Karen Taylor
AdministratorProvincial Outreach Program |
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Karen has had an outstanding career as an educator. For 34 years she has taught and worked with Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children throughout the province of British Columbia.
Karen has taught in several school districts beginning with the Burnaby school district and then moving on to North Vancouver, Peace River South, Sooke and now has returned full circle to Burnaby with the Provincial Outreach Program since Sept 2003. For four years, she has been providing innovative services province-wide.
While her tenure in Dawson Creek and in North Vancouver provided some of the greatest sources of inspiration for Karen, her passion is fueled by the amazing students and families she has been privileged to work with as well as supportive colleagues in the field. With parent and community involvement, Karen set up the South Peace Society which was the catalyst for fund raising initiatives allowing local Deaf/HH students to travel all over the province, which at that time (1978-1984) was very rare.
Karen's 133 acre hobby farm and "the log house that Karen built", provided 5 summers of camps for Deaf and Hard of Hearing students from all over BC and Alberta.
As part of the 1990 International Year of Literacy, School District # 62's (Sooke) Community Education Department received a generous grant from The Vancouver Foundation, the Provincial Government and the Federal Government, Karen wrote and created the "Deafness and Learning" videotapes and booklets which were initially distributed to all Federal Government service offices such as the Post Office and all school districts resource libraries. You will also see her work in the public libraries. Private corporations, such a Boeing whom hires a large number of Deaf employees, also received these videotapes. . The "Deafness and Learning" publication was then distributed in 47 countries around the world: Australia, Pakistan, India, South Africa, the United States and some of the Scandinavian countries to name a few. This production received an national media award from the Council for Exceptional Children for its outstanding contribution to the field of Special Education.
In 1990, two district resource programs (elementary/secondary) created by Karen in the Sooke SD were amalgamated to become a Provincial Resource Program serving D/HH students on lower Vancouver Island. To support this initiative, the Ministry of Education built a 'state of the art' school modeled closely after the BCSD/South Slope school. David Cameron elementary school continues to house a district resource program. The PRP status was removed with the unpredicted change in the demographics.
Establishing, what is believed to be, the first private school for the Deaf in Canada, Karen served on the Board of this school for five years (about 1987 to 1992). Named Elizabeth Buckley and located in Victoria, it was born out of an idea with a colleague to create a small K- 3 independent school with both hearing and Deaf students in equal numbers. The intent was for accelerated learning for all learners. The school still exists today.
Karen is a powerhouse of ideas, a proposal writing expert, a pioneer in endless cutting edge ideas, and a fervent believer of teamwork and community collaboration. She is a passionate and tireless workhorse who makes things happen!