Meet the Princeton Board of Education candidates: Chris Santarpio
Age: 50
Occupation: Dad & business owner of an industrial and material handling company
Your campaign slogan if you have one: n/a
Campaign website or social media link: ChrisSantarpio.com
Please tell us about your personal background, including education and work experience:
I was born and raised in Southern New Jersey with 2 older brothers. My dad, who left school after the 9th grade to work at my grandparents’ deli, met my mom, and together they started both a family and a family business.
Growing up, I witnessed first-hand the dedication and perseverance of my parents, both at home and in their business. This instilled in me a strong work ethic and a deep appreciation for the value of education.
I am proud to have been the first person in my family to attend college. I pursued and completed a degree in finance from Villanova University. While at Villanova, I served on many service organizations including Habitat for Humanity, and was responsible for leading the Special Olympics Pennsylvania Fall Games for 4 years. It was through my work for these organizations that I developed a passion for helping people.
Upon graduation, I lived in Boston to begin my career in the financial services industry at a large custodian bank. Starting in operations within the bank’s Prime Brokerage Division, I advanced to the International Equities Sales Trading Desk. My career then took me to a global management consulting firm, where I led strategy development and execution, as well as process improvement engagements for global financial services clients.
I am now the 2nd generation owner of a family business that spans the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern parts of the U.S. It’s been an amazing opportunity to play a significant role in the growth and development of our family business for the past 20 years. While working full-time in the family business, I obtained my MBA from Rutgers and obtained my Lean Sig Sigma certificate.
After living in Jersey City for 13 years, my husband and I decided to move to Princeton in the spring of 2020. Our son was finishing up PreK4 in Jersey City and we found it to be the opportune time to make Princeton our home. One of the contributing factors to our decision was to provide our son with access to high-quality education and a vibrant, diverse community. We selected Community Park Elementary School for our son because of the Dual Language Immersion Program.
How many years have you lived in Princeton: 4
What is your connection to the Princeton Public Schools? If you have children, what schools did they attend in the 2023-24 academic year?
My son attends Community Park and will be a 3rd grader in the 2024-2025 academic year.
Please tell us about your public service background:
I’ve served in many volunteer roles within the Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) since my son started at Community Park School, ranging from class parent to chair of the annual school-wide STEAM Day event, for which I built connections with numerous individuals and organizations throughout the Princeton area to present STEAM topics to students. Most recently, I have been serving as PTO Co-President.
Additionally, I stay actively informed about the management of Princeton Public Schools by regularly attending Board of Education meetings, BOE committee meetings, and Parent Teacher Organization Council (PTOC) meetings.
One of the more gratifying experiences I’ve had in working with PPS is helping to bring together all four elementary school PTO co-presidents to communicate and collaborate. Through this PTO community, we share ideas and insights amongst the schools and find common purpose.
My thirst for public service has always been a passion for me. I have always had a drive to help people. I can point to this passion as early as my college experience. For example, my college was responsible for hosting, managing, and operating Pennsylvania’s Special Olympics Fall Games. Villanova hosted over 1,200 athletes for this 3-day event – it was one of the only student-run state Special Olympics games in the country. I quickly jumped into volunteer roles including director of volunteers, where I was responsible for recruiting, training, and managing over 1,200 athletes, 400 coaches, and 5000 volunteers for the Fall Festival from both on-campus and off-campus organizations. I also held a steering committee role that led the student-run committee for the Fall Games but also acted as the liaison between Villanova University and Special Olympics. Over the years, I still return to campus to see how much the event continues to bring happiness to the athletes’ lives! Also, while at Villanova I served on and led Habitat for Humanity trips over Spring Breaks.
After college, I co-founded two non-profit organizations. One was a Young Professional Advocacy Group that benefitted the Franciscan Children’s Hospital in Boston. The 2nd organization I co-founded was “Holiday Happening” where we fundraised, collected and donated over 5,000 toys to Boston-area children each year. In Jersey City, I served on my son’s school Parent Teacher Association (PreK – 8th grade public school) while he attended PreK3 and PreK4 at our neighborhood school, PS37.
Why are you running for a seat on the Princeton Board of Education?
As an engaged parent, as an elementary school PTO co-president, and as an active citizen/neighbor, I have connected with other parents and community members across Princeton regarding our town’s schools. I realized I have valuable skills that can make a meaningful impact on our public schools, for the benefit of students, staff, and taxpayers. If elected to the Board of Education, I would:
- Recognize the critical importance of managing budgets and making data-driven decisions to achieve operational excellence; I will ensure the data the school district relies on for decision-making is accurate and reliable;
- Emphasize the importance of optimization techniques, drawing on my business leadership and supply chain background, to ensure both efficient management and operations across PPS;
- Perform a risk assessment of critical 3rd party providers (i.e., food services, aftercare, etc.) and establish a system to mitigate risks that could disrupt the Princeton Public Schools; I will further aim to establish a continuous cycle of communication, progress monitoring, and status updates between PPS and outsourced 3rd party providers, ensuring that expectations are mutually understood and consistently met;
- Prioritize community and culture-building within the school district, fostering and maintaining strong relationships, so that all students have excellent opportunities to thrive; and
- Create new ways to engage with the entire Princeton community, ensuring that our public schools are an important and positive part of our town’s culture.
What do you view as top three issues or policy priorities for the school district?
While there are numerous pressing issues facing the Princeton Public Schools, I believe some of the most significant issues are as follows:
Superintendent selection: The superintendent selection is one of the most important decisions a board of education will make. The superintendent must not only lead and operate a PreK-12 district, but also the superintendent needs to have the vision and community-building skills to connect with the wide constituency of our public schools, including administrators, teachers, staff, students, parents/families, and taxpayers – the entire Princeton community. As a business owner, I know first-hand that having a strong leader at the helm drives the culture forward. Similarly, a strong superintendent will help build a positive culture at the Princeton Public Schools. It is ever so important that our next superintendent is fully engaged, with their feet on the street connecting with people and communicating the overall strategy of the Princeton Public Schools. I look forward to being a part of this important selection process.
Budget: Unfortunately, many other New Jersey public school districts are facing painful budget cuts, leading to the trimming of both staff and programs that had been benefiting students. We are at a juncture in our district, and it is so important that we become more creative in developing unique solutions to optimize our budget. As an experienced finance and operations professional and a business owner, it is one of my core daily responsibilities to ensure that our finances are in line with our budget. I have a roll-up-my-sleeves approach, and it is very easy for me to understand financials and budgets. Budget challenges also tie in with our district’s human capital – teachers and staff. People are the most important asset of any organization, and our teachers and staff are no different. Our teachers and staff drive the strategy of PPS daily. Our teachers and staff are critical to the success of our students. It is important that the Board of Education ensures we make fiscally responsible decisions so that we do not need to cut programs, but rather can focus on making this district the best it can be.
Community-Building and Collaboration: As a core public institution within the thriving and growing town of Princeton, the district needs to collaborate with town and community organizations. PPS will benefit by furthering partnership and collaboration with the vibrant organizations and businesses in our town. Actively pursuing this type of civic engagement will only make us stronger as a community. Together, we develop creative solutions to leverage the talent and support from within our community to help the Princeton Public Schools’ students achieve greater success.
How do you anticipate coping with any cuts in state aid to the school district and what are your spending priorities when it comes to the school budget?
I operate in a space where challenges create opportunities. As indicated in my last answer, I do think there are some critical hurdles that our schools will face that directly impact our budget. However, one of my reasons for running for the Board of Education is that I can foster collaboration between the schools and outside community organizations and public-private partnerships. If we can take a proactive approach in working together at the onset, we can accurately forecast where we need assistance in the school district as we head toward the hurdles. By having a plan in place, it becomes easier to navigate and be prepared to address challenges. I’ve attended PPS budget meetings for the past few years. I understand that not everyone may find them appealing. However, this is where I think I can make an immediate impact if elected to the Board of Education. My spending priorities would be to focus on the students, while being good stewards of taxpayer money. Education also occurs outside the classroom, so I believe the extracurricular programs that PPS offers are equally important to our students. All these experiences help our students become global citizens.
As the school district grows, what are your ideas on how to control costs and property taxes?
It is vital for any Board of Education member to understand the intricacies and complexities of the overall budget. That will be my priority if elected. Then, once I have a full grasp on the budget, I think we can begin identifying opportunities on how we can leverage creative approaches to help offset costs. I do believe that we cannot do this alone. One of my campaign platforms is “Create new ways to engage with the entire Princeton community and increase visibility for Princeton Public Schools.” This entails community-building and increasing visibility for PPS throughout the entire community to make our schools even better for our students.
What is your position on payments in lieu of taxes agreements made to housing developers and what should the school board do about these agreements?
As I mentioned earlier, one of my key goals if elected to serve on the Board of Education would be to foster more collaboration with the town. I understand that the town and the Board of Education are two separate governing bodies. However, I would make every effort for the Board of Education to have a seat at the table to actively collaborate with the town on any issue that impacts the future of Princeton Public Schools, including PILOTs.
Should the school district purchase Westminster Choir College? Why or why not?
I did not know Westminster Choir College was up for sale (I thought its ownership was still being disputed via litigation). Even if it was on the market, I think PPS should focus on its existing facilities rather than trying to procure new land to build additional brick-and-mortar facilities which would be at a significant cost for our district and town.
What is your opinion on the curriculum taught in the Princeton schools and what would you change?
The PPS District is very fortunate to have Dr. Kimberly Tew, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction on its team. In a few short years, there has been positive momentum impacting the curriculum. Dr. Tew’s knowledge, along with her hands-on approach with effective communication, is such a valuable asset to the district. While I am early on with my 3rd grader in elementary school, I am always in amazement seeing what our elementary school students can learn and achieve. Additionally, while attending the Board of Education meetings and the monthly PTO Council meetings, I am always super impressed at what the students at the other PPS elementary schools, PMS and PHS are achieving. We always will have more work to do and areas that need improvement, but it’s also important to celebrate progress.
Is there anything else you want voters to know about yourself, your campaign, or the issues you care most about?
I would bring a unique skillset to the Boad of Education, if elected. I am never afraid to roll-up my sleeves to get results. In my family business, we are driven by our mission, vision, purpose and, most importantly, our core values. These guide me daily, and they are very transferrable to why I am running for the Board of Education: Respect, integrity, safety, engagement, understanding and passion.
I think it’s important that PPS leadership has a solid handle on reliable data and metrics and leverages this knowledge to optimize our district’s operations and the educational results we see with our students. We all want PPS to be a leading public school district and it is important to know where we are and where we want to go.
I know how budgets work and how they impact the operations and performance of any organization, whether private or public. I own a family business that has more than doubled while I have been leading the company for the past 10 years. Given that I worked in a professional consulting business and now work in an industrial controls company, I am able to work with all types of people. Additionally, I believe I understand some of the challenges the district faces in terms of operations and believe I can assist in these efforts. If elected, I would welcome the opportunity to serve on the Operations and Long-Term Planning Committees.
I have a passion for inclusivity. I think all students should have a sense of belonging and feel safe as members of our school community. We can all work together at home, at school, and in the broader community to foster inclusivity and safe spaces for our students.
In closing, I ask for your support. My intentions are to help PPS with my skillset and build collaboration not only within PPS but also within our entire community. I would welcome the opportunity to serve on the BOE, helping foster a great educational experience for our students.
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