Leadership Update
Dr. Kari Terjeson, Assistant Director, SES
Dr. Kari Terjeson, Assistant Director, Special Education Services
The Yakima School District is proud to welcome Dr. Kari Terjeson to the position of Assistant Director of Special Education Services (SES).
Dr. Terjeson began her career as a first-grade teacher in Sunnyside, California. She then moved to Hawaii where she began teaching special education. In this position, she directed a school-wide re-creation of the Wizard of Oz with a cast of over 100 students. The most exciting part of the production was that the special education students in Dr. Terjeson’s classroom wrote the script for the play!
When Kari returned to the mainland, she continued her work in special education classrooms and extended her efforts as a data coach TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignment). Her charge in this role was to implement Response to Intervention (RTI) in the Bremerton School District at Mountain View Middle School.
She moved to the Yakima Valley to start work as a Literacy Specialist at ESD 105. In partnership with Heritage University, she worked in the residency-based teacher preparation program, HU 105. After a short time, Dr. Terjeson moved to the Heritage side of the house and began her work as an Associate Professor, developing and teaching special education and literacy courses. Finally, she took on the role of Chair/Director of the Teacher Preparation Program.
Dr. Terjeson earned a BS in Elementary Education from Portland State University, a Masters in Teaching Elementary Education from Gonzaga University, and a Ph.D. in special education from the University of Washington. She earned her administrative credential at Heritage University.
Dr. Terjeson comes from a family of teachers. Her parents, sister, grandmother, and now both of her daughters are teachers. Her son is studying to be an electrician at Perry Tech. Dr. Terjeson enjoys CrossFit, running, swimming, and yoga. She loves exploring the outdoors and hiking with her standard poodles, Baxter and Bella. On weekends, she is often scuba diving in the Puget Sound or rock climbing at Frenchman Coulee.