Butler named Kittatinny HS teacher of the year

KITTATINNY — Kittatinny High School Principal Christian Angelillo has announced that Steven Butler was named the Kittatinny Teacher of the Year for 2014-2015.

Butler is a graduate of High Point Regional High School and at the age of 19, his personal ambition was to own and operate a successful restaurant.

He had a change of heart while attending classes in hotel and restaurant management at the University of Delaware and he began a search to find a suitable profession that matched his talent, philosophy and his family background of educators.

Butler’s search brought him to Willowglen Academy in 1993 when he became a caregiver at the group home for autistic adults. That experience led to his return to college to pursue a career in education, specifically teaching students with special needs.

Butler considers himself lucky to have done student teaching at Kittatinny, where he was placed in three different special education settings, in-class support, resource room, and self-contained classrooms.

He joined the teaching staff at Kittatinny Regional High School in 1998 and for the last 15 years has worked with many special needs students, many of whom were ‘at-risk’ and struggling with study skills and motivation.

He also started pilot programs such as a multiply-handicapped classroom to bring back students who were placed outside the district.

Last year he was asked to design a new educational concept called the Alternative Education Classroom, an experimental program that he currently teaches and manages.