BOE Candidates Santarpio and Snyder Stand Apart for Sense of Duty, Enthusiasm
To the Editor:
At a time when engagement levels have been challenging in our world, Chris Santarpio and Erica Snyder stand apart for their sense of duty and enthusiasm to jump in and help. We witnessed this firsthand while working with them through the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) at Community Park (CP) School. Both have engaged in learning and understanding the needs and concerns of families across the district by attending BOE meetings, Board committee meetings, and PTO Council meetings. They took on the immense, nonstop jobs of co-presidents at Community Park — while both working full time. They led our PTO Board, which had suffered during the pandemic as longtime volunteers matriculated out of CP. They recruited new volunteers from diverse backgrounds to revive beloved activities and traditions and create new ones. They also helped to revitalize our PTO’s fundraising, which is a lot more sophisticated than bake sales and provides critical funding for classroom supplies and curricular enrichment for all students. You can feel the difference they’ve made when you walk the halls at CP, and we know that they would have a similar impact on our school district if elected to the Board of Education.
Chris is all about helping people to get what they need to be successful. Your problem becomes his problem and he brings creativity and his life experience to the situation. He was the first person to attend college in his family and then went on to help grow and steward his family’s business into a regional enterprise, while getting his MBA in his spare time. His background in finance and operations would be an asset to understand the complex PPS budget, a role that will be missed with the departure of a BOE member to town Council. He is ready to help with ongoing facilities improvements and long-term projects being planned to meet the needs of our growing community. He can also help advocate for the unmet needs of aftercare in the district.
Erica, who currently serves as director of Cherry Hill Nursery School, understands service, both as an Army spouse and a former teacher and education leader. Before moving to Princeton, she served other school communities, some which faced complicated socioeconomic situations —from rural Ecuador to the south side of Chicago. She’s dedicated to investing in all students, so that they don’t just “get through” school, but thrive and see their futures as full of opportunity and possibility. PPS has worked overtime the last couple years to help students recover from pandemic learning losses, which disproportionately affected our most vulnerable learners, and Erica would add an experienced perspective on best practices and innovative ideas to further student achievement for all.
For these reasons and more, we enthusiastically support Chris and Erica in their bids for the Board of Education. We know that they will work tirelessly to make PPS a dynamic and nurturing learning community for all students, while also being responsible and practical stewards of one of our town’s most precious resources: our public schools.