Meet Our Staff
Brittney Holmes, MSEd
Program Coordinator/ Special Educator
Brittney was born and raised in Connecticut and obtained bachelor degrees in Special Education, Elementary Education, and English from Southern Connecticut State University. While attending college full-time, Brittney worked as a nanny for two families with children with special needs. At the end of her college career, Brittney returned to Vermont and started work at HARP. Currently, Brittney is working on completing a Masters program in Curriculum and Instruction with a concentration in Special Education through Southern New Hampshire University.
Carrie Parks-Bradley
Special Educator
Carrie has an undergraduate degree in Art Education from Buffalo State College. Teaching art combined with many years of working in behavioral intervention and training in wellness influence her work as a special educator. She considers the whole picture of a student's experiences, interests and future potential. Building creativity, self-advocacy and initiative are important in her teaching philosophy. Carrie is inspired to see the academic, social and behavioral progress of her students over time. She believes that learning really stems from building positive relationships and having fun. Carrie is excited to be finishing her MA in Special Education from Castleton University, and to see what adventures HARP has next!
Megan Lewis
Paraeducator
Molly Benson
Special Educator
Bio coming soon
Janice DeCosta
Special Educator
Janice has been working with individuals with significant educational and behavioral needs for the past 40 years. She worked at the Educational Collaborative of Greater Boston (EDCO) as a special educator for adolescents in the state hospital system, and through the Institute of Professional Practice, set up two community based residential programs for young adults coming out of the state school system. For 18 years, she served as the Program Director for the New England Center for Children – Staff Intensive Program (NECC).
In 2000, she started as a case manager and educational consultant for the Hartford Area Regional Collaborative, and then worked with a team to develop HARP. She was the Program Director at HARP from 2005 – 2015, subsequently becoming HARP's Special Educator/Case Manager. Janice currently specializes in developing behavior support programs, social skills training, functional communication training and life skills. She was awarded district employee and Teacher of The Year in 2010.
Sara Airoldi
Special Educator
Sara graduated from Southern Connecticut State University in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science in Special Education with a speciality in teaching those with Moderate and Profound Needs. She worked at Easter Seals, New Haven's Regional Center as a speech language assistant. For four years Sara was a special education teacher at Mile Creek School. In 1988, she moved to Vermont and taught in elementary and intensive resource rooms in South Royalton and Woodstock, respectively. Since 2001, she started teaching at the Hartford School District and has provided intensive training for those with Autism at all grade and ability levels at the Dothan Brook School. Sara was part of the planning process for HARP since 2002 and taught the first two summers of the pilot program. She has also worked with Special Olympics and set up Special Ed.Vacation Bible School programs. Sara began teaching at HARP full time in 2015.
Shelly Sturtevant
Paraeducator
Shelly was born in Hartland Vermont. She started her own daycare in 1996. Shelly has worked at the Hartland Elementary School as a paraeducator for students with special needs and has helped at the recreation department as an after school and vacation counselor. There, she worked with a variety of students both on and off the autism spectrum. Since 2008, Shelly has worked at HARP.
Kaycee Herschel
Paraeducator
Born and raised in VT, Kaycee attended the Hartford Area Career and Technology Center, completed three practicums over the course of her junior and senior year at HARP. She worked as a paraeducator over both summers of 2016 & 2017 at HARP. She graduated from the Community College of Vermont, and in addition to her position at HARP, has two part time jobs providing respite for families with special needs kids.
Pamela Potwin
Paraeducator
Born and raised in New York, Pam moved to Vermont in 1987. She became a paraeducator at the elementary school where her sons attended in Sharon, Vermont. While there, she enrolled in sign language courses to work with her deaf student and eventually took the Vermont state praxis to obtain an equivalent to an associates degree. She has been working at HARP for the past 11 years.
Eric Ballou
Paraeducator
Raised in the suburban city of Naperville, IL, Eric completed his Bachelor’s degree at Johnson State College in Johnson, VT with an environmental science major. He worked as a one-on-one paraprofessional for a 12-year-old student with autism and oppositional defiance disorder within Hartford School District’s Regional Alternative Program. Eric then accepted full-time position at HARP, where he is currently in his fifth year. He works with a variety of students with different challenges supporting their behavioral, social communication, and vocational goals.
Allison Porreca
Behavior Analyst
Bio coming soon
Hollie Stevens
Paraeducator
Hollie was born in Middleboro, Massachusetts and graduated from Cape Cod Technical High school in 1988. She was offered a position at the South Royalton school with the special education team, where over the next 10 years, Hollie worked with children aged 2-24 in public schools, home based, and in the community. She has also worked for Easter Seals, The Clara Martin Center, and the VT C.P.S. Hollie and her husband trained to be licensed therapeutic foster parents as a way to offer a safe place for children in crisis. She is certified in many different strategies to assist those with developmental challenges, enabling her to better understand the broad spectrum of developmental disorders. Hollie began working at HARP in 2008 and also provides support after school, weekends, and during holiday breaks for some of her former students.
Patti Spear
Admin Assistant
Bio coming soon
Michele Giarrocco
Occupational Therapist
Bio coming soon
Lori Sherman
Paraeducator
Born and raised in Hartford, VT, Lori possesses over 30 years experience combined both as a parent and a special education paraprofessional. With two sons diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum, she has extensive experience navigating the special education system as a parent, and has been employed by the Hartford School District for the past 14 years as a special education paraprofessional working at both the White River School and HARP. She works with students from 1st grade through 21 years old with varying levels of abilities.
Josh Barker
Paraeducator
Josh was born and raised in Lyme, New Hampshire and graduated from the University of New Hampshire in 2011 with a Bachelor's Degree of Science in Kinesiology and Health, and a Minor in Education. He started working part-time at Indian River School as a classroom paraeducator and was then offered a full-time special education paraprofessional position working with a student with autism. Josh started working at HARP with his student during the summers and Indian River during the school year. In 2017, Josh began working at HARP as a full-time intensive needs paraprofessional.
Janet Thomas, RN
School Nurse
Janet earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing Degree at the University of Vermont and spent 12 years as a nurse at the Veterans Administration Hospital. She then retired from the Vermont Army National Guard after 30 years of service as a Field and Clinical Nurse with her last 7 years as Commander of the State Medical Command. For the past 14 years, she has been a School Nurse working both at HARP and the Wilder Regional Alternative Program. Her past and present community supports include the local Girl and Boy Scout Troops and is very active with the Special Olympics with her daughter.
Julie Gribble, MS CCC-SLP
Speech-Language Pathologis
Raised in Norwich, Vermont, Julie received her bachelor’s degree in communication disorders at the University of New Hampshire, in 1996. She received her master’s degree in speech language pathology at James Madison University. Julie worked the university’s speech-language clinic, a state psychiatric hospital, and an elementary school in Virginia and was also a member of the JMU diagnostic and treatment team for voice disorders. She has been a speech-language pathologist for 20 years and started her professional career specializing in working with children and young adults with autism spectrum disorder, speech/language delays, verbal apraxia, voice disorders, and fluency disorders and created/implemented intensive summer speech/language programs for children with autism spectrum disorder and developmental delays. In July of 2012, Julie moved back to the Upper Valley and accepted her current position at HARP.
Heather Obar
Physical Therapist
Bio coming soon
