To the Editor:

As I reflect on the past year, Princeton’s legacy, and Princeton’s future, I am moved to enthusiastically invite the community to join me in voting for Michele Tuck-Ponder for the Board of Education.

It is a critical time to support Black leadership in our school district for the good of all of our children, their education, and the culture of our community. Tuck-Ponder has a decades-long history of dedicated volunteer and elected service to Princeton and has been an effective leader for equity in our schools as chair of the District Equity Committee. Her service includes being a two-term commissioner for the Princeton Housing Authority, a town Council member, and mayor.

Her unique experience and relationships throughout Princeton have led to a deep understanding of school governance and how to build consensus to get things done. These skills have enabled her to effectively advocate for the needs of Princeton’s many underserved students to come into balance with those of our most elite students. Specifically, she has consistently advocated for reducing cost barriers to parents for curricular and extracurricular activities offered in our schools. These costs can run from a few hundred to several thousand dollars and can inhibit our young talent from reaching its potential and erode a student’s sense of true belonging. I trust that Tuck-Ponder will listen deeply to ensure that all voices in the community, including those who don’t have kids in schools, are represented and heard.

At this month’s meeting of NIOT on Race and Our Schools, I was reminded of the world that lives in our history, our bodies, and in the present day: anti-literacy laws against teaching enslaved people to read and write in the 18th and 19th centuries, violent and cruel opposition to school integration in the 20th century and today, the stripping away of Affirmative Action, attacks on DEI and equity measures under the codes of “parent rights,” and “dumbing down” curriculum or in our own town’s case, and the loss of status according to U.S. News.

Recently, we saw vitriol against Superintendent Kelley as Princetonians experienced the dismissal of the high school principal and rumors about changes to the math curriculum. Context matters when making a decision about who will represent the needs of our children, especially our Black and Brown children. Although many of us are newly engaged with public education as we have our own children in the schools, it is essential to understand where we have been to chart an ambitious course for the future where all graduates are valued members of our society who are prepared for the 21st century.

Michele Tuck-Ponder brings an astounding awareness of not just where we have been as a community but can implement the vision for the future we want to have.

Michelle Fuerst
Parent of child at Community Park
Spruce Street