Let the Teachers Teach

Bennington Public Schools, Board of Education Meeting, Public Comment

My Views Are My Own

By Lisa Schonhoff, Ed.S.

6/8/2026

First of all, I would like to thank all of the board members.  I know first hand how time consuming this volunteer position can be.  Sifting through the agendas, asking all the questions, and being the checks and balances for the taxpayers who elected you is a huge responsibility so thank you for your work on this board.  

I have a student at Pine Creek Elementary and a student at Bennington South Middle School.  We are very fortunate to have some of the best teachers in the nation and a conversation that should be happening is how do we keep them here? According to a recent article that came out in the Flatwater Free Press, “Roughly 40% of certified Nebraska teachers aren’t teaching in public or private classrooms this academic year.”  Two of the main reasons that were cited are classroom behaviors and teacher workload.

Teachers are exhausted by chronic, extreme behavioral issues that disrupt learning. These severe cases require the intervention of parents and administrators, allowing teachers to focus on their primary mission: effective instruction. At the same time, we need a serious district-level conversation about curriculum fatigue. To keep our best educators, we must stop and consider the consequences of overwhelming educators with constant, cyclical overhauls.  

When asking why teachers are constantly told to reinvent the wheel for the sake of curriculum fidelity, the typical justification is the state’s seven-year revision cycle. However, the logic breaks down when you look at the actual timeline. As shown in your handout, the Nebraska Department of Education will not release updated social studies standards until at least this fall. Why, then, did Bennington spend approximately $600,000 last year on a social studies curriculum, tasking a teacher committee with aligning materials to standards that haven't been written yet? We need to stop rushing into expensive implementations that outpace state guidance. 

State math standards won't be updated again until 2031, yet Bennington just spent $1.14 million on new math materials. For what return?  According to Public School Review, in 2019, Bennington’s math proficiency was 84%. In 2025, it was still 84%. A new curriculum isn't the magic bullet for 100% proficiency. We would achieve far better results by investing that money into well-trained paras to assist in the classroom and help differentiate instruction. We need to stop burning teachers out with constant, expensive overhauls and start giving them the actual human support they need to manage the classroom environment. 

While consistency across the district is a valid goal, we must ask ourselves at what cost. Forcing every teacher to remain on the exact same page of a purchased curriculum—written by people with no connection to Bennington students—stifles the exact classroom innovation that makes our district successful. We would be far better off leveraging our top-tier educators to collaborate and lead. 

One other point is the importance of avoiding relying on curriculum materials that increase screen time and technology usage rather than using physical books as well as paper and pencil.  A recent study out of Norway concludes the following: “The brain networks that turn an external input into something the learner owns require integration across regions. Handwriting forces that integration. Typing does not.”

I would also recommend reading The Anxious Generation by Jonathon Haidt: How the great rewiring of childhood is causing an epidemic of mental illness.  This book provides a thorough evidence based explanation of why kids need less time on screens and why it’s so important to limit screen time in the classrooms and for homework.

When looking at the combined operational spending plus debt service, Bennington Public Schools spends nearly $17,000 per pupil.  Is spending millions on new curriculum materials that may not be benefitting the students the best way to utilize tax dollars?