Duval County Public Schools - Every Student. Every Day.

Project Director

Dr. Megan McMillan is Project Director for Duval I.D.E.A.S. and a Specialist in the Exceptional Student Education Department of Duval County Public Schools (DCPS). She is a career special educator, beginning as a Varying Exceptionalities teacher with DCPS in 2011. She has held several roles with the district as an ESE Lead Teacher, Child Find Specialist, and Florida Inclusion Network Specialist (serving Clay, Duval, and Nassau counties). Dr. McMillan transitioned to a full-time position at the University of North Florida in 2021 where she taught as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Exceptional, Deaf, and Interpreter Education Department and served as a Postdoctoral Associate and Project Systems Coordinator for Project PREP (Partnering to Renew the Educator Pipeline) before transitioning back to DCPS in early 2024.  

Dr. McMillan specializes in building the capacity of teachers and leaders to include students with disabilities in general education classrooms. Her research interests include building effective inclusive schools, inclusive school leadership, inclusion for students with significant disabilities, and professional development for effective inclusive schools. Outside of the classroom, Dr. McMillan enjoys spending time with her husband and two sons. 

Specialist

Leila (“Lee-la”) Jenkins is one-third of the Duval I.D.E.A.S. team and a Specialist in the Exceptional Education and Student Services Department in Duval County Public Schools. Her 14 years of teaching experience includes English immersion in South Korea and math and science in Duval County. She served as a Florida Inclusion Network (FIN) facilitator supporting teachers, schools, and districts throughout the northeast.  Leila is passionate about helping teachers apply best practices in their classrooms to include ALL learners.  

Specialist

Schantel M. Minton is joining the EIR team as an ESE Specialist. Most recently she worked as an ESE Lead Teacher at Biscayne Elementary. She started her teaching career at Ramona Elementary as an ESE inclusion teacher in 2003. She has been with Duval County Public Schools for 20 years and has worked in various capacities in school leadership. She believes that all students should be given an opportunity to thrive in the school environment that is most appropriate for them to reach their full potential. She holds a bachelor’s and master’s degree in special education from Florida State University. She also holds a master’s degree in educational leadership from Jacksonville University. She holds her Florida Teaching Certification in the areas of School Principal, Educational Leadership, Elementary Education and Varying Exceptionalities. She enjoys reading, and volunteers in the greater Jacksonville community with her sorority, Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Incorporated. She is a certified Les Mills Sprint instructor and teaches Sprint at a local YMCA in Jacksonville, FL.

Executive Director of Exceptional Education and Student Services (EE/SS) 

Amy Valentine is the Executive Director of Exceptional Student Education in Duval County Schools. She earned her undergraduate degree at Florida State University and her Masters in Varying Exceptionalities at the University of North Florida. Amy started teaching at Palm Avenue Exceptional Student Center in 1992 and has taught in VE settings and Hospital Homebound. She has also worked at the district level as the Supervisor of Low Incidence and Director of School ESE support.

Amy enjoys spending time with her three amazing children and friends in her free time. Amy’s son, David, has a significant disability and she is passionate about supporting students with disabilities and understands some of the challenges families face.

Director of Exceptional Education and Student Services (EE/SS) 

With over 20 years of leadership experience in education, Jason has dedicated his career to championing the needs of students with disabilities and fostering pedagogical excellence for diverse student populations. Throughout his tenure, he has led teams of professionals and educators, guiding them towards achieving impactful educational outcomes. He finds joy in extensive research on topics related to inclusive practices, behavior norms across heterogeneous groups, and school/district growth methods. Beyond his professional endeavors, he finds joy in playing spiritual and jazz music and restoring classic cars during his spare time. 

Director of Exceptional Education and Student Services (EE/SS) 

Meredith Fredeking Osgathorpe is a Director in Exceptional Education and Student Services (EESS) in Duval County Public Schools (DCPS). She earned her undergraduate degree in Elementary Education and Masters in Learning Disabilities with additional certification in Intellectual and Behavioral disabilities from Marshall University. She began her career in Cabell County in Huntington, WV before moving to Jacksonville, FL in 1996. Meredith began in Duval County as a special education teacher before moving into a position to provide support to administrators and teachers as an instructional specialist. She has also been a supervisor in DCPS focusing on Hospital Homebound and EESS Admissions and Placement.  

Meredith is a doting soccer mom of two amazing boys. She is fortunate to have a supportive husband and family.

Primary Investigator 

David Hoppey is an Associate Professor of Education in the Department of Exceptional, Deaf, and Interpreter Education at the University of North Florida. Previously he served as a faculty member at the University of South Florida and West Virginia University. In addition Dr. Hoppey worked as an inclusion specialist and Supervisor of Curriculum and Staff Development for Alachua County Public Schools in Gainesville, FL. He began his career as a middle school special educator in Orange County Public School in Orlando FL.

Dr. Hoppey has taught courses to both special education and elementary education majors on best inclusive practices to meet the needs of at risk learners. He also taught doctoral courses in policy, qualitative research, and leadership. In addition, he has worked extensively on the redesign of the undergraduate and doctoral programs to include more clinically rich teacher preparation components. His efforts resulted in receiving the University of South Florida Outstanding Undergraduate Teacher Award in 2013.

Dr. Hoppey’s scholarship examines inclusive teacher education, response to intervention, special education policy, and school university partnerships, including providing quality clinically rich teacher education, for both pre-service and in-service teacher professional development. Dr. Hoppey’s research has been published in The Journal of Special Education, Exceptional Children, Teachers College Record, Learning Disabilities Research and Practice, Learning Disabilities Quarterly, and Teacher Education and Special Education as well as in book and handbook chapters. Dr. Hoppey is active in several local, state and national organizations including the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC), The Teacher Education Division of CEC (TED-CEC), National Association of Professional Development Schools (NAPDS), and the American Education Research Association (AERA).

Lastly, Dr. Hoppey enjoys spending time with his wife, three children and two grandchildren as well as traveling, officiating high school football, and playing golf.

Co-investigator

Pamela Williamson is a Professor at the University of North Florida. Her undergraduate degree is in elementary education, her master’s specialization is in reading, and her Ph.D. is in special education.  As an elementary teacher, she served students with disabilities in her general education classroom.  She has experience working with individuals with autism and their teachers in the area of reading intervention and instruction. She has published numerous peer-reviewed articles related to reading and autism in journals such as Exceptional Children, Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, the Journal of Special Education, Intervention in School and Clinic, and Teaching Exceptional Children. In addition, she is the coeditor of an award winning textbook, Quality Literacy Instruction for Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders, and has educated inservice educators, related service personnel, and families on this topic across the U.S.