As the program director, Danelle manages the Collaborative Plan goals, responsibilities, and workflow established by the stakeholders. She also advises the executive director and staff on the needs and trends in deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing education. The Collaborative Plan is a network of agencies, schools, and organizations that work together to create positive, systemic changes to achieve better education and career outcomes for students who are deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing.
Danelle has in-depth knowledge of both Minnesota and federal education programs providing services to children with disabilities, including students who are deaf, deafblind, or hard of hearing. She has proven success in collaboration and alliance building with parents, professionals, school administrators, and teachers.
Previously, Danelle served as the Deaf Mentor Family Program Manager at Lifetrack, Inc. The Deaf Mentor Family Program (DMFP) is a statewide program that provides Deaf Mentors who are language role models to hearing families with deaf and hard of hearing children. During her time at Lifetrack, Danelle developed the program while supervising 30 Deaf Mentors. Over 325 families were served. In addition, Deaf Mentors and Teachers DHH have worked together in several instances to track their students' language milestone benchmarks.
As a representative of Lifetrack, Danelle has served on four of the work groups under the Collaborative Plan;
Prior to Lifetrack, Danelle has worked as a family counselor at a school district, as a deaf mentor for families, and as a mental health counselor. Danelle has a Masters of Arts in School Counseling and a Masters of Science in Administration from Gallaudet University. She is also a National Certified Deaf Mentor Trainer with the SKI-HI Institute at Utah State University. Danelle is also a national Visual Communication and Sign Language Checklist (VCSL) assessor and trainer, currently the only one in Minnesota.
