Mary Tillar
Mary Tillar is the Director of Special Education for Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS). AACPS boasts 10 National Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence and 13 Maryland Blue Ribbon Schools of Excellence. Anne Arundel County is located near Baltimore, Maryland, and Washington, DC, and is home to the state capital, Annapolis. With more than 74,000 students, 5,600 teachers and 120 schools, the AACPS school system is the fifth largest in Maryland and among the 50 largest districts in the United States.
Ms. Tillar was a 2009 nominee for the Autism Society’s Hometown Hero award. She was recognized for her efforts to provide a full special education continuum for children with autism spectrum disorders. Under Ms. Tillar’s leadership, Building Bridges — A Multidisciplinary TeamApproach to Supporting Students with Asperger’s Syndrome andAutism in the Classroom has expanded to every school building in AACPS. She was the creative force behind designing the school system’s Type II Partnership programs, a collaborative project member of the Johns Hopkins University School of Education Regional Advisory Board, and she has presented on numerous SMH-related topics, such as IDEA requirements related to disproportionality in the prevalence of students identified as emotionally disturbed.with Hannah More School that supports middle and high school students with ASD.
