Sevastopol’s Jody Arbter Wins May Lemke Special Service Award

(Left to right) President Elect Ozalle Toms and current Wisconsin Council for Exceptional Children President Lana Collet Klingenberg present the May Lemke Special Service Award to Sevastopol’s Jody Arbter. Submitted.

Sevastopol School District’s Speech and Language Pathologist Jody Arbter was recently recognized by The Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) at an event that annually pays tribute to educators who have advanced the field and the quality of special education services. Arbter received the May Lemke Special Service Award, which is designated to a professional who demonstrates qualities of exceptional perseverance, love, courage and leadership in providing outstanding service for children and youth with special needs.

Beyond her professional day-to-day speech and language responsibilities, Arbter leads a Sevastopol team of professionals who are in their second year of a three-year cycle to grow the district’s capacity and autonomy in serving students with autism through CESA’s Allies in Autism (AAE) program.

“Jody’s skill and competence are matched by her compassion and her ability to connect with both students and staff to facilitate a truly positive and collaborative learning environment that encourages open communication and acceptance. This philosophy has a powerful way of catapulting student services and programming to an exceptional level,” wrote Elizabeth Langteau, OTR and Allies in Autism Education Coach, CESA #7 in a letter supporting Arbter’s nomination for the award.