About & Contact
Who We Are
Mission Statement
The mission of CESE is to open the door to a Christian education for every child, especially children with special needs.
Serving
Christian Educators
CESE sponsors a day-long educational conference each year in an effort to assist WELS teachers. We also share information about teaching students with special needs through our website, Facebook page, and workshops.
Continuing to Serve
Educators and Families
The CESE board members are willing to answer questions concerning the education of a child with special needs. Parents and teachers may contact a board member at any time.
Meet Our Staff
President
Terri Salzwedel
Terri is a 1986 graduate of Dr. Martin Luther College. She is the special needs teacher for Peace Lutheran School in Hartford, Wisconsin, and she is currently working on her master's degree in special education. Her special interest is helping students with dyslexia learn to read, especially by using the Barton Method.
Treasurer
Sarah Kaulitz
Sarah is the special education and gifted program teacher at Trinity Lutheran School in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and she is currently working on her master's degree in special education. She has experience working with students with learning disabilities (including dyslexia), emotional-behavioral disabilities, and autism spectrum disorder, as well as gifted and talented students.
Vice-President
Peggy Uttech
Peggy is a retired extended learning coordinator who retired from Trinity/St. Luke Lutheran School in Watertown, Wisconsin. She has over 30 years of teaching experience (over 20 of those as a learning coordinator). She obtained her Wisconsin state reading teacher license while working on her Masters in Education - Leadership. Her position has led her to do personal study in the areas of autism, dyslexia, and several areas of learning disabilities.
Officer
Jane Mose
Jane is a 1985 graduate of Dr. Martin Luther College and is the special education and gifted program teacher at St. Mark Lutheran School in Green Bay, Wisconsin, as well as an adjunct instructor for Martin Luther College in the area of special education. She has her master's in special education and is licensed in learning disabilities, adaptive education, and cross-categorical special education. She is a certified trauma and resiliency trainer and has experience working with students with a wide variety of challenges, including dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, visual processing disorder, auditory processing disorder, trauma, ADHD, autism, intellectual disabilities, Tourette Syndrome, traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, and hearing and visual impairments. She has also written a number of curricula for teaching God's Word to students with special needs, including mild, moderate, and severe disabilities.
Secretary
Calista Leistekow
Calista is a 2013 graduate of Martin Luther College. She graduated with her Masters of Science in Education with a special education emphasis in 2018. She has served as a kindergarten teacher on the Apache Reservation at Peridot-Our Savior's Lutheran School. She has experience working with students with emotional and behavioral disorders and learning disabilities.
Officer
Kelli Green
Kelli is a 1992 graduate of Dr. Martin Luther College. She taught in the WELS as an elementary classroom teacher and in public school special education in Minnesota at the high school, middle school, and elementary levels while getting her master's degree in learning disabilities and emotional behavioral disorders. She has experience teaching students with varying needs, including dysgraphia, dyslexia, dyscalculia, PDD, TBI, ADHD, and autism, as well as students with behavior challenges such as trauma, mood dysregulation disorder, ODD, ADHD, ASD, PDD, and FASD. Kelli is now a professor of special education at MLC and is working on her doctorate in leadership and learning with a special education director's licensure.
Officer
Brenda Wagenknecht
Brenda is a special education consultant with her business, Hand in Hand Educational Consulting. She has master's certifications in severe and profound disabilities, cross-categorical special education, and coaching and mentoring, but she specializes in neuroscience and is a certified HANDLE screener (handle.org). She is licensed in Arizona in mild to moderate and mild to severe special education, and she runs Hand in Hand Educational Consulting. Her passion for serving individuals with special needs stems from her teaching experiences in public and private settings as well as her own biological and adopted children and four grandchildren, who have various disabilities.