To the Editor:

I am writing to endorse Eve Niedergang for Princeton Council. I’ve known Eve since I was co-president of the Riverside Elementary School PTO from 2003-05 and I found in Eve a person who was willing to pitch in and who could work with a wide range of people. She ran the annual Book Fair at Riverside for several years and expanded its funding so that every child walked out of the Book Fair with a book, regardless of means. She also started the trick-or-treat for UNICEF program at the school to encourage our children to collect money to help poor children throughout the world. Equity was always one of her chief concerns. No wonder I worked hard to persuade Eve to succeed me as PTO co-president in 2005.

My faith in Eve’s abilities was well justified. As the PTO co-president, she expanded access to after-school and enrichment programs so that every child could attend. Similarly, every child received a Riverside T-shirt annually, regardless of their family’s ability to pay. She also revitalized and expanded the PTO’s program of mini-grants to teachers. These grants allowed teachers to pursue new instructional goals and to purchase equipment and supplies for special projects. Our School Garden program was already under way but Eve raised money to fund year-round care of the garden, expanding the time period that the garden was available as a resource for teachers and students.

Eve also made sure that the PTO supported the arts and music. One year the PTO funded an opera residency in collaboration with Opera New Jersey that culminated in an opera that the students wrote, produced, and performed in. She also spearheaded a fundraiser to acquire a piano for the school’s music department. Due to the enthusiasm with which parents greeted these programs, the PTO was able to not only expand the programs it offered but also to build up a surplus to use for future programming. In short, Eve took a good organization and made it even better, always mindful that every child should have the same opportunities as her own children.

Eve would bring all of the qualities exemplified in her leadership of the PTO to the Princeton Council: an ability to engage with all members of a community; a zeal to include all; support for innovative approaches; and a commitment to the environment, the arts, and education. I urge all of you to join me in voting for Eve Niedergang in the Democratic Primary on June 5.

Jane Jemas

Riverside Drive