To the editor:

We write to urge you to support Eileen Miller’s bid for election to the board of education. Eileen has spent her 10 years in Pelham supporting our youth, both within and without the school system. Eileen was a previous board of education member, and she feels so strongly about the quality of Pelham’s educational system that she is running again.

Eileen will work to implement the changes we all want to see in our school system. We all want to address the negative effects of the pandemic; we all want to have an excellent school system, and we all want a fiscally responsible board of education.

Eileen’s top priorities for the school system going forward are to:

• Create a summer enrichment program for all students who need a little help bouncing back from the pandemic.
• Create a high school-peer leadership program and utilize additional professionals across all levels to address the mental-health crisis among our children.
• Create a long-term facilities plan that addresses the needs of our aging infrastructure.

Listening to Eileen talk about the budget, social-emotional learning and the financial and legal issues unique to public school systems is startling. Her knowledge of the minutiae of the workings of the board of education is both deep and broad. This is because Eileen has something that none of the other candidates brings to the school board: she has experience.

Eileen ran for the school board in 2018 because she wanted to be involved in the second strategic plan, after being on the committee that worked on the first strategic plan in 2015. She was the chairwoman of the strategic planning committee, which produced an updated plan that is student-focused and representative of the many voices in our town who care about our schools—the students, teachers, staff and neighbors.

Eileen has always been a volunteer. Her many volunteer roles in Pelham include:

• Member of the Pelham Board of Education
• Worked on the school board’s first strategic plan in 2015
• Worked on the board’s advocacy and community outreach committee, which resulted in a commitment to full foundation-aid funding—aid that had been funded at about 50% for years
• Board member of the Pelham Education Foundation
• Co-president of the Friends of the Town of Pelham Public Library for four years
• Member of the Pelham Middle School Site-Based Council
• Class parent at Colonial Elementary School
• Oversaw the welcome back picnic at Colonial
• Currently works as the communications and development manager at Pelham Together

We, as a community, agree on so much. We all want an excellent education for our children; we all want our kids to be healthy and happy, and we all want fiscal responsibility.

Eileen is the embodiment of a community that supports its youth, one that is safe and healthy for our children. Her broad volunteerism in Pelham and for our children springs from her heart. But Eileen is not just about the emotional aspects of education. She also understands that we pay our taxes so that our schools can provide a top-notch education to our kids. Eileen is well aware that in order to support our children, we must be competent, responsible and effective, and we must be extremely intentional about how we spend our community’s tax dollars.

Eileen is exactly what the Pelham community needs at this time: she is experienced, she has a deep knowledge of the issues unique to public schools and she always puts the best interests of our children first. Please join us in supporting her and vote on May 17 for Eileen Miller for the Pelham Board of Education.

Judy Shampanier

263 Pelhamdale Ave.

along with:

Tami Altschiller
Jon Altschiller
Allison Altschiller
Melissa Altschiller
Zachary Altschiller
Nandini Anandu
Stephanie Anderson
Jay Anderson
Grace Anderson
Jack Anderson
Michele Anderson
Christian Anderson
Isabelle Anderson
Liliana Arabia
Marti Arden
Cathy Banholzer
Warren Banholzer
Linda Bethea
Elizabeth Bewley
Kristin Bischof
Brian Bober
Dana Bober
Mike Bowen
Beth Braun
Betty Bucher
Kristen Burke
Tim Campbell
Virginia Capeci
Luca Capeci
Heidi Carey
Alicia Carmona
Laura Caruso
Chris Caruso
Michael Casey
Analia Casey
Zoe Casey
Will Cavanagh
Elaine Chang
Jeffay Chang
Henry Chao
Miranda Chao
Haley Childs
Danton Chin
Sunsun Chung
Michael Clain
Lynsey Clarke
Andrew Clarke
Amy Cole
Andrew Cole
RoseAnn Colkin
Amy Conway
Carmella Crowley
Rachel Cullen
Chris D’Angelo
Katie D’Angelo
Teddy D’Angelo
Bea de la Torre
Aileen Dose
Tim Dose
Nina Dunhill
Michelle Dvorkin
Michael Dvorkin
Bob Eicher
Melissa Eustace
Liz Farrell
Vanessa Felgner
Mark Finegan
Suzanne Fleischman Wies
Brittany Fleming
Allison Frost
Megan Garufi
Sabrina Glaser
Andrea Gottfried
Eileen Gregware
Ryan Gregware
Matthew Gregware
Shaun Gurl
Amy Hand
Stephen Handelman
Bentley Hardwick
Steve Hardwick
Hudson Hardwick
John Hastings
Blair Hecht
Jeff Hoeh
Lisa Horten
John Horten
Terry Hults
Laura Hupprich
Sharene Jones
Maryanne Joyce
Melissa Kagan
Aimee Kaplan
Kristen Kells
Lisa Kiernan
Darius Kingsley
Griffin Kingsley
Clara Kingsley
Toby Knapp
Isabelle Konstantinov
Lisa Koonce
Lance Koonce
Emma Koonce
Susan Kraus
John Kraus
Erika Krauss-Pilla
Karen Kringle
Melissa Labonte
Michael Lahn
Lori Lahn
Leah Leonard
John Leonard
Theresa Leste
Pamela Little
John Little
Dawyuan Ida Lo
Steve Long
Deborah Lowery Knapp
Rosemary Maggiore
Aartie Manansingh
Danielle Marrero
Braulio Marrero
Yvette Marrero
Joe Marty
Liz Massie
Felix V. Matos
Tracey McFarland
Cheryl McGibbon
Bruce McGibbon
Kara McLoughlin
Holly McNamara
Mark McNulty
Amy Middleton
Curt Middleton
Ethan Miller
Gabriella Miller
Joshua Miller
Moira Moderelli
Maura Monaghan
Flannery Monaghan-Morris
Quinlan Monaghan-Morris
Christopher Morris
Louise Muller
Melissa Mulrooney Deighton
Alyssa Murray
Sanjay Naik
Jai Nanda
Kathleen Nanda
Peggy Nicholson
Jennifer O’Connor-Parmelee
Marybeth O’Keefe
Jamie Parilla
Rene Parmar
John Pedorella
Marni Pedorella
Charlie Pedorella
Lauren Perkins
Anthea Perkinson
Michael Plunkett
Kathy Potocki
Everett Potter
Gayle Potter
Eileen Proffitt
Boyer Proffitt
Debra Puchalla
Jeanne Radvany
Dave Radvany
Kristy Rebele
James Rebele
Lisa Robb
Alexandra Russello
Emma Russello
Hat Savage
Anique Scharf
Aaron Scharf
Megan Segaric
Tom Segaric
Anna Shampanier-Bowen
Jill Sigelbaum
Sue Simpson
Terri Smith
Jack Smith
Patricia Smith
Suzanne Snyder
Kathy Soderberg
Eric Soderberg
Adrienne Sommerville-Kiamie
David Sparano
James Spencer
Jessica Spencer
Chelsea Spengemann
Ariel Spira-Cohen
Gregory Spock
Janna Spock
Andrea Spunberg
Mimi Steinberg
Gabe Sucena
Sam Sucena
Ron Sucena
Allison Tam
Dana Thayer
Jadzia Tirsch
Noel Tirsch
Marie McIntyre Tracy
Robert Tracy
Nancy Tsang
Steve Tsang
Ellie Turner
Scott Turner
Costas Vrahimis
Elizabeth Wagner
Peter Wies
Margot Wies
Debbie Winstead
Ken Woodward
Justin Woodward
Jessica Young
Colleen Zale
Joe Zale
Moneeka Zaman
Marilyn Zielinski