Bonnie Brown is a lifelong educator and recipient of the 2022 Marvin Maurer award for lifetime achievement. She began her career as a teacher and moved on to become a staff developer, director of operations of special education system, and then superintendent of special education in NYC. The Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence has the great fortune of Bonnie’s expertise as a senior coach and trainer for over 12 years.
RULER became a part of her 37-year long career journey when she was working in a NYC district that served children with cognitive, behavioral, and physical challenges. These students needed many extra/support services and staff to work with them. As such, they could not attend their local community schools. At that time, Bonnie worked with anywhere between 11,000 - 12,000 students, identified as “emotionally challenged” who were in need of direct behavioral interventions. She aspired to make a difference in the future lives of these children. She hoped for them to develop the skills necessary to identify the cause and effect of their behaviors and the tools to regulate their emotions so that they could eventually return to their local neighborhood schools.
Getting Started with RULER in NYC Schools
Bonnie continued piloting RULER with her schools and kept a watchful eye on implementation fidelity as well as measurable outcomes. She saw firsthand the impact RULER had on students and staff was creating positive change in the school communities she served.
The Impact with Students
The Impact with Staff
Bonnie’s work with RULER in NYC schools is on aspect of her accomplished career. As an advocate for social and emotional learning, she worked closely with the team as the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence grew. This included Marvin Maurer himself.
Bonnie and Uncle Marvin
As the Yale Center for Emotional intelligence celebrates its eight-year anniversary this year since it transitioned from the Health, Emotion, and Behavior Laboratory, we celebrate the educators who have helped bring RULER to over 3,500 schools across the globe. This wouldn’t be possible without leaders like Bonnie Brown who put Uncle Marvin’s teachings and words into action.