WEST ORANGE, NJ — West Orange High School technology and engineering teacher Debra Coen has been appointed executive director of the New Jersey Technology and Engineering Educators Association. The NJTEEA is the state organization that represents all technology and engineering teachers.
Coen has been employed by the West Orange School District since September 2000, teaching technology education to Roosevelt Middle School students. In 2013 she moved to West Orange High School, where she currently teaches photography, basic electricity, and introduction to integrative science, technology, engineering and mathematics. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Coen has been the producer of the spring musical at the high school for the past few years.
The WOHS adaptive iSTEM class was created and developed in 2014 by Coen, district supervisor of technology and engineering Ryan DelGuercio, district 7-12 director of special services Dawn Ribeiro and WOHS special services educator Jodie Goldstein. The innovative program was featured in an episode of “Classroom Close-up,” the Emmy award-winning series on PBS, in March 2016, in a segment centering on the group’s roller coaster project, where students and their instructional assistants created loops and tracks to make a working roller coaster. Throughout the course, they built upon what they learned and worked with electricity and circuit kits. The course also utilized a modified DECIDER process, developed at WOHS for technology and engineering classes. Marie Blistan, vice president of the New Jersey Education Association, also appears in the video along with WOHS instructors.
The NJTEEA runs workshops and an annual conference, and coordinates with the state for technology-related events. Coen has served this year as the secretary on the board and worked on the committee that is rewriting the state standards for tech and engineering, as well as helping lead the group working on certification for tech and engineering teachers. She has been asked to help the NJTEEA create a partnership with the New Jersey School Boards Association to help with their iSTEAM initiatives as well, with their first joint event set for June 21.
Coen is married and lives in Madison with her husband and three sons. She is currently running for the Madison Township Council.
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