Donna Zane for Board of Education

For those who don’t know me (yet) – I’m Donna Zane, a long-time community volunteer.  In school circles, I’m probably best known as a founding member of the Safe Routes to School (SRTS) Green Team.  It started out when my kids were little, petitioning for sidewalks, standing in front of Salt Brook directing traffic, and organizing bike educational rodeos in an effort to make it easier and safer for students to walk and bike to school.  Over time this grew into a working relationship between parent volunteers, police and the borough council – where data we gathered on routes to school helped acquire four successful grant applications since 2016.  If nothing else, you might’ve seen some of the drop-off maps and instructions via the PTA/PTO/PTSA.

Or you may know me from various other projects: local Scouting roles (more maps, this time for November’s food drive!), Friends of the New Providence Memorial Library, different food insecurity efforts with CSA and Linc, or revisiting my environmental roots on the borough’s Sustainable Advisory committee (see you at FreecycleFest!)  Much, much further back, I studied chemistry at MIT, worked in a climate measurement lab at Scripps Oceanography, helped establish a software development start-up – which is where I continued to work remotely after moving to New Providence, marrying my college sweetheart, and raising our family.

My kids are off adulting now, but I know that part of what made that success possible was the education they got here, and I’d like to return to helping out with something that had an important impact on our family.  What I think I can bring to this role is the ability to help mobilize everyone’s voices with different perspectives to work together for the common good in by listening and sharing information.  I’ve spent many hours attending and advocating at BOE meetings over the years, where for a while I also wrote summaries for the PTO newsletter.  I’ve worked with the League of Women Voters and worked as a poll worker (although I’ll be working outside of New Providence on this particular election day) to help provide everyone with the information they need to make important decisions.  I’ll sneak that pitch in now – voting is important! – and hope that you’ll consider me for Board of Education this November.

updates:

PTA (PTO, PTSA) Candidates Forum scheduled 7pm October 10th in the NPMS/NPHS media center: http://npmspto.weebly.com/boe-forum.html

Thank you everyone who donated – or offered to – but this is a small local election and I think I’m good now! Very much appreciated!