April Beck
BOARD MEMBER
April Beck is passionate about ensuring that every child reaches his/her fullest potential. April’s desire is to educate others of the importance of early interaction and how that impacts children’s futures. She spends her days as a fourth grade teacher. April is married to Reggie Beck and together they enjoy raising their children Jaret, Leah, and Jamison.
April wanted to become a teacher for as long as she remembers. Her inspiration to reach this goal came from several of her elementary teachers. She moved to Virginia to attend college and remained there for an additional three years after graduation.
April’s first teaching job was a teacher assistant at a preschool. She also coached volleyball at a division three college while teaching preschool. The following year, she obtained a third grade teaching position in the Shenandoah Valley and taught there for two years. When the couple decided to move to Ohio, April applied and was accepted into a fourth grade teaching position at Wauseon Exempted Village Schools. During the nine years she taught fourth grade, four of them were spent working closely with an Intervention Specialist in an inclusion setting with many children on 504 plans and IEP plans.
April earned her Master’s Degree in Educational Administration and Supervision. She also obtained her PK-12 principal’s license. In 2009, April accepted the position as ELL Coordinator for the Wauseon Exempted Village Schools. This involved building the ELL program, servicing ELL students in three buildings, communicating with parents, and much more. April obtained her TESOL endorsement on-line in 2010. April was trained in SIOP (Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol) by Pearson and she was instrumental in providing SIOP professional development to numerous staff members.
In 2009, April also opened a food pantry at the elementary school where she works. That food pantry continues to provide meals for students and their families as needs arise. April began to realize that many students were getting breakfast and lunch at school, but not eating anything else at home. Realizing that basic needs must be met before students are able to focus on learning, April’s desire is that all children have the food they need.
April is currently coaching JV volleyball, teaching fourth grade, and is serving as a mentor for a resident educator. She is also an active member of North Clinton Church and serves on several committees there.
“Several years ago, I had a fifth grade student who really struggled in school. This situation made me wonder what more I could do to help catch kids up academically. How could I get this learning gap to close? The student was almost twelve years old and didn’t understand the basic language skills he needed to read and write. I became increasingly concerned to learn that by fifth grade, students who do not have the interactions and lap time with their parents will have an extremely difficult time ever catching up.
When my son Jamison was about four years old, I was amazed at how quickly he was learning to read, write, and speak. It didn’t seem fair that he was academically ahead of some of my fifth grade students. I understand clearly how important lap time and every interaction is for infants and young children. I’m very excited to be a part of this journey educating others as they begin to raise their children, because It All Matters.”
