IDA Northern California Loses a Loyal Friend and Supporter


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IDA Northern California Loses a Loyal Friend and Supporter


With the death in early January of Cathy “Cacker” Toomey Dunn, NCBIDA lost a loyal advocate for students with learning disabilities, including dyslexia, and an ardent supporter of effective training for teachers of LD students. Throughout her life, Cathy shared her knowledge, warmth, wit, and enthusiasm as she worked with both children and teachers. Both colleagues and students appreciated her no-nonsense approach to “calling it as she saw it”—while still managing to say what needed to be said in a supportive and constructive way.

Cathy served NCBIDA for many years as an officer, director, and advisory board member. She had a distinguished career in the San Francisco Unified School District as a general education elementary classroom teacher, special education resource specialist, and special day class teacher for intellectually gifted students with dyslexia.

After retirement, she continued her passionate advocacy for training all teachers to work effectively with students with learning disabilities, including dyslexia—training they often did not receive as part of their formal education. She was a member of the teacher training support team for the Slingerland Multisensory Structured Language course offered each year in San Francisco and a fieldwork supervisor in the mild-moderate specialist credential program at the University of San Francisco.

Cathy was instrumental in developing and maintaining NCBIDA’s teacher training scholarship program as part of her mission to make structured literacy training affordable to all. In her obituary, Cathy’s family lists the NCBIDA Teacher Training Scholarship Fund as one option for those who want to honor her memory.

We will miss Cathy’s fierce loyalty, humor, friendship, and support.