Parents are expressing appreciation for a teacher in Oneida County.

Jennifer Maynard is a Special Education Teacher with Oneida-Herkimer-Madison BOCES, working at the Westmoreland Primary School. Her compassion and patience has been greatly appreciated by parents, and it continues to grow.

"I wanted her to get the recognition that she deserves because of how great she is with my child and how great she is with the other children," said Marlena Heitzman. Her son is one of Maynard's students. "A lot of these kids don't have the services they usually do. They don't have occupational therapy. They don't have speech therapy, and that is important for those kids especially with IEPs and she incorporates all that is school every single day."

Maynard said she focuses on keeping things consistent for her students.

"In the summer they have a couple weeks off, and they're at home asking to come to school so I can only imagine what they're going through right now continuing to ask to come to school, but I think doing our Zoom meetings and letting them see our face is the best that we can do right now," said Maynard.

"It gives him a sense of calmness now. Which is, it's great for him because it's very difficult for children with Autism to understand what's going on," said Heitzman.

Maynard said meeting virtually provides a sense of normalcy.

"We're still all here," she said. "Things are a little different right now, but I haven't gone anywhere. You can still hear me. I can still talk to you. You can still see that your friends are here and ok. It's just gonna be a little different for right now."

Maynard also makes herself available for parents and reaches out to encourage them. She said this is all a team effort, working together with teacher assistants and administrators.