About Us
Matthew Harby, Program Director
Mat comes to the Family Resource Network and the Special Education Parent Center after having worked in the non-profit sector for the past five years. He has previously worked at Delaware County Public Health, the Alcohol & Drug Abuse Council of Delaware County, and the Central Region Prevention Resource Center. He helps coordinate Parent Center trainings and events, meets with CSE chairpersons in SEPC’s four BOCES regions, performs administrative duties, and supervises training and resource staff. Mat holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cultural Anthropology from SUNY Oneonta.
Mat enjoys cooking vegetarian food, sketch comedy (SNL & Portlandia), and travelling the back roads of New England.
Kathryn (Kathy) Ryan, Parent Center Trainer
Kathy has spent the better part of her career working for Legal Services of Central NY. She has traveled Central NY providing educational workshops on special education law. She gained tremendous knowledge of the special education system while working as a legal assistant and enjoys going into communities and working with both parents and professionals. Kathy is currently finishing her Bachelor’s degree in Education.
Kathy loves animals of all kinds, but especially her dog, horses, and a very special donkey.
Michelle Cole, Parent Information and Outreach Specialist
Michelle has worked at the Family Resource Network for two years. She has been the Regional Coordinator for Parent to Parent of NYS (covering Broome, Tompkins, Tioga, Delaware, Otsego, and Chenango Counties) , a Residential Family Advocate for Trillium Place, the Dragon Dates Coordinator, and an Educational Advocate. Prior to working at FRN, she spent over two years working for Otsego County Community Services. Michelle is in charge of coordinating Parent Center trainings, managing our website, and compiling and developing resources for parents and professionals.
Shell and her husband, Brian, have been Therapeutic Foster Parents in the past and are now caregivers for Brian’s cousin Kevin, who has an Intellectual Disability. Shell’s husband calls her “the Crazy Dog Lady” because she has five dogs and hopes to start a dog rescue foundation in the future. She loves chocolate, reading, playing with her dogs, and riding her husband’s Harley Davidson. She is also a fanatical Red Sox fan! She hopes that someday she’ll be able to drag her husband across the country to a game at every Major League Ballpark (it may work if she agrees to travel by motorcycle!).