83. BEST KEPT SECRET

janet mino--the teacher who works tirelessly to make sure her classroom of students with autism reach their maximum potential.  the school is john f kennedy, in neward.  it's a poor district.  new jersey has the highest rate of autism in the country.  these students seem profoundly limited, yet she sees each for his/her potential and works to maximize that.  her entire classroom are aging out of the system in 2012 and for 2 years prior she evaluates options for life after school ends.  it's called "falling off the cliff" because services are so limited and these are families who are quite challenged already.  this woman agonizes over the lack of good choices for her students and we must admire her tenacity, while at the same time realizing that she has actually very little control over the situations.  she's a dear.  we don't learn anything about her personal life, and it's easy to believe that her classroom consumes most, if not all, of her personal time in addition to her professional time.  i think the best kept secret of the whole experience was watching ms. mino's tireless devotion to the well being of her students.