Mrs. Haley Ward is a 25-year-old Special Education teacher at Jim Stone Elementary School. She graduated from UCA with a BSE in K-12 Special Education in December of 2019. Mrs. Ward worked as a long-term substitute teacher at Conway High School in the 1:10 self-contained classroom during the spring semester of 2020. The next school year, she was hired to be the 1:15 3^rd and 4^th grade teacher at Jim Stone Elementary. 

Mrs. Ward was nominated and voted Teacher of the Year for Jim Stone Elementary for the 2022-2023 school year. Mrs. Ward did not originally plan to study special education in college. Shortly after starting college, she was not able to ignore her passion for working with students with disabilities. Mrs. Ward's brother was diagnosed with Autism at a young age, and she saw his struggles growing up. Her mission while teaching is to give her students confidence in their abilities. During college, she volunteered with various community programs, her favorite being the Special Olympics. This also inspired Mrs. Ward's hot chocolate philanthropy project, which she started at Jim Stone, along with her Lil' Caring Cats club. When she is not at school, Mrs. Ward enjoys spending time with family and friends. Her hobbies include: cooking, going to the gym, shopping, and watching movies.