Exceptional educator nominee draws support from Hampton community
Angela Hutto, nominated this spring as South Carolina’s Exceptional Educator of the Year, always knew she wanted to be a teacher, but she never planned on entering the field of special education. While working on her undergraduate degree at Clemson University, Hutto looked forward to teaching high school history until she began tutoring a special needs student.
“I quickly came to the realization that I’d rather work with students who can’t rather than students who won’t,” she says.
Now in her sixteenth year in special education, Hutto teaches preschool for exceptional students at Ben Hazel Primary School in Hampton School District 1. She says she fills a special role as a preschool teacher of children with special needs.
“I’m the first school person parents come in contact with,” she says. “In many cases parents are still dealing with the grief of finding out their child has special needs, and they’re trying to process all the information being thrown at them.”
Students in Hutto’s class typically range from three to six years old, and have all types of disabilities. Hutto teaches her students everything from how to talk and eat, to the letters of the alphabet. Many of her students stay with her for a number of years, and it is emotional for both the students’ families and Hutto when kids move on.
“We cry together,” Hutto says. “We’re all a family and it’s moving to watch my students go forward out of my class to succeed. Some children are eventually placed in regular classes, and no one would ever know they started in special education.”
Hutto says that the Hampton 1 community is partly responsible for her success as a teacher. The rural district has 20,000 residents, and some of her students travel up to two hours each way to school. She says it is a big commitment for parents to send their children to her school, but that people in the area regard their teachers as heroes.
“Students love you, and their families love you,” says Hutto. “This is the hardest work you’ll ever love, and you just have to have no fear. It wouldn’t be possible without the support we get from the community.”
The Office of Exceptional Children and the South Carolina Council for Exceptional Children sponsor Exceptional Educators, Exceptional Students month in March with special activities in schools and around the state. This year Hutto and three other teachers were nominated as Exceptional Educator of the Year. The winner, Jill Chapman of Midway Elementary School in Lexington School District 1, was announced in April.
The South Carolina Council for Exceptional Children is the largest international professional organization dedicated to improving educational outcomes for individuals with exceptionalities, students with disabilities and/or the gifted. The council also advocates for appropriate governmental policies, sets professional standards and provides professional development opportunities. The council currently has 900 members statewide.
The Office of Exceptional Children ensures all children with disabilities in the state receive a free and appropriate public education. The office also protects the rights of those children and their parents and provides leadership to school districts and state-operated programs.