Congratulations to Linda Muratore, Maplewood Intermediate School’s Teacher of the Year! Mrs. Muratore has been with the South Huntington School District since 2015 as a Speech Pathologist at Maplewood. She's also worked for a bit at Birchwood, and currently splits her week working at Countrywood as well. Colleagues look upon Mrs. Muratore as Maplewood’s resident speech and language expert, and someone who is always available for her students and colleagues whether they’re looking for support. encouragement, guidance, or simply a shoulder to lean on.
Mrs. Muratore received her Masters Degree in Speech and Language Pathology from St. John’s University. She didn’t start her career working in education. She was working solely with adults in rehabilitation facilities. But her involvement with a home care case involving a pair of twins on the autism spectrum helped her realize the long term impact she could have on children to improve their communications skills. After ten years working more with children in a private practice, she decided to apply for a position with the South Huntington district and said, “Boy, am I glad I did!”
The rewarding part of working with children for Mrs. Muratore is the “a-ha” moment - when something connects for a student and they’re finally able to accomplish what they’ve been working on. It could be pronouncing a difficult sound on their own or using the correct verb tense in a sentence. Her Special Education students’ continued hard work to overcome physical, cognitive and social challenges that others take for granted has taught her all about resilience. “I love how so many of them remain positive and enthusiastic in spite of that struggle,” she said.
Outside the classroom, Mrs. Muratore helps Maplewood organize their annual collection drive for local veterans and helps plan their Veterans Day Breakfast every year. She also volunteers to help the Special Education Parent Teacher Association (SEPTA) at their events and meetings.
She believes her colleagues at Maplewood to be the most creative, caring and dedicated teachers she’s ever seen and so, was stunned and humbled to be named Teacher of the Year, and be considered to be among them. Because she comes from the health side of her profession, Mrs. Muratore said it took a while for her to even consider herself an educator but now she embraces the title of Teacher, helping her students to communicate thereby giving them the power to make important decisions, advocate for themselves, and create opportunities for a better future.