After 30 years in what he considers to be one of the most gratifying careers, Sam Mule' recently received the John Melcher Award as special-education administrator of the year.

Now retired from the Northland Pines School District where he served as director of pupil services, Mule' was nominated and unanimously supported by his colleagues from around the state as members of the Wisconsin Council of Administrators of Special Services (WCASS).

“Just being considered, much less receiving the award is a proud accomplishment for me,” Mule' confided. “But I feel, although grateful, somewhat intimidated because I personally know John Melcher and hold him in high esteem. I'm no John Melcher!”

Mule' said that Melcher is viewed as the pioneer and father of special education in Wisconsin. He was active on the state level and a national leader in the field before the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act went into effect in 1975. He said Melcher helped shape a Wisconsin law which was put in place in 1973 and the Federal law was fashioned after that.

In the early 1960s, after completing his master's degree in special education from Northern Illinois University in De Kalb, Mule's career began when he went to work for the state of Illinois at the State Mental Health Center in Chicago.

“I was married by then and my wife and I wanted to raise a family in northern Wisconsin,” said Mule'. “So, after two years, I took a job in Cadott, which is 13 miles east of Chippewa Falls. There I taught high school students with cognitive disabilities who were referred to in those days as 'mentally retarded.' ”

After four years in the classroom, Mule' said he began to feel that the only way to reach and help more students and their families would be to go into administration.

“I was asked by a person at the Cooperative Education Services Agency (CESA) to consider going back to school to become a supervisor for special education,” continued Mule'.

Studying at UW-Stout, UW-Eau Claire and UW-Madison, Mule' earned 30 more credits, which qualified him for special licensure to be a supervisor of special education.

“In 1971, I started by supervising 12 classes in 24 school districts,” said Mule'. “When I left four years later, my supervisor, Perry Smith, and I had established 135 classes in those 24 districts.”

Continuing toward his goal to move north, in 1975 Mule' applied for a job with the CESA agency in this area.

“I was pretty tickled to be in Eagle River and now I was only working with five school districts, which included North Lakeland, Phelps, Northland Pines, Three Lakes and Elcho,” said Mule'.

For several years Mule' worked with the five districts, but as the job became more technical, his workload had to be reduced to three districts and even then he found himself spending 60% of his time at Northland Pines.

For 20 years, Mule' would spend one day at Three Lakes, one-half day at Phelps and the rest at Northland Pines. Meanwhile, he was still responsible for what happened in all the districts, five days a week.

Hired at Pines

“As my career progressed and the programs grew in those three districts, I realized I needed to be part of a team, rather than acting as a fireman on call and running from district to district,” admitted Mule'.

About that time, he said, there was a change in administration at Northland Pines with the hiring of Linda Kunelius, who herself was a former director of special education.

“She understood what the job entailed and tied it with several other responsibilities, such as with the gifted/talented and at-risk district wide assessment programs,” explained Mule'.

Because of the heavy workload, Northland Pines offered Mule' a 100% contract to work with their district exclusively and the other districts were reassigned by CESA.

“Rather than just being called in at some point to help, this job was now on a grassroots level and allowed me to be part of program development based on students' needs in the district,” said Mule'. “And there is a certain level of credibility when you're at one place all the time to help them through problems. It was just too frustrating for everyone when I'd arrive one day, tell them what to do and then leave.

“This job isn't just about solving problems, it's about working on a daily basis with staff and parents on modeling appropriate ways to solve problems.”

Mule' said he has had to spend more than 100 hours per year in ongoing training regarding legal aspects.

“We don't use the word 'mainstream' anymore, we say 'inclusion,' ” cautioned Mule'. “And for a child with Downs Syndrome, we say 'a student with significant disabilities,' because it is a softer term.

“One of the things I pride myself on in the 26 years I've worked with this district is that we've never had to spend a penny on attorney's fees to settle a dispute between the parents and school regarding the special-education needs of their child,” said Mule' proudly.

There is no one model to follow when educating children with disabilities. He said that some children need more support than others and the trick is to give the right amount of support without taking away their independence. After graduation, he said these children will be faced with the real world and must be prepared for it.

“Children with disabilities are more like people than unlike people,” advised Mule'. “They have feelings, social skills, food preferences, interests, likes and dislikes. That is why I've always put a child first and disability second.”

Colleagues Impressed

When first nominated for the John Melcher Award, Mule' was asked, as a candidate, to self-identify what he considers to be his proudest professional accomplishments. This was a task in humility for Mule', but his fellow colleagues had no problem giving testimonials of support on his behalf.

“One of Sam's greatest strengths is his ability to work with people,” said Kunelius. “He has been able to bring agencies together on behalf of children and has helped others cut through the red tape in order to serve children better. As a result, the Northland Pines School District has one of the best working relationships with Social Services, the health department, law enforcement, juvenile intake and the courts in the state.

“Sam is a dedicated, caring, knowledgeable and compassionate leader who has made a significant difference in the lives of handicapped children. He epitomizes the qualities that the John Melcher Award exemplifies and I know of no other director of special education/pupil services who is more deserving of this recognition,” Kunelius continued.

“Sam has piloted a groundbreaking in-school counseling program at Northland Pines for students with serious emotional disturbances. Through this program, many students in the district have received counseling services during the regular school day. The service is provided for students who tried counseling in the community and were unable to receive consistent mental health care. Sam wrote a grant and created a program partnership with community-based counseling to provide this much needed service,” said Maggie Peterson, special education teacher at Northland Pines.

“To underscore Sam's commitment to meeting the needs of all children, he was instrumental in developing an innovative tutoring program, the Senior Tax Exchange Program (STEP), and the reorganization of our gifted and talented (GT) program. STEP offered at-risk students the opportunity to receive one-on-one help with our caring senior citizen population. With the development of our GT program, teachers and students were given the training and resources to develop programming designed to meet the needs of students,” said Duane J. Frey, principal at the Eagle River Elementary School.

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