Director of Special Education
Cindy Cook, PhD - Dr. Cook has been employed by the Nampa School District since 2001, and currently holds the position of Special Education Director. Currently she is an active member of the Idaho Council for Exceptional Children and the Idaho Council for children with Behavior Disorders and has served on their executive boards over 14-years. Dr. Cook is also an active member of Idaho CASE (Council for Administrators of Special Education) and recently joined IASA and IASEA. She believes in advocating for children with exceptionalities and in order to do that well she must be involved in professional organizations and participate in the innerworkings of the educational options available for the students in the Nampa School District. Dr. Cook is married with 2 adult married sons and 3 granddaughters.
Parent of Deaf Student
Valerie Player - Valerie Aker Player has twenty-plus years of experience in the preK-12 education system including special education; family literacy and family involvement; early childhood education; elementary and secondary classroom instruction; and school administration. Previously having worked in public and higher education; in Idaho’s State Department of Education; for St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital; and for Idaho Hands & Voices, Valerie now focuses exclusively on advocating and supporting families with exceptional children. She is a board member of the Idaho Bureau of Education Services for the Deaf and Blind (IESDB) and the Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (CDHH.) Most recently she has joined The Idaho Project for Children and Youth with Deaf-Blindness (ICYDB) as the Family Engagement Coordinator. Valerie holds a BA from Boise State University and her M.Ed. and Ed.S. from the University of Idaho. She lives in Boise, Idaho with her husband and son both of whom are d/hh, their therapy dog, and six hermit crabs. When she’s not busy advocating for someone, Valerie enjoys reading, writing, endless trips down rabbit holes on the internet, and learning American Sign Language.
Member-at-Large
Kathleen Crowley - Kathleen is retired educator with multiple teaching and administrative experiences. She was the principal of several elementary schools in the Treasure Valley including Ponderosa and Silver Sage in the West Ada School District. During her tenure at Ponderosa Elementary, the school served and continues to serve as the magnet program for students who are Deaf or hard of hearing who reside in school districts in the west area of the Treasure Valley. Kathy also has administrative experience with the IESDB preschool and kindergarten Total Communication and Listening and Spoken Language programs in the public school setting.
Kathy has taught all elementary and middle school grades. She also taught in the one-room school in Lowman, Idaho. She was a principal for nearly 30 years. Kathy earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Elementary Education at Oregon State University and her Master of Education degree in Education Administration from the University of Idaho.
Member-at-Large
Beth Eloe-Reep - Beth has a M.S. in education of the deaf and came to Idaho to work in the regional rogram of ISDB in Idaho Falls. She taught in the classroom for 4 years and then was an itinerant teacher working with families in their homes. When her own son was born with a cleft lip and palate, her training in speech and hearing was put to very personal use. Later she worked with Idaho Parents Unlimited to help families of children with all disabilities navigate the special education world.
She went on to be a regional special education consultant with the State Department of Education working with school districts in southeast Idaho, while also an adjunct instructor at Idaho State University teaching special education courses, including the SpEd law class. She retired from being a SpEd consulting teacher in the Shelley district. Currently she contracts with the Dispute Resolution department of the Idaho Department of Education to facilitate meetings with special education teams struggling to reach agreement.