The Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities recently selected Joe Petrarca to serve in the new position of Director of Educational and Shared Services. Petrarca oversees School and Transition Services, Transportation, Facilities, Human Resources and Information Technology.

A veteran educator, Petrarca started out as a speech-language pathologist and last served as Associate Director of the Office for Exceptional Children at the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. He said he’s happy to have landed in the county board system.

“The Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities has a really strong, positive reputation,” he said. “I’ve always been impressed by the commitment the staff has to serving kids. There’s an openness to seeing things in new ways.”

Petrarca said he always knew he wanted to work in a “helping field,” and first considered geriatrics before a love of language nudged him toward speech pathology. A former resident of northeast Ohio, he has served as an administrator at the school district level and in educational service centers as well as the state.