University High School special education teacher Kristin Clisham-Fowler and Hartford Public Schools district psychologist Dr. Nelson Rivera will be retiring at the end of the 2024-2025 school year after many years of working in education.
Mrs. Fowler chose to be a special education teacher because when she was growing up, her sister had a childhood illness, and so she wanted to help children with special needs. She started out as a child life specialist and worked with terminally ill kids. Then she went into teaching, but still with a group of kids that learn differently. She said that it was more about helping these kids than it was about being a teacher, so she just kind of fell into teaching. The most rewarding part of her job was that students always knew that she wasn’t giving up on them and wanted them to have success in their lives. When she was asked about challenges she has faced in her role, Mrs. Fowler said, “I’ve been lucky to have worked with great administrators, principals, and staff, but sometimes working with families who have a student with special needs can be a challenge because it’s almost like you’re a teacher to the whole family and not just the student.” Mrs. Fowler was clear to say that the students are certainly not the challenge, but sometimes she isn’t able to do everything that she wants to do, and parents often feel the same way because there is only so much that can be done.
In her 32 years of working in education, Mrs. Fowler has seen a shift in the job. There is a lot more paperwork and litigation involved today than there was when she first started because when she began her career, it was really just about helping the kids, and now it seems like most of the job is filing paperwork, and she doesn’t have as much time to work with students as she used to. When we asked her about advice she would give to people who are entering the field of special education and/or her successor, she said, “Don’t do it for the money; it is not just a job. Your reward is helping the kids.” She said that the pay is good, and she enjoys having summers off, but she never really turns her brain off when she leaves work; she often thinks about her day and what she can do better for her students in the future. So her overall advice is to make sure that you love kids.
Mrs. Fowler is going to miss working with other people; she loves what she called “the family environment” here at UHSSE. She will also miss the daily routine and the staff and students at our school. When she begins her retirement, she will be playing a lot of golf, she wants to play the piano, and she has a daughter who is getting married in October, so she will be very busy getting ready for that. As far as staying connected with UHSSE, she is hoping that administration can arrange for her to come back even a day or so a week, even if she was just subbing.
Dr. Rivera took both psychology and sociology in high school. When he first graduated high school, he wanted to be a history teacher, but there were not many of those jobs available at the time, so he majored in sociology with a minor in psychology. His roommate was also majoring in psychology, so he took some courses and really liked it, so he switched his major from sociology to psychology, and after that he realized that he would be going to graduate school. After Dr. Rivera graduated from Central Connecticut State University, he went to the University of Hartford for his master’s degree, and he went to get his PHD in Los Angeles and got both a master’s and a PhD in psychology. He worked at a psychiatric hospital and with Big Brothers Big Sisters which is how he discovered that he enjoys working with kids. After working at the psychiatric hospital, he worked at the village, and then he came to work in Hartford Public Schools.
There are a variety of things that Dr. Rivera has liked most about his job. “I like the people and students that I’ve met and worked with. I’ve liked how every day is kind of unpredictable for what I am going to end up doing; I get to supervise psychologists and work with special education teachers to test students and talk to them directly,” he said. “I get to teach PDs, and I do a lot of PPTs with parents, so I like the variety of my job.”
Dr. Rivera started a resource classroom at Maria Sanchez School and at MD Fox School for students that have autism but are nonverbal, and they do discrete trials with them, and it helps them to stay in an inclusion environment and also get the type of services that they need.
Advice that Dr. Rivera would give to people who are interested in becoming a school psychologist includes making sure that they explore what psychology is. There are research books in college libraries that talk about the different types of psychology and careers in psychology. And also look at the financial cost to become a psychologist. He took out student loans, so you have to consider that, and there are other fields that you can go into to help people, like social work, and not have to go into debt. To be considered a psychologist, you have to have a doctorate degree.
Dr. Rivera has worked with teachers and staff to support the mental health needs of students by explaining the results of psychological testing and getting an understanding of where the student is coming from, what they are good at, and what they may not be good at. He has also supported them by developing functional behavioral analysis and behavioral intervention plans and helping them obtain resources for when they are outside of the community.
Dr. Rivera is going to miss the students, teachers, and administrators that he has worked with over the years. He does not currently have that many plans for his retirement. He will be selling his house and deciding if he is going to live part-time in Connecticut. He definitely will be living part-time in Puerto Rico. He would also like to do some consultancy and do a workshop at a district in August, but he does not know what the next phase of his life will be. Right now he wants to go to the gym a lot and do some volunteer work but he is unsure what kind of work it will be.
In conclusion, the retirement of Mrs. Fowler and Dr. Rivera marks the end of an era for University High School and Hartford Public Schools. Their dedication to education and the well-being of their students has left an indelible mark on the community. We wish them all the best as they prepare to transition into the next stage of their lives.
