Western High special ed teacher earns recognition
An autistic student knocked her out cold the first week on the job.
But, more than a year later, Laranne Remling is still Western High School’s special education teacher for the severely handicapped – and so much more.
She actually hears complaints from her own family for bailing on them to attend students’ birthday parties and family dinners.
"I don’t have my own kids, so I consider them my own," she says, explaining that she must go the extra mile to earn the trust of students, who aren’t verbal but still emotional. They need that rapport to progress in the simple tasks she and three aides teach them.
Folding towels. Zipping a vest. Each takes weeks if not months.
"Counting money is as high as it goes," she says, noting that a student of two years just learned to speak.
But that teenage boy died two weeks ago from his condition.
"So, it’s quiet now," she says, looking down at the table.
This commitment to her second family has earned Remling the recognition of Clark County Educator of the Month for November. Each monthly winner will be honored at an end-of-the-school-year banquet, where an Educator of the Year will be crowned.
Remling was chosen from a list of nominees by a panel that includes members of the Clark County School Board, Public Education Foundation, PTA and Teach for America.
She is relatively new to special education but not to teaching, having taught at the men’s prison in Chino, Calif., before coming to the Las Vegas high school near U.S. Highway 95 and Decatur Boulevard.
She taught those about to be paroled, providing them with skills they’d need to live on their own, such as applying for jobs. She grew up in Las Vegas and taught at Durango High School 10 years ago, not working in special education but in regular classes. She also was a cheer-leading coach.
But she’s found her niche in special education.
Here, she has the children all day and can see the progress of constant attention. It’s not the assembly line of regular high school classes where teachers specialize in one subject, repeating lessons to a revolving door of students.
And she’ll have students for up to six years, with the state forcing them out at age 22.
"It’s like a family," she says as the bell rings, signaling the end of lunch.
The aides each take a student while Remling greets 17-year-old Ana Perez, sipping from a carton of chocolate milk. They sit at a round table and fold hand towels.
Remling guides Ana’s hands, teaching a basic skill that will make her a little more independent. That’s the goal of everything she does here.
"It’s usually like pulling teeth," Remling says of her work with Ana. "And she doesn’t smile very often."
It must be the men in the room, she remarks to another aide.
Ana is 17, after all.
The student then grabs a bath towel and tries folding it.
"Holy tamole," Remling exclaims. "I’ve never seen you do that before. A big towel. High five."
Ana’s mother, Alisi Latu-Perez, has noticed the difference in her daughter this year.
"As long as Ms. Remling is there, Ana will be there," she says, noting that her daughter needs the consistency that Remling provides.
"Ana can be a tough one," she says.
Remling realizes that.
"I wouldn’t have it any other way," she says.
Contact reporter Trevon Milliard at tmilliard@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.
Educator of the MonthReaders are encouraged to fill out a nomination form for anyone they believe should be Educator of the Month. One educator will be selected each month by a panel of local judges. Each monthly winner will automatically receive a bid for Educator of the Year. At the end of the nine-month program, the Las Vegas Review-Journal will hold a special banquet in honor of the educators, and one of them will be crowned Educator of the Year.
To make a nomination, go to lvrj.com/promotions and click on the "Educator of the Month" icon. Nominations begin the first of every month and end on the third Wednesday of the same month.
