In August, Lake County Educational Service Center board of directors appointed Dr. Tom Stone to fill the position of director of Region 4 SST. Not a newcomer to the SST, Dr. Stone served Region 4 for the previous two years as a special education and school improvement consultant.

Prior to working at SST-4, Dr. Stone was employed by Cardinal Local Schools as principal at Huntsburg Elementary and then at Cardinal's Intermediate school, while simultaneously serving as the director for special education in that district.

Dr. Stone is also active in community service in Geauga County where he lives. Most notable is his service on the founding board of the DDC Clinic in Middlefield. A past president of the clinic board, he provided leadership to a culturally diverse group as they created an internationally recognized medical, research, and educational institution.

Other new faces at the Region 4 office this fall include school improvement consultants, Carrie McClure and Jovette Hiltunen and Early Language and Literacy Specialist (ELLS) consultant, Deb Sutton.

Carrie McClure

ELLS consultant, Deb Sutton, served Madison Local School District as their director of early childhood education since 2003. Prior early childhood education positions include early intervention teacher with Lake County ESC and directorship of early education programs in Bay Village and the Painesville area. In Deb's position as ELLS consultant, she is coordinator of the Preschool Literacy Core for Early Educators and of the Teacher Leader Mentoring Project.

School improvement consultant, Jovette Hiltunen splits her time between the SST and Lake County ESC where she serves as director of the LC Vocational Training Center. She has been a career educator in Mentor Schools where she served first as a teacher, later as an elementary school principal, and, most recently, as director of curriculum. Her responsibilities center on support of Region 4 districts as they implement the Ohio Improvement Process (OIP).

comes from Region 7 SST in Mansfield where she served as an external OIP facilitator for the Ohio Improvement Process and as regional trainer in the areas of Aimsweb, Dibels, Positive Behavior Support, SWIS and Response to Intervention programs. Carrie will provide many of these same services for SST 4 and she will provide assistance in the area of Transition services training.