PARTNER OF THE YEAR
Celebrating leaders shaping the future of student support
Our Partner of the Year award recognizes inspiring schools and districts that demonstrate exceptional dedication, innovation, and empathy in supporting students with diverse needs.
With millions of learners requiring individualized attention1 and a shrinking pool of available clinicians to deliver special education-related services, many organizations have turned to teletherapy and remote evaluations to close critical service gaps. By adopting virtual solutions, these forward-thinking leaders have ensured that geography and staffing shortages never stand in the way of student progress.
Congratulations to our 2025-26 Partner of the Year winners!
In the heart of rural Texas, Cotulla ISD turned geographic challenges into a blueprint for innovation. Needing to build an independent special education department from the ground up, leadership transitioned from a regional co-op to a sustainable, local model of excellence. This school year, we supported Cotulla ISD with Smart Start, our on-site set up service, to onboard teams and set up spaces so their teletherapy program could begin smoothly and with confidence.
Through our partnership, Cotulla ISD bridged critical staffing gaps to ensure its students developed communication skills. So far in the 2025-26 school year, Cotulla ISD and Presence have delivered more than 290 sessions and nearly 9,600 minutes of speech-language pathology services, empowering more than 100 learners across a uniquely remote and geographically dispersed student population.
“When I first saw teletherapy in action, I was highly impressed. The kids were so engaged they didn’t want to leave sessions. They wanted to stay with their Presence provider.”
DEANNA NAVA
Special Education Director at Cotulla Independent School District
COTULLA, TX
Cotulla Independent School District
Operating in a rural region with limited access to local clinicians, Gateway Unified School District (GUSD) turned a staffing challenge into a sustainable plan for long-term speech-language support. Since 2016, our partnership has evolved from a small pilot into a fully integrated part of their student support system, scaling to over 255 annual referrals.
By integrating our expert providers as an extension of their own team, GUSD ensures specialized vacancies never interrupt student progress. This school year alone, our collaboration has supported over 220 students through 2,100 sessions and 64,500 minutes of therapy. With the support of Kanga, our all-in-one online platform for IEP service delivery and management, our partnership has helped ensure that all students receive the services they need.
“Presence helps us connect students with an essential service at a time when it’s becoming harder to recruit and retain local SLPs in our area. Their teletherapy model ensures students continue receiving high-quality support, and the providers and support personnel have been great to work with.”
NATE SOLUS
Director of Special Education at Gateway Unified School District
REDDING, CA
Gateway Unified School District
Lebanon Community School District (LCSD) refused to let industry-wide speech-language pathologist shortages define the quality of their student care. When local vacancies threatened to interrupt vital services, LCSD’s leadership adopted a student-first mindset, shifting toward a highly coordinated teletherapy model that prioritized consistency above all else.
What began as a tactical solution to fill vacancies has grown into a well-coordinated, collaborative partnership. Our work together this school year has delivered 1,000+ therapy sessions to over 110 students, proving that even in a rural setting, high-quality speech-language support remains accessible and sustainable.
“Parents in our district are enthusiastic about the positive outcomes their students are achieving through Presence. Students are making meaningful progress while receiving top-notch, individualized speech and language services tailored to their unique needs.”
RACHEL HAMPTON
Special Education Director at Lebanon Community School District
LEBANON, OR
Lebanon Community School District
Serving a diverse network of school districts, private schools, and charter schools across Pennsylvania, Lincoln Intermediate Unit 12 supports students with a wide range of needs. Their work requires flexibility, coordination, and a partner that can adapt alongside them.
Our partnership began with mental health services and has since expanded to include speech-language therapy, early intervention, behavioral health, and specialized assessments. By leaning into the flexibility of remote service delivery, LIU12 has delivered more than 175 sessions and 5,200 minutes of support to preschool and non-public school students this school year. The result: consistent and services tailored to each student’s needs.
“What I value most about Presence is the customization of services to meet our needs. We work together to come up with new ideas. Because we serve a unique student population, we appreciate the flexibility to support our preschool and non-public school students while still maintaining fidelity.”
JENNIFER B. LEESE, ED.D.
Director of Student Services and District Engagement at Lincoln Intermediate Unit 12
NEW OXFORD, PA
Lincoln Intermediate Unit 12
Serving communities along Vermont’s northern border, North Country Supervisory Union (NCSU) manages 11 distinct schools with a spirit of trust and deep-rooted collaboration. When the district looked beyond traditional service delivery models to support their special education-related services, they found a partner in Presence. Nearly a decade later, that collaboration has led to a multi-disciplinary approach that supports students across all 11 of their schools.
NCSU has steadily expanded our partnership from foundational speech services to include occupational therapy and psychoeducational assessments. This year alone, they’ve delivered more than 3,700+ sessions and provided more than 300 students with the tools they need to grow and thrive.
“We’re a unique district in that we have 11 different schools across a very large area. There are kids who are constantly moving back and forth and around schools. Presence is really good about switching providers when we need to. They also make it a lot easier for us to support homeschool students with speech services. It has all worked out really well.”
TAMI PLACY
Associate Director of Special Services at North Country Supervisory Union
NEWPORT, VT
North Country Supervisory Union
As one of the largest and fastest growing school districts in the nation, Polk County Public Schools (PCPS) continues to evolve to meet the needs of its expanding student population. District leaders partnered with Presence to strengthen their evaluation workflow, incorporating remote services to support timely psychoeducational evaluations and keep services moving forward as enrollment grows.
What began with targeted evaluation support has grown into a broader partnership, expanding into a robust speech-language program. Together this school year, we have supported more than 1,200 students across more than 7,200 sessions, helping Polk County Public Schools scale services while keeping students connected to the support they need.
“As a veteran teacher in Polk County, I have experienced and worked with many companies and tried many programs. Our partnership with Presence is one where I feel both of us are 100% involved. At the end of the day, we’re working for one population and that’s our students.”
SHERRY SCOTT
Senior Director of Student Services & Section 504 at Polk County Public Schools
BARTOW, FL
Polk County Public Schools
K12 operates one of the largest virtual school networks in the United States, serving students across states and time zones. To support such a distributed community of remote learners, their leaders set out to partner with an organization that could deliver special education-related services with consistency and coordination at scale.
Presence providers now support 37 K12-powered online schools with speech-language therapy, occupational therapy, and school psychology services integrated directly into their digital ecosystem. We’ve also partnered with K12’s crisis intervention program, providing student care specialists who respond to urgent mental health alerts within K12’s platform community spaces. By extending availability beyond the school day, including holidays and breaks, the program helps ensure students can quickly access support in critical moments.
“Presence’s seasoned therapists are good with school policies. They are solid, we trust them, and send a lot of referrals their way.”
K12 RELATED SERVICE COORDINATORS
VIRTUAL SCHOOL
K12
Explore past award winners
Read the stories of schools and districts who have won Partner of the Year in previous school years.
What makes a Partner of the Year?
Whether from rural, urban, or virtual school communities, Partner of the Year award-winners consistently embody excellence in special education services and represent the following core values:
Equitable service delivery
Adjusts service models to accommodate special needs
Thoughtful innovation
Explores new student support strategies with an open mind
Dedication to students
Provides timely referrals and puts students at the forefront of their decision-making process
Empathetic leadership
Recognizes each student and educator as unique with individual strengths and aspirations
Feeling inspired?
Schedule a free consultation and learn how Presence teletherapy solutions can help your district thrive.