Ericka Watson
Special Education Director
My name is Ericka Watson and I am the new Director of Special Education in the Royal Oak School District. I served as Director of Specialized Student Services in Oak Park for five years. Previously, I was Director of Special Education at Pontiac Academy of Excellence. Before pursuing a career in administration in special education, I was the principal at Life Skills Center of Pontiac, as well as principal of Wolverine Academy, an all-boys residential strict discipline academy for adjudicated males.
I started off my educational career as a fifth-grade general education teacher. As a general educator, I saw a need to support several students who were identified as students with IEP's but never received support from the special education teacher. So that semester, I enrolled in classes at Wayne State University to work on my master's degree in special education with a major in learning disabilities. I taught fifth grade for three years and became a resource teacher and taught resource for five years. After teaching resource for five years, I worked in a self-contained learning-disabled classroom within Detroit Public Schools. I left Detroit Public Schools to become a special education supervisor within the EAA.
I graduated from Cass Technical High School. I received my bachelor's and master's degree from Wayne State University. My master's plus thirty and educational specialist degree are from Grand Valley State University. I am currently a doctoral candidate at Wayne State University and will graduate in December of 2021.