Judith Steele Elementary School
One Team, One Dream, One Goal
Judith Steele
For more than three decades, Judith D. Steele has served the local, national and international educational and business communities as a classroom teacher, master teacher, Coordinator and Director of Special Education and Gifted and Talented Programs, Business and Executive Consultant, University instructor, public education advocate, board member and advisor. Currently, Ms. Steele serves as the President and Chief Professional Officer of The Public Education Foundation in Southern Nevada.
Born and raised in New York City, Ms. Steele began her distinguished education career in 1965 as a fifth and sixth grade teacher at P.S. 171 in East Harlem after earning her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Elementary Education from NYC's Hunter College. Before beginning her career with Nevada's Clark County School District in 1969, she taught elementary and middle school in Providence, Rhode Island where she received a Master Teacher Award. She attended graduate school at Hunter College and Brown University in Providence. After moving to Las Vegas, she continued her post-graduate studies and earned her Master of Education degree in Secondary Education from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Additionally, she's earned more than 50 university graduate credit hours in a variety of subjects including Education, Administration and Business.
Judith's career with the Clark County School District began as a classroom teacher at C.V.T. Gilbert Prestige School. Subsequent positions included Integration Consultant with the Intergroup Education Department, team leader for Teacher Corps, a graduate teacher training project between CCSD and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Summer School Site Administrator. Additionally, Ms. Steele was the first teacher of CCSD's Academically Talented Program and coordinator of the district's first Child Find, a project designed to develop procedures for identifying handicapped children ages birth to 21 and facilitating placement for a free public appropriate education.
As the Director of the Special Education Programs and Services for the Clark County School District, she developed and implemented district-wide procedures and staff development activities for principals, teachers, parents and special student services staff. Ms. Steele planned, implemented and evaluated district-wide programs for the visually, orally and emotionally handicapped, learning disabled and academically talented. She created the first Individualized Education Program and multi-disciplinary team process, supervised speech and language therapists, school nurses, and teachers of the Academically Talented Program, and worked with parent and community groups.
Currently, Ms. Steele is the President and Founder of the Arts Council of Henderson and serves on the advisory Councils of the Nevada Ballet Theatre, the Nevada Public Education Foundation, CLASS! Publications, and the Clark County School District's School-Community Partnership Program. She's a member of the Nevada PEP, the Clark County Association of School Administrators and Phi Delta Kappa.
In the fall of 2006, the Judith D. Steele Elementary School opened in Las Vegas, an honor bestowed upon her by the Clark County School District for her outstanding and lifelong contributions to public education. Other honors include the James Stuart McPhee Memorial Intellectual Freedom Award, the Governor's Arts Recognition Award, the Community Leaders of America Award and the City of Henderson Community Achievement Award. She was inducted into the Clark County School District's Excellence in Education Hall of Fame for Commitment to Excellence and was named the Outstanding School Administrator by the Council for Exceptional Children.
Additionally, Ms. Steele has organized and facilitated numerous community and educational programs and conferences and has spoken at state, national and international education conferences.
Ms. Steele is the proud mother of two and grandmother of two. Judith's favorite color is purple!