Meet Barry Schwartz 

Special Education Teacher, Montclair, NJ & NJCEC Co-VP  

My name is Barry Schwartz and I am currently the co-VP for the NJCEC.  I have been a member of CEC for over 20 years and on the board for the last 15 in the capacity of Secretary, Student Advisor and Scholarship Chairman.  I currently teach at Glenfield Middle School in Montclair, NJ as an in-class support teacher and am also a team leader.  We actually teach the same students for their 3 years of middle school, so it actually becomes sort of a family atmosphere with each team.  Besides my teacher responsibilities, I organize and implement an enrichment and Student of the Month program for Special Education/Regular Education students in the building; I mentor other teachers; am subject matter leader and coordinate class field trips and administrate fundraisers for school activities.  I have been awarded the CEC Teacher of the Year in 1998, and in 2003 and 2012, as well as the Weston Award for Excellence in Teaching by the Montclair Board of Education.  I have also been the NJ Nets Teacher of the Year in  2007.

I have been presenting a workshop entitiled "Resource Center Teaching Strategies"  at our annual CEC conventions as well as at the NJ Science Teacher's Convention.

Some of my favorite things to do with my students is to make quarterly visits to an elementary school where we visit for Halloween, Christmas/Hannukah, Valentine's Day and Dr. Seuss day where we sing, make and deliver cards and read to the students.  It gives my current students a chance to enrich another student's life.  We also do plenty of community service projects in Montclair, and I take pictures of all of our activities and show a monthly slide show, so that the students can enjoy their successes.