Jennifer Tuten

Beaufort County Schools

Jennifer Tuten earned her degree in Occupational Therapy (OT) from East Carolina University in 1999 and spent most of her career working in public schools, serving in several leadership positions. She has served as Lead OT, Related Service Representative for the county, and Autism Support Contact for the district.

Jennifer has also served on many school and district teams including the Exceptional Children’s (EC) Directors Leadership team, Autism team, Transdisciplinary Play-Based Assessment (TPBA) team, Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS) team, and Assistive Technology team. She also supervised several OT assistants and OT students over the years, assisted with Special Olympics, and regularly advocated for students with disabilities.

Currently, Jennifer is serving as the Exceptional Children’s Program Specialist in Beaufort County Schools. In this role, she creates and refines professional development for staff, audits and assists EC staff with paperwork, forms, and regulations, and provides additional support for new EC programs. She understands the characteristics and unique needs of students with disabilities and uses research-based interventions to support their development. She has a strong knowledge of programming options and the laws and procedures governing exceptional children’s programming.

As an East Carolina University Pirate Leadership Academy Fellow, Jennifer is looking forward to gaining the knowledge of becoming an effective school leader and making a positive impact within the community she serves. She wants to strive to ensure that all students, including those with disabilities, are provided equal opportunities to develop intellectually, physically, emotionally, and vocationally through high-quality education.

One of her favorite quotes is “You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference. You just have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” -Jane Goodall