Lamont Names Brookfield Woman To Connecticut Board of Education

BROOKFIELD, CT — Governor Ned Lamont today announced that he is appointing four Connecticut residents to serve as members of the State Board of Education, including Bonnie E. Burr of Brookfield, Karen DuBois-Walton of New Haven, Martha Paluch Prou of Bloomfield, and Awilda Reasco of New Britain.

The State Board of Education is responsible for establishing academic standards and setting policy for Connecticut's 149 local and 17 regional school districts, including preschool, elementary and secondary education, special education, vocational education and adult education. It also serves as the board of education for the state’s 17 regional technical high schools.

The State Board of Education consists of 14 members: ten voting members who serve staggered four-year terms, with at least one who must have experience in manufacturing and another who must have experience in agriculture; two nonvoting, high school student members who serve one-year terms; and the president of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities and chair of the Technical Education and Career System board, both of whom are nonvoting, ex-officio members. Each of the ten voting members and two student members are appointed by the governor and must be confirmed by the General Assembly.

Burr will fill the seat required to have agricultural experience, and Prou will fill the seat required to have manufacturing experience.

Burr currently serves as assistant director and department head with the Cooperative Extension System at the University of Connecticut College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources, where she has worked since 2009. In this position, she provides leadership assistance to 105 faculty and staff managing a wide variety of outreach and educational programs involving public engagement in local, state, regional, national, and international programs. She also currently serves as state chair of the State Committee United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency for Connecticut.

Previously, she served as state director of the USDA Farm Service Agency for Connecticut and Rhode Island, and was the director of government relations for the Connecticut Farm Bureau.
She earned her BS in animal science and agriculture from the University of Connecticut and MS in public nonprofit administration from Western Connecticut State University.

Burr serves on a number of community and civic organizations, including in positions with the 4-H Education Center at Auerfarm, the steering committee of the Working Lands Alliance – American Farmland Trust, the New England Holstein Dairy Cattle Association, and as Connecticut Trustee for the Eastern States Exposition.

"Connecticut schools rightly have a reputation for being among the best in the nation, and maintaining that standing is key to attracting new businesses that are going to grow high-quality, high-paying jobs in our state because, quite frankly, they need the workers who are prepared with the skills that match the needs of 21st century jobs," Lamont said.