Supporting Teachers. Serving Students. Demanding Accountability.

Bonnie has worked across classrooms, grade levels, subjects, and student-support programs. She has seen how staffing, compensation, workload, and implementation decisions affect educators, students, and families in real time.

Her priorities are not broad education talking points. They come from leading autism and behavioral support programs, working in special education, teaching English language arts, supporting English learners, and serving students across elementary, middle, and high school settings.

Strong schools require supported educators, appropriate services for students, and leadership that is transparent and accountable.

Teachers need to know that their experience, responsibilities, and contributions are valued. Compensation is part of that equation, but retention is also shaped by workload, staffing, leadership, planning time, professional respect, and whether educators believe their concerns are heard.

Bonnie believes school board leadership should consider the full working environment when discussing recruitment and retention.

Bonnie believes added responsibilities should be recognized and reviewed fairly, including compensation or stipends where appropriate.

Teachers do not serve students alone. Instructional assistants, specialists, support staff, administrators, and other employees help keep classrooms and student-support programs functioning.

Bonnie's experience working with instructional assistants showed her that staffing structures, communication, training, and leadership affect the entire team.

Students receiving special education, autism support, behavioral support, accommodations, or other specialized services depend on coordinated teams and clear implementation.

Bonnie understands that these services involve more than written plans. They require trained professionals, instructional assistants, communication with families, appropriate environments, and consistent follow-through.

Bonnie has worked directly in autism support and behavioral support settings. She understands that student behavior may communicate a need, a challenge, a frustration, or a gap in support—and that educators need appropriate staffing, training, time, and resources to respond effectively.

Her experience leading both autism support and behavioral support programs also showed her how vacancies and staffing gaps can affect students, assistants, families, and the educators responsible for keeping programs operating.

Bonnie has worked across elementary, middle, and high school settings. She understands that a policy may affect an elementary support classroom differently than a middle school behavioral program or a high school English course.

School board decisions must account for differences in student development, academic expectations, classroom structure, family communication, behavioral and emotional needs, staffing models, and transitions between grade levels.

A budget tells the public where money is allocated. Accountability requires going further by asking how those resources are being used, whether implementation is realistic, and whether the investment is improving conditions for students and educators.

Bonnie believes the public should be able to understand what a program is intended to accomplish, how much support implementation requires, who is responsible for carrying it out, and how progress will be measured.

Families and community members should not have to search through confusing documents to understand major decisions affecting their schools.

Bonnie believes school board communication should be timely, understandable, and clear about what is being proposed, why the decision is being considered, who may be affected, and how results will be reviewed.