Len Bonn
It is my pleasure to nominate my colleague and friend, Len Bonn, for membership in the Branford Education Hall of Fame. Len retired from Walsh Intermediate School in June 2019 after 10 years as a school counselor yet I knew him best during our 19 years of helping BHS students survive the throes of adolescence. I can safely say that when Len was transferred to WIS the high school lost an irreplaceable educator.
I met Len the first day I started at BHS which was the Monday following February break. He had just learned of the death of his friend and fellow coach and was gathering the football team together to inform them. Len sat with these young men most of the day, allowing them to be silent or cry, express rage and confusion- any and all reactions were acceptable. In the days that followed he organized rides to the wake and funeral, spoke with parents of his players, as well as managed his own profound grief. This was my first glance at his connection with his students and his uncanny way of showing sensitivity as well as strength in difficult situations.
Len was first hired as the football coach in 1988 while he worked full time at Notre Dame as Director of Guidance. When then principal Ed Higgins decided to add the Student Assistance Team (SAM) model to BHS, Branford High School, Len was chosen to be the coordinator in 1989. The Student Assistance Model provided a multi-disciplinary team of teachers, school counselors, social workers, school psychologists, nurses and administrators who met three times weekly to create support plans for struggling students. Len adapted his coaching strategies to managing this new team-he was organized, methodical, diplomatic yet set clear ground rules. One of his unique strategies was to leave nothing to assumption. As a team he led us in looking at every student who had lost credit, failed at least one class, had declined in grades within a quarter and/or had attendance concerns. This was in addition to referrals from teachers who were trained to identify behaviors of concern. We discussed each child, got feedback from teachers, interviewed the student, contacted parents, and accessed support for the individual needs of each child. As I think about this now in our age of data-driven results, Len looked at 100% of students at BHS four times each year to assess any need for support. Len not only ran this program at BHS, but traveled to all the elementary schools and WIS weekly to coordinate the same process throughout the district. In addition, he met monthly with other SAM Team coordinators throughout CT and quickly became the “go-to” expert in the field. In 1992 Len received a national award for Excellence in Student Assistance programs and traveled to Chicago to receive the award.
Despite his self-denigrating humor, Len had the ability to engage the most difficult students. He did this by always being honest with them, telling them directly why he was seeing them and why teachers were concerned. Students may at times have been wary of his blustery style, yet soon would relate to his sincere interest in helping them. He embodied the lesson of diligent perseverance as a strategy to success. He often used sports analogies if appropriate to help students develop a plan for improvement, and encouraged communication with home to complete the plan. He then consistently met with each student to evaluate the success of the interventions.
Len created the SAM psycho-educational support groups that offered all students the opportunity to join with peers to discuss topics of interest to them including peer relationships, alcohol in the family, grief, and others. Len ran several of the groups, along with other SAM team members and they were an innovative way to identify student concerns in a non-threatening way. These groups often allowed students who were otherwise thought to be high functioning to receive guidance and support. Once again, Len’s ability to be truly himself, with honesty and empathy, brought numbers of students through the support groups who may never have been noticed by conventional interventions. His ability to “read the coverage” from football strategies allowed students to discuss issues as they came up, no matter what the proposed agenda had been. Peer Relationships could become a discussion about difficulties at home if that’s where the students’ concerns were on a given day. This ability to listen to students and help them feel supported on any given day in the turbulence of adolescence gave many students the important message of acceptance.
Len was above all a team player, both with his colleagues and with students. He supported educational initiatives as they went through the many phases in his career, yet always advocated for the students who might stumble. If he thought a child was struggling, he did not back down from pursuing a creative solution. His style could be provocative but was always fair and motivated by the truth. What was lost when he went to WIS was a strong and sometimes boisterous but gentle man who was able to engage the most difficult students. He did this not entirely due to his intelligence and training, but because he believed in every child’s ability to succeed. Len is truly an original, and Branford was fortunate to benefit from his talents for thirty years.
I met Len the first day I started at BHS which was the Monday following February break. He had just learned of the death of his friend and fellow coach and was gathering the football team together to inform them. Len sat with these young men most of the day, allowing them to be silent or cry, express rage and confusion- any and all reactions were acceptable. In the days that followed he organized rides to the wake and funeral, spoke with parents of his players, as well as managed his own profound grief. This was my first glance at his connection with his students and his uncanny way of showing sensitivity as well as strength in difficult situations.
Len was first hired as the football coach in 1988 while he worked full time at Notre Dame as Director of Guidance. When then principal Ed Higgins decided to add the Student Assistance Team (SAM) model to BHS, Branford High School, Len was chosen to be the coordinator in 1989. The Student Assistance Model provided a multi-disciplinary team of teachers, school counselors, social workers, school psychologists, nurses and administrators who met three times weekly to create support plans for struggling students. Len adapted his coaching strategies to managing this new team-he was organized, methodical, diplomatic yet set clear ground rules. One of his unique strategies was to leave nothing to assumption. As a team he led us in looking at every student who had lost credit, failed at least one class, had declined in grades within a quarter and/or had attendance concerns. This was in addition to referrals from teachers who were trained to identify behaviors of concern. We discussed each child, got feedback from teachers, interviewed the student, contacted parents, and accessed support for the individual needs of each child. As I think about this now in our age of data-driven results, Len looked at 100% of students at BHS four times each year to assess any need for support. Len not only ran this program at BHS, but traveled to all the elementary schools and WIS weekly to coordinate the same process throughout the district. In addition, he met monthly with other SAM Team coordinators throughout CT and quickly became the “go-to” expert in the field. In 1992 Len received a national award for Excellence in Student Assistance programs and traveled to Chicago to receive the award.
Despite his self-denigrating humor, Len had the ability to engage the most difficult students. He did this by always being honest with them, telling them directly why he was seeing them and why teachers were concerned. Students may at times have been wary of his blustery style, yet soon would relate to his sincere interest in helping them. He embodied the lesson of diligent perseverance as a strategy to success. He often used sports analogies if appropriate to help students develop a plan for improvement, and encouraged communication with home to complete the plan. He then consistently met with each student to evaluate the success of the interventions.
Len created the SAM psycho-educational support groups that offered all students the opportunity to join with peers to discuss topics of interest to them including peer relationships, alcohol in the family, grief, and others. Len ran several of the groups, along with other SAM team members and they were an innovative way to identify student concerns in a non-threatening way. These groups often allowed students who were otherwise thought to be high functioning to receive guidance and support. Once again, Len’s ability to be truly himself, with honesty and empathy, brought numbers of students through the support groups who may never have been noticed by conventional interventions. His ability to “read the coverage” from football strategies allowed students to discuss issues as they came up, no matter what the proposed agenda had been. Peer Relationships could become a discussion about difficulties at home if that’s where the students’ concerns were on a given day. This ability to listen to students and help them feel supported on any given day in the turbulence of adolescence gave many students the important message of acceptance.
Len was above all a team player, both with his colleagues and with students. He supported educational initiatives as they went through the many phases in his career, yet always advocated for the students who might stumble. If he thought a child was struggling, he did not back down from pursuing a creative solution. His style could be provocative but was always fair and motivated by the truth. What was lost when he went to WIS was a strong and sometimes boisterous but gentle man who was able to engage the most difficult students. He did this not entirely due to his intelligence and training, but because he believed in every child’s ability to succeed. Len is truly an original, and Branford was fortunate to benefit from his talents for thirty years.