Bethalto School Board Race: Dana Aronin Advocates for Local Kids and Families

BETHALTO – Dana Aronin is new to the school board, but she has a lot of experience with kids.

Aronin, one of nine candidates running for a seat on the Bethalto Community Unit School District #8 Board of Education, shared more about who she is and what she stands for. She joined the board last summer when two vacancies opened up, and she balances her school board position with her work as a pediatric nurse practitioner.

“As someone who really wants to achieve good things, I feel like I’m just getting my feet wet in this process and I’m just starting to get a good understanding about how everything works,” she said. “I just don’t feel like I’m done. I would love to continue to be on the board so I can make more positive changes in the community.”

Aronin has worked as a leader in the pediatric ICU and the cardiac ICU in hospitals across the Greater St. Louis region. She currently works with Cardinal Glennon as a pediatrics primary care provider.

She has received several awards in her field, including St. Louis Magazine’s Nurse of the Year and Alton Memorial’s Nurse Practitioner of the Year recognitions. Aronin emphasized her experience with pediatric mental health and noted that she has dedicated her career to helping kids and families.

“I’ve spent a lot of time advocating for children, teaching some evidence-based practice guidelines for promoting good health habits, giving some counseling and guidance to parents as far as children and growth and children and their mental health needs,” she explained.

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Aronin said she has always been involved in her children’s school activities, and joining the school board felt like a natural next step. Since moving to Bethalto in 2017, she has had “nothing but positive experiences” with the community and the district.

She added that she has “learned a great deal” and “made some very good friends” since joining the school board last year. Looking forward, she wants to see a more structured and consistent approach to discipline, specifically when it comes to bullying. She is also concerned about student and educator safety and making sure kids feel heard.

She wants an “all hands on deck” approach that promotes community and parental involvement. She emphasized that these problems are not exclusive to Bethalto schools and there is a lot of research out there that can guide the district as they establish policies.

“We are not alone in this problem,” she added. “That’s actually a good thing, because it means there is evidence-based research out there. There’s pediatricians and the American Academy of Pediatrics that are looking at what are the best guidelines on how to take care of these kinds of situations and how to advocate for children and families and keeping teachers safe. We’re not standing alone in this situation. There’s a lot of evidence out there on what we could be doing and what we may be doing, but what we can do better.”

As the consolidated election on April 1, 2025, approaches, Aronin encourages people to think of her experience and her personality as a “go-getter” who advocates for kids. She hopes to continue her tenure on the school board going forward.

“They should vote for me if they want somebody who has a lot of pediatric experience, who has been a leader in her field, who has done a lot of things with kids and parents,” she added. “I’m very driven and I have no problem being assertive when I need to be. I’m a very good team player, and I think I can work well with others so that we can achieve greater goals than we already have in the district.”

This is the fifth in a series of nine articles about the Bethalto Community Unit School District #8 Board of Education candidates.

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