My name is Renee Jackson and I am the new Essential Elements teacher for South.  I have been teaching school on and off since 1987.  I taught two years in 4th grade in Sandy, then I moved home to Colorado to get married.  We moved back to Utah for my husband to attend Brigham Young University.  When he graduated, we took our then 1-year old adopted son and moved back home to Colorado.  We did a variety of things for work and adopted our second son.  Three years after that, we adopted our son and daughter (full siblings).  My husband began working on his Master's Degree in Special Education and then, a year later, I did the same thing.

When I began working on my Master's Degree, I got my first job working in Special Ed teaching students with severe cognitive, learning and physical needs.  I loved working with my kiddos and spent the next 6 years in that position.  It was very challenging because I had almost experience working with students with special needs but we learned and grew together and it was wonderful.

Then, in August of 2011, my oldest son, then 17, was struggling with severe mental health issues and we decided we needed to move to Utah for him to attend a charter school started by two of my dearest college friends.  In a whirlwind move, my son and I moved back to Utah, I started a new job and my son started school in 3 days.  The rest of my family joined us in November of the same year.  Since then, I have taught students with moderate needs in a self-contained classroom for 9 years and students with mild to moderate needs in a Resource setting.

This spring, I was looking for a change and kept noticing posts on Facebook from a former vice principal and friend of mine who works at West and, on a whim, reached out to her to see if there was an opening for a SpEd teacher.  She looked into it and, after a bit of searching, contacted me and said there was.  As I got to know Sarah Mataia, Michelle Petrulsky and Jeremy Craig, I knew I was home.  I am so excited to work with the teachers and administration, my kids and their families!

My interests and hobbies are many.  I love dragons, going to concerts, spending time with my family, camping, reading good books and teaching kids.  I play the guitar, piano, recorder and sing.  I have acted in several community plays and was a choir director with a friend of mine for a 110 voice elementary choir.   My friend and I also produced and directed an annual musical for the school that met with great success.