To the Editor:

I would like to introduce myself, Chris Santarpio, to the entire Princeton community as a Board of Education candidate. You may have seen my yellow lawn signs pop up around town recently. I chose the color yellow because to me this signifies positive energy, optimism, and sparking creativity. If elected, I will bring these qualities to the BOE.

My husband and I made Princeton our home in early 2020. We chose Princeton because of its vibrant and diverse community. I immediately became involved in the PTO as our son entered kindergarten at Community Park Elementary.  I am now serving my second year as PTO Co-President. I have also regularly attended Board of Education meetings, committee meetings, and PTO Council (PTOC) meetings (the PTOC consists of the district administration and leadership from all of the school-level PTOs within PPS, meeting monthly throughout the year). By serving in the PTO and attending these meetings, I became aware of the challenges facing the BOE and realized I could bring my skillset to help PPS thrive. 

My professional experience is in finance, operations, and supply chain management. I own a second-generation family business that is a distribution and service provider of industrial controls and material handling equipment serving the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern U.S. My skills, experience, and background are transferable to being a member of the PPS Board of Education and I believe I can make a meaningful impact for the benefit of students, staff, and taxpayers. As a BOE member, I will do the following:

Recognize the critical importance of managing budgets and making data-driven decisions to achieve operational excellence; I will ensure the data the district relies on for decision-making is accurate and reliable;

Emphasize the importance of optimization techniques, drawing on my business leadership and supply chain background, to ensure both efficient management and operations across PPS;

Perform a risk assessment of critical third-party providers (i.e., food services, aftercare, etc.) and establish a system to mitigate risks that could disrupt the Princeton Public Schools; I will further aim to establish a continuous cycle of communication, progress monitoring, and status updates between PPS and outsourced third-party providers, ensuring that expectations are mutually understood and consistently met;

Prioritize community and culture-building within the district, fostering and maintaining strong relationships, so that all students have excellent opportunities to thrive; and

Create new ways to engage with the entire Princeton community, ensuring that our public schools are an important and positive part of our town’s culture.

Please keep an eye out for various BOE candidate forums in the coming weeks. I look forward to sharing more about me as well as hearing from you regarding your hopes and aspirations for PPS. In the meantime, if you would like to learn more about my background or about my candidacy, please visit ChrisSantarpio.com. Thank you very much and I look forward to connecting with many of you this fall!

Chris Santarpio
Nassau Street