To the Editor:
I write to enthusiastically endorse Annemarie Maini and Chris Sabin for Board of Education. I’ve known each of them for many years through our children’s activities on the athletic field. I know them to be smart, caring and involved individuals, who will bring intelligence, diplomacy and discipline to the Board of Education, a necessary and winning combination to build on our district’s successes and address the nagging issues that remain.
Chris and Annemarie are true community leaders. Chris served as Team Commissioner for the South Orange-Maplewood Packers football team from 2009-13 and in a variety of roles for the Maplewood Lacrosse Club. He’s a 1983 graduate of Columbia High School who returned to Maplewood to raise his three children. His professional award-winning marketing experience has often focused on serious health and lifestyle issues included those related to youth. He is a warm and passionate advocate for our young people.
Annemarie has both an education background and a corporate one. In her early career she taught school before launching her private sector career at JP Morgan Chase. Eight years ago she returned to her education roots and is now the director of the South Orange Country Day school, a Montessori pre-school. Most recently she served as the HSA co-president of South Orange Middle School and has a long volunteer and leadership history in our schools.
I’m impressed that the Maini-Sabin campaign platform defines the big vision that we need to guide us into the future “where all students are active and engaged members of the school community, where excellence is not just an aspiration but a reality for all students, where students’ needs are the first, middle and last things we think about when pondering every issue, where every teacher is enabled to become just like that one special teacher who each of us remembers from our own school days.”
And at the same time they recognize the need to pay attention to the day-to-day management of the district including communications and transparency, “While we intend to talk about vision and necessary long-term change during our campaign, our short-term, number one priority — if elected — will be to get the district back on track in all of its basic operations.”
I encourage you to visit the Maini-Sabin website https://www.maini-sabin-2015.com/ to review their campaign platform for more details.
Please join me in voting for Annemarie Maini and Chris Sabin for Board of Education on November 3.
Thank you,
Howie Teitelbaum
