Name: Debbie Gauna
Campus/Department: CPHS/18+ Program
Job Title: 18+ Teacher and Team Lead
Please join Leander ISD in celebrating this week’s staff spotlight, Debbie Gauna. Debbie is the teacher and team lead of our 18+ program, who is truly a gifted educator and Leander ISD is lucky, lucky, lucky to have her!! She lives by this quote “You can’t control what other people do or say, you can only control your reaction to them.”
Debbie has been in Leander ISD for 27 years. Her passion is in the area of Special Education and making sure that each and every student has viable, sustainable and meaningful outcomes upon exiting LISD. Her daily question is “how can we look forward and THINK about our services so that there is a solid base which will last beyond our years”? Continuous Improvement is part of her fabric. She never stops THINKing and acting upon making our services relevant, strong, and more impactful for the student. Moments that take her breath away are when students with disabilities achieve what they didn’t think they could achieve and then go on and inspire others. Debbie LOVES this work and it shines in her every day.
Debbie is always THINKing outside of the box, but always with the student at the center of the conversation. Her style of leading is one of action and of hard work. Debbie makes sure to build strong teams everywhere she goes. With the 18+ Teachers and Job Coaches, she makes sure that there is clear communication mixed with many actions on an action plan. She is tenacious mixed with huge doses of kindness. Every single year, I am quietly amazed at her rich talents in the areas of leadership, student engagement, parent connection and having vision from the smallest to the biggest of things. Every school district needs to have someone like Debbie Gauna!
“Debbie is tenacious in her drive for systems improvement and to empower students to achieve meaningful and sustainable outcomes with every tool utilized and every stone turned over.”
-Denise Geiger, SPROG, TL&L
