To the Editor:

We are writing to strongly support Greg Stankiewicz’s re-election to the Princeton Public Schools Board of Education. We’ve gotten to know Greg over the past few years and have found him to be a humble, fair, and compassionate steward of our schools. His first term started just as our children entered kindergarten together at Community Park School and we began paying much closer attention to the Board’s work — especially the challenges our district faces as a result of an increasing student population and aging facilities.

Greg has dedicated thousands of hours of volunteer time to his work on the Board, bringing his integrity, intelligence, and a commitment to equity to everything he has done. Whenever we came to him with a question or concern, we knew we could trust that he had the best interests of all of our children at heart. We want to highlight three of the many initiatives that have benefited from Greg’s time and expertise:

Greg joined the School Board Facilities Committee in January 2019 and became chair. In that role, he is helping to oversee the $26.9 million referendum. To increase transparency and public participation, Greg instituted bi-weekly public meetings and provided regular updates to the full Board and community. The first three projects of the referendum were implemented this summer: installing air conditioning at the high school gym; upgrading the electrical systems in all the elementary schools; and installing new HVAC units at Riverside Elementary School.

Greg encouraged the district to join the Garden State Coalition, a statewide public education advocacy organization, and then worked with them and other organizations to spearhead state-level policy changes that benefit Princeton. Most recently, this included convincing the Legislature to provide a one-year increase in the State’s reimbursement for past extraordinary Special Education costs that resulted in an additional $1.7 million in aid for Princeton. This funding came after the deadline for the district to submit its 2019-20 budget, but will be critical in helping replenish some of our depleted reserves.

Greg encouraged and helped facilitate Princeton’s successful efforts to join Rutgers University’s Labor Management Collaborative, an innovative effort of more than 35 New Jersey districts that are establishing formal partnerships between district administrations and their unions. Districts undertaking such collaborations have stronger levels of student achievement, greater levels of innovation, and enhanced communication between teachers and administrators, resulting in stronger and more innovative districts.

We are supporting Greg not only for his many accomplishments in his first term, but because he is a good person, a highly effective collaborator, and a fiscally prudent financial manager. There are many challenges facing our schools in the next few years, and Greg’s calm and intelligent voice of reason, focus on transparency and community participation, and advocacy on behalf of every student needs to be at the table to address them.

Tara Oakman
Valley Road

Nicole Pezold Hancock
Jefferson Road