Santarpio and Snyder are Hands-on Participants in Work of Cultivating Town’s Public Education System
To the Editor:
Transparency and effective communication are the cornerstones of a successful school board and a strong school district. Princeton’s Board of Education will thrive under the leadership of BOE candidates Chris Santarpio and Erica Snyder, superlative communicators and hands-on participants in the work of cultivating Princeton’s robust public education system.
Whether catching up with parents on the playground, leading school fundraising events, or chatting over tater tots and beers at the Ivy Inn, there is no more gifted communicator than Chris Santarpio, owner of a second-generation family business and co-president of Community Park School’s PTO. He is as friendly as he is even-keeled, equally up for a serious conversation about matters of town importance as he is to shoot the breeze with his neighbors, making real connections with our entire district. He seeks — and achieves — broad buy-in from our diverse Community Park community, as he is a natural unifier and collaborative leader. He is genuinely interested in what everyone thinks, takes feedback warmly, working humbly to ensure that the next school picnic or STEAM day is even better than the last one. Want a leader who knows what it takes to run a successful ice cream social and is just as adept analyzing a budget? Chris is that candidate, and the BOE needs his vision, his practical know-how, and his rare ability to build consensus.
We Community Park parents are incredibly lucky that Chris shares co-presidency of our PTO with Erica Synder, an experienced teacher and director of the Cherry Hill Nursery School, who has brought to CP her unwavering competence, compassion, and a deep understanding of the challenges that our public schools must navigate to ensure the academic growth of all students. Erica will be an inspiring and highly-informed voice on the BOE as we work towards accommodating district wide growth, closing achievement gaps, and hiring a new superintendent — issues that Erica has made central to her candidacy.
Acrimony and mistrust were features of many BOE meetings last year. Princeton’s school district needs leaders who will facilitate productive conversations, for whom inclusivity is a central ideal of a diverse community and a practice of listening, learning, and pitching in, and who will advocate for stellar public education not in the abstract but through the lived experiences of the students in our schools. They have our ringing endorsement, and we encourage you to give them your vote.