To the Editor:

We provide this letter as a statement of our strong support for Debbie Bronfeld as she is running for re-election for a position on Princeton’s Board of Education.

We first met Debbie over 19 years ago when our daughter and her second son were each a month old. Since then we have had the pleasure of watching our children grow and flourish, in their own ways, in the Princeton Public Schools.

We think Debbie is a great choice for the Princeton’s Board of Education and here’s why. Since we’ve known her, her volunteer and employment choices always revolved around helping people. For example, she was the executive director of Dress for Success Mercer County, a not-for-profit organization that helps women become economically independent by providing professional clothing and the tools needed to succeed. More recently, she worked for Mercer Street Friends Food Bank as a program associate, first as a volunteer, then as an employee. Her responsibilities there included helping people sign up for food stamps, and providing seniors with needed food supplies. In addition, she ran a program that provided backpacks of child-friendly, non-perishable food that went home each weekend with children in 18 schools across Mercer County.

When Debbie first ran for the Board of Education three years ago, we weren’t surprised. She has always been civic minded (as noted above) and has long been a champion of Princeton schools. Both her sons were in the Princeton Public Schools for their entire pre-college education, first Littlebrook Elementary, then John Witherspoon (JW) Middle School and then finally Princeton High School. While her children were in the Princeton schools, Debbie was an active school parent. She was a member of the Parent Teacher Organization at Littlebrook. She volunteered as a room parent, as a worker in Littlebrook’s library and at JW’s book sales. She frequently attended School Board meetings as an interested parent and was a frequent presence at school functions. Debbie has always been counted on to show her support at concerts, musicals, and football games (she often joins us in cheering on our Princeton High cheerleader!).

Three years ago, Debbie ran for a spot on the Princeton School Board because she wanted to work to ensure that all children in Princeton get the quality education that they deserve. She won a spot on the Board, earning the most votes among the candidates that year. In the years since she joined the Board, she has worked hard to fulfill those promises to our children. She’s an active member of the Board, not content to just vote along with everyone else. She’s an independent thinker and evaluates the Board’s projects in terms of their merit and in light of practical considerations such as budgetary constraints. We are writing this letter today because we need Debbie to continue to be a voice on the Board; we again fully support Debbie Bronfeld’s candidacy.

Wendy Heath, Stephen Kaplan
Benjamin Rush Lane