Ms. Gibbons has been an educator in Pinellas County for 31 years. She has a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and Master's degree in Elementary Ed. with Reading/Language Arts emphasis. She is certified in Elementary Ed., Early Childhood and ESOL. She was a classroom teacher for 21 years and a district literacy staff developer for 7 years. Three years ago, Ms. Gibbons joined the North Ward family to be the Reading First K-3 Reading Coach. As a coach, she supports teachers through Professional Development in the areas of Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Vocabulary, Fluency and Comprehension. She believes that children are our greatest teachers! They will guide us when we carefully note their strengths and needs and then make instructional decisions based on reading content knowledge. She is passionate about getting great literature into the hands of teachers and students.
One of Ms. Gibbons' heroes is Anne Sullivan. Ms. Sullivan wrote the following:
My heart is singing for joy this morning! A miracle has happened! The light of understanding has shone upon my little pupil's mind, and behold, all things are changed!
Ms. Gibbons has seen this miracle and her goal is for the children at North Ward to continually display that light of understanding. Then their teachers can experience such miracles!

Mrs. Eshelman has been a teacher at North Ward since 1999. This will be her 6th year as the READ 180 teacher. READ 180 is an intensive reading intervention program that helps educators confront the problem of adolescent illiteracy and special needs reading on multiple fronts, using technology, print, and professional development. READ 180 is proven to meet the needs of struggling readers whose reading achievement is below proficient level. The program directly addresses individual needs through differentiated instruction, adaptive and instructional software, high-interest literature, and direct instruction in reading, writing, and vocabulary skills.

Miss McConnell is the Librarian (Media Specialist) and Technology Coordinator at North Ward Elementary. She has a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature and a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science. She is in her third year as a North Ward tiger, and her third year of teaching. Miss McConnell handles the media center and everything electronic in the school, facilitates the Battle of the Books and other reading programs, oversees the Tiger TV team, teaches research and technology skills, and does a whole host of other things to support literacy and technology at North Ward. She is crazy about reading (and about getting other people crazy about reading, too!), and can often be found seriously discussing comic books with members of the second grade.

This is Mrs. Moore’s fifth year teaching general music education classes K-5. She taught 3 years in Hillsborough County and this is her second year in Pinellas County at North Ward Elementary and Ponce De Leon Elementary. She is the director of North Ward Performing Ensembles: 4th and 5th Grade Tiger Percussion Ensemble, Recorder Ensemble, 2nd and 3rd Grade Treble-making Tigers Chorus, 4th and 5th Grade Tiger Chorus. Mrs. Moore received her Bachelors of Music in Music Education ('04) from the University of South Florida at Tampa. She enjoys learning about music from other cultures and sharing them with her students. Her goal is to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to learn about music through singing, movement and instrument playing.

This is Ms. Swisher’s third year at North Ward Elementary School. She graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Art Education. She feels fortunate to have worked in art galleries and art associations, participate in collaborative projects with city and state Councils for the Arts, and spend a summer documenting Native American pictographs in Wyoming and Colorado. Despite her exciting experiences in the Arts Ms. Swisher has always strived to be an art teacher and couldn’t be happier that she has found her place at North Ward. Ms. Swisher’s goal as an art teacher is to make our students see that art and beauty is everywhere and to learn how art applies to the many facets of our lives.

Coach Kilgore has two Bachelor degrees in Elementary Education and Recreation Education. He has been teaching Physical Education in Pinellas County for ten years, six of those years at North Ward Elementary. In 2003 he was voted Physical Education Teacher of the year. Coach Kilgore also coaches swimming at Palm Harbor University High School. He enjoys fitness, fun, friends and children.

Miss Williamson works with students who have speech and/or language difficulties. She attended Ohio University and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Hearing, Speech, and Language Sciences. Miss Williamson will graduate this summer with a Masters of Science degree in Speech-Language Pathology/Communication Disorders. This is her 2nd year at North Ward, yet she has 4 years experience in the field. Miss Williamson is a member of the National Students of Speech-Language and Hearing Association (NSSLHA). She is also a member of The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association(ASHA) Division 16: School-Based Issues group. The mission of this division is to provide leadership and advocacy through a forum for all speech-language pathologists with interests in school-based issues, to promote the highest quality services within schools. Currently, Miss Williamson is working on writing her own speech program for kids who experience literacy difficulties along with speech impairments.

Ms. Bouchard is a certified Special Education and Elementary Education teacher. She also has a master’s degree in Educational Leadership. Ms. Bouchard brought 20 years teaching experience when she started at North Ward last year as the ESE inclusion/resource teacher. She provides research based interventions for students in the inclusion classroom and resource classroom. If you have any questions regarding ESE (Exceptional Student Education) please click on Ms. Bouchard’s name to email her.

Mr. Vazquez has been working as a Title One Teacher at North Ward since 2001.
He works as a teaching partner with Donna Eshleman in the READ180 program. Mr. Vazquez works one on one and in small groups with struggling readers to improve their reading skills by teaching and modeling reading strategies. He also assists students with vocabulary, spelling, and comprehension skills needed to improve reading. Mr. Vazquez utilizes small group activities such as Reader’s Theater, Poetry and other vehicles to actualize reading skills. Additionally, Mr. Vazquez tutors 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade students with math concepts. He is a math coach for the 4th grade math teams that compete in the Mighty Mu Math Contest and conducts math reviews for 5th graders prior to the FCAT assessment.

Mrs. Brunelle received her Bachelor’s degree in Therapeutic Recreation from State University of New York in Brockport and earned graduate credits at Long Island University. She retired from being the Senior Citizen’s Director at the Village of Mt. Kisco in New York. Mrs. Brunelle has been a teaching partner at North Ward for four years, implementing reading and math intervention programs.

Miss Oilschlager is our Title One teacher who supports classroom teachers in their instruction. She graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish. She recently completed the IMPACT program at Saint Petersburg College and received her Professional Teaching Certificate for grades K-6.