Dr. David Lazerson and the Quest (Sing & Sign) Choir

When Showtime makes a movie about you and picks Howie Mandel to play the lead role, you know you've definitely made it to the big time. And that's exactly what's happened to Dr. David Lazerson, an Exceptional Student Education (ESE) teacher at The Quest Center.

It all started decades ago in Buffalo, New York, where Dr. Laz (which is how he refers to himself) was born. Raised in a family with an open door policy that encouraged exchange students and international visitors to drop in, he learned at an early age to value peoples' differences and to appreciate a good education. Dr. Laz went on to graduate from the Rabbinical College of America with a Bachelor's Degree in Divinity. He also received a Bachelor's in American Studies from the University of Buffalo, a Master's in Learning and Behavioral Disorders from Buffalo State College and a Ph.D. in Research and Evaluation from the University of Buffalo.

Early on in his career, Dr. Laz found himself teaching in an inner-city school in the same New York neighborhood where the infamous Crown Heights race riots took place. By that time, he had already written his first book, "Skull Caps and Switch Blades," and was well known for his unconventional and highly successful teaching style. When community leaders needed someone to serve as a liaison between the city's large Hassidic population and the Black community, Dr. Laz was the natural choice. He quickly worked to bring the groups' youth together to dialogue with one another. That led to mixed team basketball games, art mural projects and even the formation of an organization called Project CURE (Communication Understanding Respect and Education), which continues to function as a racial harmony group.

The project soon gained the attention of the media and when they realized there was a musical component - known as Dr. Laz and the CURE - the story continued to snowball. "We even got the New York Knicks to dedicate one night a year to racial harmony," said Dr. Laz, "and we've performed for the U.S. Congress and even at a Democratic convention!" Fortunately, he was keeping a detailed journal all along, which he ended up turning into a manuscript. Yes, you guessed it: Showtime bought it and the rest is history. Crown Heights is still being shown on Showtime as of press time!

Just as you might expect, Dr. Laz is still thinking outside the box by integrating music, humor and a positive attitude into just about anything he can to help the special needs students that attend The Quest Center. From a "Garden of Delights" tilled and prepared by the students, to his latest venture, The Quest (Sing & Sign) Choir, Dr. Laz is an extremely energetic and involved educator. The choir recently performed at a nursing home where the residents were so delighted with the performance that one woman actually stood up for the first time in two years just to dance along with Dr. Laz! He is pleased that the choir gives the students an opportunity to be on the giving end - something that's not typical given their conditions.

Somehow, Dr. Laz has found time between teaching, inspiring, book writing (he's up to three books!) and grant writing (he's three for three, even getting a prestigious Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation Award) to raise seven children with his wife, Judith. And let's not forget that he also teaches a research course at FIU. He is thrilled to be working at The Quest Center, which he says is the most amazing school of them all. Dr. Laz sums it up by saying that music is healing and a great motivator - "It's the language of the soul."