Camelot Profile: Debra Singley
Debra Singley is principal of Camelot’s newest school, Camelot of the Quad Cities. She comes to us with extensive knowledge and experience. In fact she agreed to postpone her planned retirement to launch and oversee this school. Debra is patient, thoughtful and puts students’ needs first. She has Camelot of the Quad Cities off and running to a great start.
What kind of challenges did you and your team face in getting the new school ready?
Our first challenge was preparing the building. It was terribly run down and had been empty for five and a half years, so preparing the building was a major job. The other challenge is having staff, including myself, get to know the Camelot culture, philosophy, expectations and putting together a quality team.
Camelot did a very nice job of sending us resources and people from other campuses as well as outside experts. The delay in finishing repairs and getting our building open allowed us an additional two weeks of professional development so we were more than ready when our first student arrived.
You’ve been a public school teacher, principal, assistant superintendent and special education department chair over a 37-year career. How do you feel your vast experience helps in your new role?
I feel that I have a priority with the area both personally and professionally. I have had both professional and personal dealings with many of the areas facing administrators and teachers, principals. I know how to work through the politics of the area and know who the major players are. Also my experience with the district led me to believe that there is a need for a program like Camelot in our area and I’m compelled to have it be successful here.
There are special education programs in the public schools. You oversaw them. How is the determination made that a student needs more help than the public school system can supply?
That’s all decided in an IEP (Individualized Education Program) and staffing meeting in a multi-disciplinary conference. And we have very well established quality programs in our area but we needed more options. Until Camelot’s arrival there was no private therapeutic day school in the area. I think the districts here are getting to know us and what we offer. We already have kids from both Illinois and Iowa.
Do these administrators from area school districts come to visit?
Yes, that’s a large part of my job. We have had people in from several of the surrounding districts. Also, we have gotten a lot of calls from parents in the area. We refer those calls back to their school districts
What qualities do you think make an effective special ed teacher?
The first three that come to mind are compassion, understanding and high expectations. There is a very high demand for special ed teachers and we are very fortunate and proud that some very highly skilled teachers with those attributes chose Camelot of the Quad Cities.
You have been an educator for a long time. What motivates you to keep at it?
When I found out that Camelot was coming to our area I saw the opportunity to build a new school as a new challenge and one that would give me the opportunity to put my thumb print on the program. I had retired but then went to visit the DeKalb campus (Camelot’s Northwest Center for Autism) when they were doing an autism workshop. When I got to meet Camelot employees and got to see the Camelot program and learn more about it I was very impressed with the results they were getting with students. Then, between Rella (head of new therapeutic day schools Rella Peeler) and Theresa (VP Theresa Mortl-Smith) and fellow administers at the other Camelot campuses I received a tremendous level of support. Then sense of everyone at Camelot working toward the same goals provides motivation in itself.
It’s early but what kind of feedback are you getting from students and/or parents?
I try to call parents regularly and the feedback for the most part has been their child likes it here or loves it here. Of course not every call is like that but parents have been very supportive. I had one parent tell me how in a very short time her son had become so much more socially confident. That’s the kind of feedback that drives us to come to work every day.
