Why She Stayed: Nine Years with OptimALL Leads to Major Career Growth

Ask Shannon Buckner what she's working on these days, and the short answer is that she helps lead programs that provide intervention services for students. This year, that answer comes with something new attached: she's helping launch a program that has never existed before. 

To understand how she got here, it helps to go back further. 

Shannon graduated from Ball State University with a double licensure in mild/moderate needs and deaf education. While studying there, she participated in a year-long practicum program at the Indiana School for the Deaf. When she moved back to Cincinnati, she took a job as an intervention specialist at a Catholic school, where she first started working with the Autism Scholarship, and later the Jon Peterson Special Needs Scholarship. She has been around that scholarship world for almost 20 years now. 

Shannon first encountered OptimALL back in 2017, right around when the organization was first taking shape. Back then, she was one of the coaches going into schools and working side by side with teachers. That's also when she met Lynn Esmail, who has since built OptimALL into a program that works directly with students, not just alongside their teachers. Shannon started leading programs of her own not long after, and over the years she has led programs at five different schools: St. Jude, St. Bernard, St. John the Baptist, St. Lawrence, and Resurrection. 

Looking back, Shannon says she didn't fully understand what OptimALL would end up meaning to her. 

“I always knew I loved working with students, families, and teachers. What surprised me was discovering how much I enjoy program development and leadership,” Shannon said. 

She had a young family when she started, and OptimALL gave her flexibility during those years while also giving her a reason to keep pushing herself. She saw what the organization was trying to build, and she wanted to be part of it. "I understood their goal from the beginning. I saw the bigger picture of what OptimALL was building, and I wanted to be a part of bringing that to life." 

That's the through line in how Shannon talks about her work. OptimALL is built on relationships, not on a one-size-fits-all model. The team works alongside each school to understand what it needs, then builds support around that. 

“We are very relationship driven with the students and their families, and especially the schools,” Shannon said. “We don’t at all believe that one size fits all is a solution. We work alongside the schools to build supports that reflect their specific needs.” 

Every school has a different culture. Every classroom has a different culture. A script that works in one place won't necessarily work in another. 

Which brings her to this upcoming year.

Shannon is still leading OptimALL's program at St. Lawrence, which has grown to almost 50 students in grades K through 8. But this fall, the organization is also launching the St. John Bosco Classroom, a new program for students with intensive needs, integrated alongside the larger St. Lawrence program. It will start with a very small class size. 

Part of OptimALL's mission is making sure a Catholic or faith-based education is available to students who might not otherwise have access to it, alongside the specialized support they need. 

“We want to open doors for all students to receive a Catholic or other faith-based education.” Shannon said. “I’m really excited to help create opportunities for students who might not have otherwise had access to specialized support within a Catholic education.” 

The new St. John Bosco Classroom puts that mission into a very concrete form. The goal is for students with intensive needs to have real opportunities inside the general education setting, whether that's joining a science lesson with a student who shares their interest, or simply being present with peers, including siblings who already attend St. Lawrence. And hope runs both ways: students in general education get the chance to know peers with different needs too. 

“This really is a pilot program,” Shannon said. “And that makes it so special.” 

The team is moving intentionally rather than quickly. Lynn made a point of this early on, that it's better to take the time to build a strong culture in this program and this classroom than to rush toward expansion. Shannon agrees with that approach, even as she recognizes there is real need for something like this in other schools down the road. 

Shannon says she has never felt this excited heading into a school year. There's usually a little end-of-summer anxiety mixed in with the excitement of a new year. This year, for her, it's all excitement. 

“I am so thrilled,” she said. “I can’t wait until everybody comes back. I’m looking forward to collaborating with our teachers, supporting our families, and seeing how we can all support this program. It’s just so exciting, for the families and for the teachers and for OptimALL.” 

Asked what has kept her at OptimALL for nine years, Shannon points to the people. 

“I really love the people of OptimALL. Everyone genuinely just wants to make a difference for the students,” she said. “There are so many different roles within the organization, but everybody has that same foundational desire. We want to make a difference for the student, keep everything student centered.” 

That kind of culture, she says, is not something you find everywhere. It's something worth staying for. 

Shannon Buckner serves as Director of Growth for OptimALL. She leads the intervention program at St. Lawrence School and is helping launch the St. John Bosco Classroom, a new program for students with intensive needs, this fall.