That’s when she decided to pursue a career as a special education teacher.
“Whenever I thought I wanted to be something else, I always went back to that,” Dupler said.
As far as teaching special needs students are concerned, Dupler said, “everybody needs help and everybody has different strengths, needs and weaknesses, but people with disabilities, they face challenges that most of us can’t even imagine. They often face cognitive challenges, physical challenges. ... I wanted to help them feel good about themselves and feel more independent. I just loved being around them and watching their accomplishments. That was very satisfying to me — to see people with special needs achieve things, learn things or accomplish things.”
Dupler said being a mother of three children puts her job as a principal into perspective.
She said she approaches “every child thinking, ‘This is someone else’s kid,’” and thinks of her students as her kids away from home.
“So, I would want to treat them with respect and care, as I would want others to treat my own children.”
Dupler became a principal so she could work with teachers to plan “good things for kids,” she said.
Dupler becomes principal of J.E. Prass Elementary School on Aug. 1. Her contract with the district will be up for review in July 2012.
Dupler considers her one-year stint as principal of Moraine Meadows Elementary School as an honor.
“It’s also an honor to go to Prass (Elementary),” Dupler said. “I really feel very humbled.”
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