Orville Ingram

Principals Institute '12

Bank Street has given me the opportunity to say, I am in this work because I love people, I have opportunities to impact lives. Wherever I go, whatever position I hold, I can be impactful.

For Orville Ingram, special education is a field of human potential, not just compliance. A 2012 graduate of Bank Street Graduate School of Education’s Principals Institute, he is currently the executive director for special education in the East Ramapo Central School District, where he is actively working to change processes and systems that serve disabled communities. 

He views special education as more than that—it impacts students’ lives and creates opportunities for them to thrive. He sees his current work as a “renaissance moment”—to be part of changing processes and systems that serve disabled communities.

Orville’s dedication to this work is deeply personal. His older brother has a disability, and he witnessed firsthand the system’s unintended limits on marginalized people. This led to a lifelong commitment, from advising in a disabilities office during his undergraduate years to volunteering with the visually impaired at the Lighthouse Guild in New York City. These experiences supporting disabled communities, he believes, all led to his current work.

Orville began as a classroom teacher at Queens High School of Teaching—a school founded by another Bank Street alum, Nigel Pugh, who encouraged his pivot from the classroom to leadership. With this change in responsibility—from being dedicated to 25 or 30 students in a classroom to being responsible for the adults serving the children across a school district—he realized he could not only lead a school, but also a school district, a goal larger than he ever imagined.

Although many people see special education as a compliance-driven field, Orville sees it as a realm of human potential, and he is dedicated to developing people and providing transformative opportunities. His goal is to shift the field’s focus from compliance to a “renewal of rebuilding and owning what we can do for kids.”

Bank Street instilled in him the importance of empathy— to “see people before seeing positions.” He credits his experience as a Bank Street alumnus with bolstering his confidence in making system-wide decisions and his ability to foster team cultures where people champion the work. He also values Bank Street’s cohort system, which built a community of serious and like-minded individuals, many of whom remain friends today.

Looking ahead, Orville is writing a short book on leadership inspired by his Bank Street experience. He offers this encouragement to fellow Bank Streeters: “Stay grounded in your purpose and remember why you entered education. When the work gets hard, remember the community will help you get through it. Lead with empathy, stay reflective, and continue to be a learner.”

Watch Orville as he speaks about his experiences.