Jeff Charbonneau
Trustee
Jeff Charbonneau
Trustee
Jeff Charbonneau is principal at Zillah High School. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Biology in 2000, a professional teaching certificate in 2004, and a Master of Education in 2005 from CWU. He returned to Ellensburg in 2013 to earn a Career and Technical Education Certificate in STEM, and again in 2017 for his principal/administrator certification.
The longtime STEM educator has been the principal of Zillah Middle School and taught science at Zillah High School from 2001-18. Charbonneau also has worked as an assistant principial in the Zillah School District, a STEM coordinator for Educational Service District 105, a Running Start teacher at Eastern Washington University, and an adjunct professor at Yakima Valley College and at CWU.
Charbonneau’s CWU training prepared him for the biggest honor of his 20-year career: the National Teacher of the Year award, presented by then-President Barack Obama. That same year, he won the Washington State Teacher of the Year honors and received CWU’s Alumni of the Year award. He also received the 2015 Global Teacher Prize, awarded to the top 50 finalists around the world.
In addition to his role as principal, Charbonneau has served on the national legislative committee for the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development (ACSD) and has been a member of the Washington Student Achievement Council since 2013. He also has served on the board of directors for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (2014-18) and the Center for Strengthening the Teaching Profession (2014-19).
Charbonneau is serving a six-year term that ends in September 2027.