Jennifer Bell is an award-winning teacher at Santa Cruz Elementary School. Photo by Mason Callejas

Voted one of three “Best of the Best” teachers at Maricopa Unified School District in May, Jennifer Bell said growing up she never thought she would pursue a career in education.

But memories from her childhood were exactly what motivated her to become one anyway.

“Honestly, the reason why I became a (special education) teacher is my own brother, who is three years younger than me, was born deaf,” Bell said.

The siblings grew up in a small farming town in Montana. Bell said its rural location presented obstacles for their parents who fought to retain interpreters and other resources like closed captioning for class projects.

“My brother went through holy hell growing up,” Bell said. “Kids were not nice to him because he was different, and so I think that’s why I’m really passionate here,” Bell said.

As a resource teacher at Santa Cruz Elementary, Bell wanted to change the negative feelings sometimes associated with special education.

“I believe that the stigma is changing at Santa Cruz because we treat all students with respect,” Bell said.

Her work has not gone unnoticed by her colleagues at Santa Cruz. They have nominated her for the “Best of the Best” award the past four years.

Bell is as cool as her classroom at SCES, where she is the resource teacher. Photo by Mason Callejas

Academic Coach June Shull nominated Bell last year in part because of how she handled a large caseload of students after a part-time resource teacher left in the middle of the school year.

“Mrs. Bell did not get a replacement. Although she ended up with almost 50 students, she never complained about the situation,” Shull said.

This year, sixth-grade students at MUSD elementary schools were transferred to the junior highs, leaving a smaller class size for Bell at Santa Cruz.

“Because of the override, we did have less kids in our classrooms today and it felt like kids were going to get more one-on-one,” Bell said after the district’s first day of school ended. “We are going to have higher learning and higher scores because the kids actually get more instruction.”

Santa Cruz is in Tortosa, the community farthest from the center of town.

Colleagues said Bell is known for promoting the school through her community spirit during events like Salsa Festival, 2nd Saturday Market and the Mud Run.

“We are kind of a diamond in the rough, a lost gem out here. The more that we can expose Santa Cruz, the better,” Bell said.

Bell and her husband Aundre, who teaches special education at Desert Wind Middle School, live in Tortosa with their two children, Elijah and Alivia, who both attend Santa Cruz.

Next year Elijah will attend Desert Wind.

“Mrs. Bell is a big believer in investing in ‘her’ community,” said Danielle Bambling, preschool and elementary program specialist at MUSD. “She takes great pride in the fact she lives and works in the same neighborhood and begs to never be transferred.”

Bell plans to stay put and continue the success she and her students have accomplished in the classroom.

“I want my students to feel that they can achieve whatever they put their minds to,” Bell said.

This story appears in the September issue of InMaricopa.

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