Letter: In praise of two dedicated educators

It has been the same story for 25 years. I always tell people I am the new kid on the block, working as an LD teacher at River Falls High School in a team comprising of Marquita Erickson, Bonnie Lynn and myself.

And what a 25 years it has been!

We have been, in my opinion, an amazing team of dedicated women who have shared our lives, our families and children, and worked with perhaps 400 students with a variety of disabilities.

Working with Marquita and Bonnie has been the defining experience of my professional career.

We have laughed and cried together. We work by consensus, sometimes taking hours to decide how to approach a problem, puzzling over the possible reason why a student cannot learn something, what test results mean and the philosophy of our educational direction.

The River Falls School District will be diminished by Bonnie and Marquita’s retirements.

Bonnie is completing 40 years as a special education teacher. She started the LD program at RFHS in 1978.

Marquita joined her 28 years ago. They have created and sustained a powerful program that will move forward into the future with new teachers.

The community owes them both a great deal and so do I.

Tags: opinion, letters, k12