We had the good fortune of connecting with Sara Rivera and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sara, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I moved to Surprise, AZ with my family back in the summer of 2021. We didn’t know anyone in the state when we moved. School started the week after we moved into our house and we jumped right into the school routine and trying to get settled into our new life here. After a few months I started look for ways that I could get involved like I had been in Missouri, where we’d lived previously. I discovered that there was no Special Education PTA’s in the state. I had been a part of starting up the first one in the state of Missouri and I decided that I would start one here in Arizona too. Unlike Missouri, I still didn’t know anyone here especially not well enough to ask them to take on this task with me. I knew there was a need for these kinds of PTA/PTSA’s out there because they provide a community and belonging to students with disabilities and their families. The challenges that our loved ones face in school can be isolating for the whole family and having a organization where we are all facing those same challenges helps us not feel alone. It gives us a place to be who we are as a family and our students an environment where they are accepted. Our mission is to create a more inclusive world for our kids. We want to bring together families, teachers, school administration and the community to foster more accessibility and inclusive practices from the playground to the board room. In our first year we have met our goal of 60 members, have held two events that have all had attendance of over 100 and are about to hold our 1st annual Walk N’ Roll for Inclusion where we hope to have 200+ attend. In the coming year we will hold IEP workshops for parents to become better advocates for their students, support teachers through mini-grant programs and help our students to engage in new meaningful ways and grow to be their own advocates in life. I am not content to sit back and hope that the world accepts my child. I am activity working to make a better world for my child. The Dysart Special Education Parent Teacher Student Association is part of that work.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
The Dysart Special Education PTSA is unique in that it is a district wide PTA and it’s focus on special education issues. I’m excited at the possibility of helping to create more of these special education PTA’s in the state of Arizona either by simply being an example of what they can be or if someone was interested in starting one I would be more than happy to help them get started. We need special education PTSA/PTA’s to become as standard as the building specific PTA’s are. Not to be too corny but build it and they will come. I have had so many people say to me that they are glad that I have started this because it is so desperately needed or that it’s about time. I was so afraid that we wouldn’t even be able to charter (which requires 10 members on the night of the charter meeting) and we ended up have 20 people in attendance and it has just continued to exceed every goal and expectation for this first year. I’m excited for all the good that is coming in the next school year. I want to get our inclusive and accessible playgrounds initiative up and running, two traveling sensory rooms that can be checked out by schools for events, teen hangout nights, and parent advocate training.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
We love going to local places like the Boyer Bakery. I love their coffee, baked goods and that it’s run by a whole family. It’s such a fun cozy spot for a snack so I am always making sure to take visitors there. We also enjoy going over to Biscuits for brunch. Their Mimosa flight is so good. Toast, State 48 and Rio Mirage are our go to for supper options. We also enjoy taking family and friends hiking at White Tanks because of the disability accessible hiking paths there. Our whole family enjoys going over to the Odysea aquarium and the music museum.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I owe so much to my group of friends in Missouri that are truly the ones that have helped me grown into the person that I am today. We all came together from different backgrounds, and belief systems under the umbrella of fighting for a better world for our children with disabilities. So many of them helped mentor me and show me how to advocate for my child more effectively, provided me with the support that I needed to gain confidence in my abilities and pushed me outside of my comfort zone into areas I never thought that I could be successful in. They pushed me to do tv interviews and testify in front of legislative committees. They encouraged me to push for better for my child in his school and supported me through some difficult times in my life. Together we formed and grew the first special education PTA in Missouri and a nonprofit foundation with a legislative branch organization so that we could change things at the state law level not just in our children’s schools.

Website: www.dysartseptsa.org

Instagram: DysartSEPTSA

Facebook: DysartSEPTSA

Image Credits
Christy Turchin Melissa Tanquary Andi Asel Kathi Richman Sean Rivera (Treasurer) Hudson Rivera Firemen from the Surprise FD JoAnna Wahlund (Vice President) Chantelle Little Traci Rhodes (Secretary) Brayden Rhodes Nolan Rhodes

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