Kathi Bonlender of Yakima was sworn in as the newest member of the Educational Service District 105 Board of Directors during the group’s regular monthly meeting at the ESD 105 Conference Center in Yakima on Tuesday, Aug. 18.

Bonlender will represent the seven-member board for Director District 3, which includes the east area of the Yakima School District.  Her term with the ESD 105 Board will run through 2012.

The ESD 105 Board of Directors is comprised of members residing in seven areas of the agency’s region who are accountable to and elected by the school board members in the region’s public school districts.  The ESD 105 Board provides direction to the ESD 105 superintendent, who is advised by local school district superintendents.

Bonlender is taking the seat that had been held by Yakima resident Mary Harris, who had been the longest-serving member on the ESD 105 Board.  Harris joined the group in 1994 and announced her decision earlier this summer to end her 15-year tenure with the group as soon as a replacement could be found.

“I believe in being proactive,” said Bonlender.  “When I saw what the board has accomplished and what it wanted to be accomplished, I knew that I would like to be a part of it.”

Bonlender has previously been involved with Davis High School as a member of its Diversified Occupational Career and Technical Education Advisory Board, which addresses the needs of children in special education.  She has also been a member of the Apple Valley Kiwanis for 10 years, serving a year as its president. 

The new ESD 105 Board member and her husband, 2004-2008 Yakima City Council member Ron Bonlender, have owned and operated the Sub Shop restaurants in Yakima since 1990.  The Bonlenders have lived in Yakima since 1982, and raised six children who all attended Yakima’s Davis High School.