Educator Of The Month: Kathy Swartz

“Presuming competence.”

This is what drives Kathy Swartz’s approach to her students at Oak Hill Elementary, where she has been a special educator since 2014.

She was the school’s 2025 nominee for Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) Teacher of the Year.

Swartz began her career 31 years ago as a general education elementary school teacher in Baltimore County before her family settled in Severna Park. A mother of four adult children, she said parenthood changed her entire approach to teaching.

“I’m teaching somebody’s world,” Swartz said. “When you look at it that way, then it becomes much more personal.”

Her move from general to special education was also personal, and it was spurred by her own experiences as a parent. Her two younger children have special needs, and though she put her career on pause during their early childhood, she shifted gears when the time was right, realizing the impact the team around these students can make.

“Great teachers, caring teams made all the difference in the world,” Swartz said of her family’s experience with special education. “I want to be able to do that for other children.”

Swartz admits that her approach to students with special needs has evolved since earlier in her career. Now, she brings to the table her own personal experiences in an effort to elevate special education.

She explained that, especially with students who lack the ability to communicate verbally, oftentimes there’s a mistaken tendency to discount their ability.

“That doesn’t mean that they don’t think and feel and have the same thoughts and emotions that their peers do; they just can’t communicate it, and how frustrating is that, not to be able to communicate it?” Swartz said.

In these situations, she’s able to lean on her unique perspective as a mother who has been through the special education system with her own children and share the view from her lens with her colleagues.

“We don’t know this total child yet,” Swartz said. “We just have to put ourselves into it and see where we can take these kids because the potential is there.”

Oak Hill head principal Deneen Houghton and assistant principal Christine Cheesman lauded Swartz as an invaluable member of their team who “works tirelessly” on behalf of her students and their families, as well as her collaborating staff.

The special education team at Oak Hill works with students based on the grade level in which they specialize. For Swartz, that means fourth and fifth graders, so she has the ability to get to know them as they grow from kindergarten on.

Swartz encourages parents of students receiving special education to always be the squeaky wheel when it comes to advocating for their children. “I know it from both sides,” she said. “Go with your instinct. When you are asking for what you believe is best for your child, you can’t go wrong.”

Swartz was one of 75 public educators nominated for AACPS Teacher of the Year. Although she was not named one of the semifinalists, she and the other nominees will be honored at an event on April 25.