To the Editor:

We enthusiastically support Beth Behrend for reelection to the Princeton Public Schools Board of Education. Beth has served our school children and our community with integrity. She is a good person who uses her considerable experience and skills to benefit others. We appreciate Beth’s calm and thoughtful approach; she works to listen to all voices in our community, including the quiet ones, and to build consensus.

Beth’s time on the Board of Education has been marked by achievement that has benefited our children and our town. With her background in law, finance, and business, she has been instrumental in helping strengthen and stabilize the school budget and in properly maintaining and improving our aging school facilities. For several years now, Beth has led a careful planning effort to ensure we have room in school facilities for enrollment growth from new housing. During Beth’s tenure, our district has added nine new classrooms of free, state-funded Pre-K, better dyslexia screening, and teacher training in early literacy, all helping give our youngest learners a stronger start. As Board president during the pandemic, Beth helped ensure all students had devices and connectivity to learn remotely, and helped pull together community partners to safely deliver nutritious meals to nearly 500 students and their families.

Beth is a collaborator and problem solver — she is the kind of person you’d hope would be wrestling with tough issues like inclusion, equity, school climate and culture, increasing enrollment, aging facilities, and what our kids need to prepare them for the future. Most importantly, Beth works for the good of all our children with no agenda other than working to make our strong public schools even better.

We hope you will vote for Beth Behrend for Board of Education in the upcoming election. We believe Princeton would be well served to have Beth continue the important work she has been doing on behalf of all of our children.

We also support the referendum question to make schools safer and to improve and update school facilities.

Larry and Fern Spruill
Oak Lane