Maureen Martin

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Name: Maureen Martin
Position: Moderate/Severe Disabilities Program Teacher
Gender: Female
Age: 36

Appearance: Ms. Martin is a heavy-set woman standing around 5'7" and weighing 207 pounds. She is African-American and has an appropriately dark complexion, though her eyes are a lighter-than-average brown. The feature for which she cares the most is her hair, which is set into carefully-teased dreads and individually colored into shades of brown, black or gold. She has a large forehead which gives the appearance of an almost-receding hairline, and has a strong jaw as well as a broad, somewhat flat nose. When she is at work she wears flats and tight-fitting pants, and a zip-up windbreaker jacket that invariably covers whatever top she's wearing from view. She carries herself with pride and is often heard before she is seen, speaking in a powerful alto that fills her room... and much of the hall outside her door.

Biography/Personality: Ms. Martin is a Chattanooga native, having been born in the city and, while she has lived in different cities in and around Hamilton County, she has never resided anywhere outside of the state of Tennessee. Maureen Martin toyed with several career paths over her life, originally intending to become a veterinarian in order to foster her lifelong love for animals and pets in particular. Amidst lukewarm grades and dwindling options, she re-considered her options and switched vocational focus to education, though she retains some resentment for being unable to capture her dream. As compensation, she keeps a classroom pet in the form of Louis, the hamster. When Louis dies (an unfortunate but necessary lesson her students sometimes have to endure), he is replaced with a new hamster of the same name. Ms. Martin's class currently enjoys the company of Louis XIV.

Ms. Martin is very chatty and sociable with her co-workers but has an unfortunate reputation for being neither the most competent nor attentive teacher, and her classes can seem rather un-structured on off-days. She is by no means a 'bad' teacher but can let her mind wander, requiring more work for her classroom aids and 1-to-1 para-educators. As such, she is sometimes the butt of other teachers' jokes in her program.