Cami Longueville

Special Education Teacher

John Muir Elementary- SPS
Cllonguevill@seattleschools.org
May 15, 2020

To whom it may concern,

I have had the pleasure of working with Amari Blanton for the last 2 years. Amari worked with
me as a 1:1 instructional assistant for two special education students on my caseload, but his care for
this work extended far beyond helping just two students. Among his many strengths, Amari’s ability to
establish meaningful relationships with the students, families and staff in the Muir community, and use
those relationships to support students growth socially and emotionally stand out as some of the
strongest.

As an instructional assistant Amari was responsible for supporting 2 students with significant
mobility and adaptive life skills needs. He was responsible for supporting these students with their
physical therapy exercises, monitoring the school environment for safety and mobility barriers, and
supporting students with all aspects of selfcare needs including toileting. Amari did so with the utmost
respect and care for the privacy and dignity of these students. He supported these students in making
and maintaining friendships, navigating barriers to participation in activities, and developing skills to
support confidence in their ability to learn and grow even beyond the classroom setting.

Amari understands that in order to truly connect with and support a student’s learning he must
also establish a connection to their family and peers. During his time supporting students in the
classroom Amari went out of his way to get to know all the students in the class. When the class had
tough days, he helped facilitate community circles to help the kids problem solve conflict and had
numerous one on one conversations with students who were escalated or sad to help them calm down
and return to learning. Amari helped manage and maintain classroom routines and expectations on days
when there was a sub in the classroom and could be often found playing cooperative games with
students at recess and encouraging kids to play with fairness and integrity.

Last year, in addition to his work as an IA, Amari was also completing work as a counseling
intern. During this time, he became a valuable part of our school’s tier 2 team. His work included
supporting students and classrooms with social emotional learning, and responding to student needs for
support including, de-escalation. One of the most notable aspects of this work was Amari’s ability to
follow up with students. Amari could often be found checking in with students to remind them of the
strategies they have practiced for emotional regulation, offering students tools and support when
needed, and chatting with families at pick up time to ensure a home to school connection.

Amari is well suited to be a counselor. His natural caring demeanor and ability to pick up on the
needs and feelings of others will serve him well in this work. He will surely be missed by the Muir
community, but I couldn’t be happier to send him off to a career of meaningful work serving kids and
families. Any employer would be luck to have Amari on their team.

Sincerely,

Cami Longueville