help kids like him and their families navigate their educational journey.
Threadgill grew up in Alabama and earned a business degree from the University of Alabama. Once she’d had two of her four sons, she made the decision to stay home with them.
"Then once my kids were all school age, I got involved with the PTO,” she explained. “I was available a lot and I was at the school a lot. All four of my boys attended West Central Elementary.”
She said that when she was approached by the principal at the time with the opportunity to become a substitute teacher, she took that opportunity and for 15 years never left the RCS family from that day forward.
After a few years in her substitute teacher role at West Central, Threadgill became a Pre-K paraprofessional, which she did for six years.
"When Rome City Schools decided to create this position, a special education parent mentor, I was asked if I wanted to do it,” she said. “One of the requirements of the job was that you had to have a child with a disability, who was receiving or had received special education services.”
It was a requirement that fit, and was very significant to her ability to thrive within the role and to be able to help students and families thrive within the educational system.
"My job is to provide information and support for other parents who are kind of going through things with their child that I've already been through with mine,” she explained. “That involves getting services through the
school and then transitioning into adult life after school; trying to find resources and help them get the things they need so that that child can have a successful experience, in school and after school."
Threadgill explained that her day at work is never quite the same.
"Some days are spent in the office or having IEP (Individualized Education Program) meetings, parent trainings or parent conferences. Sometimes the parents just want someone to go with them to meetings so that they won't be alone,” she explained.
Some days may be spent in the classroom offering assistance to the teachers and working with the kids, which she confessed is one of her favorite ways to spend a day.
Threadgill also serves on the board for Java Joy and can be found working out in the community with their team of Joyristas. Java Joy is an affiliate program of the nonprofit Extra Special People (ESP). Java Joy exists to provide purposeful employment to adults with disabilities.
It is in the moments of reflection on her experience with her son that Threadgill said she realizes the importance of a SPED parent mentor.
"When he was a baby, we did Babies Can't Wait services where they would come out to the house and give him therapy. Then when we had to transition to school, we had to get his IEP,” she explained. “My husband worked a lot, and I had four kids in all and so sometimes I would just have to do everything on my own. That kind of motivated me to help other families; to just kind of make it a little easier for the next person."
Significant to her role as a parent mentor, Threadgill is able to attest to the SPED department at RCS, specifically, from a parent point of view.
"When my son was little,” she said, “Rome City Schools special education department provided services that put more focus on his abilities rather than his disability or his diagnosis. I feel like they always listened to me and they always tried to do what was best for Anthony and to make his life and his experience at school as inclusive as possible."
She said she feels that the teachers, Para pros and therapists who work with the RCS SPED department truly value the students as well as their families.
"The special education students are like our babies, our kids,” she smiled. “We get to know them, we come to love them and we do whatever we need to do to find what's best for them and their family."
Threadgill shared that it’s a wonderful experience once she is able to make a connection with parents and caregivers, however she expressed that her greatest challenge within the role is gaining that initial trust from parents. It is her empathy and compassion that help overcome this type of challenge.
"I understand,” she said. “It can be very scary and very lonely being a parent of a child with different abilities. It can be hard to find the resources and services that your child needs. When I can reach a parent and we have a good conversation and make a connection...that's very rewarding."
"Rome City Schools has a great special education department," she added. "We are working every day to make things better for our students and our families."
As her son Anthony approaches graduation this year at Rome High, Threadgill shared that she's once again navigating an important transition for him, this time from school into adulthood.
"It's a process," she smiled.
There is absolutely no doubt that it is the dedication and pure compassion of people like Threadgill that truly make RCS a Pack to be proud of.