School district issues statement about Princeton Board of Education member’s letter to the editor

The spokeswoman for the Princeton Public Schools sent a statement from the Princeton Board of Education to Planet Princeton in response to a school board member’s letter to the board that was also published as a letter to the editor this week.

School board member Deb Bronfeld wrote a letter to the board regarding school district emails that were released in response to an open public records request by Planet Princeton.

In the letter, Bronfeld wrote that she is extremely concerned that there is a lack of respect and transparency towards some school board members. “The attempts to prevent board members from having access to board information are unethical and undermine the trust voters have in the Princeton Board of Education,” she wrote.

Bronfeld reviewed the more than 4,000 pages of emails from the public records request and said the emails show that the board leadership is trying to restrict some board members from asking administrators questions and having full access to information. She criticized the board leadership for spending funds for lawyers in order to take actions against a fellow board member without a full board vote. She also accused the board leadership of influencing staff and attempting to manipulate school board business because of the November school board election.

The school district sent out a brief statement of two paragraphs in response to the letter.

“The Board of Education of the Princeton Public Schools is an elected, unpaid group of 10 citizens who act as a single governing entity on behalf of the public, setting policy and overseeing the operations of our public schools,” reads the statement.

“We wish to clarify that a recent statement by one of our members on the Planet Princeton website does not represent the opinion of the Board of Education,” reads the statement. “We have great respect for our Superintendent, Business Administrator, other administrators and staff, each of whom has evidenced the highest levels of professionalism and integrity in their service to the Princeton Public Schools. We are grateful for their dedication to our students and their patience and responsiveness in working with the Board as we oversee a district with complex challenges.”

10 Comments

  1. The letter doesn’t say much. We do know that Ms Bronfeld’s letter expresses her concern after reviewing pages and pages of emails and other information from PPP BOE. She clearly specifies what she found out regarding the way some members of BOE and leadership have acted and their lack of transparency. What does the district want to accomplish with its statement? They want to look like they respond, but they are saying nothing, nada, zilch. I think they know what they have done and that there is no way they can excuse their behaviour. Lame.

  2. What a crock. The letter says nothing except that Ms. Bronfeld’s letter does not represent the view of the entire Board. That is certainly true, as the Board seems to want to stifle dissenting opinion and conduct its business behind closed doors.

    We need to make sure that doesn’t happen any more, whatever it takes.

  3. Sounds so dry and so politically correct… This yet shows nothing but how incompetent the BoE leadership is in the time of crisis…

  4. They may be “elected, unpaid”. They also have enormous power to control budget, future spending, selection of contractors, etc. And they are not, apparently, being very transparent with the public, who in my view, have a right to know and understand almost everything about school spending choices. Because we are taxed for it. So, being elected, they can expect to be held accountable. This is essentially a meaningless statement.

    1. Perhaps, they think that as they are “elected, unpaid” , we should be grateful for life and never, ever question how they proceed. Don’t get me wrong, it is a lot of unpaid work but they run knowingly; therefore, they should be ready to roll their sleeves and look very carefully, understand, investigate, learn from mistakes, and all. They deal with millions of dollars of tax payers’ money, and are always counting on our gratitude and complacency. If they are not up to the task, they should step down, and if they don’t step down, we should recall them. If there is a legitimate option for the voters, why not take it? There are plenty of emails and information to justify a recall.
      And, by the way, do not send me emails cc to any lawyers, I am expressing my opinion as a tax payer for 20 years, which, apparently is not well seen in this town, this unique and special town, full of brilliant people with so much knowledge, experience, and talent to give as long as they are not criticised or contradicted.

  5. Publish the emails, or send them to Wikileaks. Secrecy is the death of democracy: all elected officials owe us transparency; meeting minutes and records must be made public. The statement by the BoE is the opposite of transparency. The Board deserves an audit conducted by an investigation committee made up of teachers, parents, and tax-payers of Princeton that makes public its findings. If there is nothing to hide, then all will be well.

  6. I note that they don’t even attempt dispute any of Ms. Bronfeld’s charges. At least they have the sense to realize that the emails speak for themselves. So what’s the point of this non-statement statement? It’s beyond vacuous and only makes them look all the more guilty. But then we well know that these folks have zero clue and zero feel for public relations.

  7. Hey folks, donate to planet Princeton because if you read town topics or Princeton packet, you would have no idea that these shenanigans occurred

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