With a school as great as ours you have to wonder, who makes it great. Well for starters the students, but also our staff. For six years Mrs. Cynthia Dwyer has worked as our Exceptional Education Department Chair, and  it’s no lie when we say she will be missed. “Mrs. Dwyer has been a wonderful advocate for our students.  She makes sure students receive needed services at school and she works with the students, parents, and teachers, as a team, to facilitate student success,” spoke Mrs. Miller, one of Dwyer’s close friends and colleague at Sahuaro.

Many of you may not know Mrs. Dwyer but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t made an impact on our school. Producing the best IEP’s of all the high schools, and working continuously to do what is best for our students in Exceptional Education are two achievements she is hoping to be remembered by. For six years she has been worked at Sahuaro, trying her best for students with disabilities and those who are in exceptional education programs, but she’s also done that for 16 years prior to Sahuaro. “I have been in TUSD for 22 years.  I didn’t go back to college until I was 40.  My first teaching position was as a teacher for students with Emotional Disabilities in a self-contained classroom at Alice Vail Middle School.  I was there two years and was then recruited by the Principal at Mary Meredith K-12 School.  This is a school for students with severe emotional disabilities.  It’s all self-contained and there are no general education students there.  I taught grades 9-12 for a couple of years and then moved to teaching grades 4-6.  I was also the Principal Designee.  After 8 years, I went to Howenstine High Magnet School as the Exceptional Education Department Chair and Principal Designee.  When I knew Howenstine was going to close, I applied for the Department Chair position at Sahuaro,” says Dwyer.

Her replacement, Emily Seuss, says, “I can definitely  say with confidence that I will miss Mrs. Dwyer . Even though I’ve only known her for about a year, I am sure that everyone else will miss her.”  Suess is set to take over for Dwyer after she leaves and said- “On behalf of the special education department, we want to wish Cyndi Dwyer a fond farewell. Her dedication and commitment to the education of students with disabilities has been greatly valued and appreciated by all here at Sahauro and throughout the district. Cyndi’s input, professionalism and management of the exceptional education department will be missed!”

Suess has received this advice from Dwyer: ” Your main job will be keeping Sahuaro in compliance with IEPs and their requirements, however:  Try not to dwell on things you can’t control. Don’t take the work or the stress of work home.  You need to enjoy your family. Do at least one thing a day that calms you. Learn the things about your job as they come up.  There’s just too much to know it all on your first day. Give yourself and the department ‘time’; You will do a great job 🙂 Best of luck!”

Six years is a long time, full of memories she will never forget, but there is so much more she plans to do in the near future, “I have many home projects and photo albums I want to put together.  I will still work at Sahuaro for football and basketball games.  And best of all, I will be working as a travel consultant and traveling myself.  Right after school is out, I will be headed to Cancun, and then at the end of June to Bangkok,” Dwyer says, ” After having cancer, I decided that I wanted to do something REALLY fun while I am healthy.”

We all wish you the best, Mrs Dwyer.