Princeton School Board Election 2023: Eleanor Hubbard

PRINCETON, NJ — Five new and returning candidates are vying for a seat on the Princeton Board of Education this November.

This year's general elections will be held on Nov. 7. Patch will publish a detailed interview with each candidate in the coming days.

Name: Eleanor Hubbard

Age: 43

Town of residence: Princeton

Position sought: Board of Education

Family: I live in Princeton with my husband, Leo Nguyen, and our three children, who attend Riverside School and Princeton Middle School.

Education: Harvard AB in History and Literature, 2001, Harvard MA in History, 2005, Harvard PhD in History, 2009

Occupation: None

Previous or current elected appointed office: None

Campaign website: eleanorhubbardforboe.wordpress.com

Why are you seeking to run for School Board?

I'm running for the Board of Education because I want to step up and do whatever I can to make our schools as good as they can be for all our children. I have three kids at Riverside and Princeton Middle School, which means I have a good ten years ahead of being personally invested in our public schools. If I am elected to the Board, my top priority will be making sure our children receive rich and challenging educations, while also remaining attentive to their social and emotional well-being. After the social and academic tolls of the pandemic, I know our kids need both the emphasis on academic achievement, and happy, welcoming schools.

What according to you is the biggest issue facing the school district currently? How do you plan to tackle it?

The school district faces several challenges, including pandemic recovery, an ever-present budget crunch and the need to plan for expanding enrollments as well as repairing its relationship with the community. The challenge I am most qualified to address, and where I see a gap on the current Board, is helping our students recover from disrupted schooling during COVID, and shoring up academic weaknesses resulting from previous inattention to curriculum in the district. The Princeton math program was damaged a few years ago by some well-intentioned but poorly thought-out decisions with results that continue to drag down our kids' learning, for example, and I am concerned by the lack of meaningful science and social studies learning in the elementary schools, as well as our use of an outdated reading program that focuses on shallow skills instead of reading and discussing good books, and building core foundational knowledge.

The BOE referendum will go up for a vote in November. Are you in favor of this? Why or why not?

I support the referendum because it makes sense to leverage state aid to reduce district expenses. The proposed improvements -- some playground fixes, the high school cafeteria, new vestibules and doors for security, the track, the field, etc, -- are important for our kids.

The last school year saw controversies that left many students disappointed. What will you do to ensure the district avoids such public controversies and gives the students a smooth school year?

The adults in the district -- Board members, administrators, teachers, staff, and parents -- need to work together to put our kids first. If I am elected, I will do my best to work collaboratively, productively, and respectfully with other Board members and with district administrators for the benefit of our students, because that's what we're here for.

What issues do you feel are not being adequately tackled in the district?

Although we are understandably eager to put the pandemic behind us, continuing weaknesses in our school district's performance should raise alarms. In last year's state performance report, for example, our district failed to meet its target districtwide for mathematics, and failed to meet English language arts targets for Hispanic students, economically disadvantaged students, and students with disabilities. In addition, the district had low levels of proficiency in science, the only other subject area measured in the performance report. It's important to note that standardized test scores are for judging our schools' performance, not for judging our kids. No test score can sum up a child's worth. But test scores give us essential information about whether our schools are doing their job well, and if we don't pay attention to them, then we aren't going to find out where the problems are. I'm pleased to say that our district has a great new assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction in place, Dr. Kim Tew, and that she is already using this information to make improvements, for example by providing extra math instruction for struggling middle school students. We need to continue that focus on lifting up our most vulnerable students to make sure they get the education they deserve. I would also like to see a knowledge-rich elementary school curriculum so that our disadvantaged students get essential foundational knowledge that is necessary to succeed in advanced courses. A strong curriculum and excellent teaching are at the heart of thriving schools.

What sets you apart from the other candidates?

As a candidate, I have some important qualities. First, I'm a parent of younger children. There is currently one Board member with a child as young as 8th grade. My youngest child is seven, so I have ten years ahead of me of being personally invested in the success of our public schools and the health and happiness of our children. Second, I have a strong background in education. I have been a public school teacher and a college professor, I follow educational debates and trends closely, and I am able to provide meaningful oversight of the academic work of our district. Finally, I am experienced and pragmatic. In addition to volunteering in the PTO, I was a trustee of UNOW for eight years; I served as Board president there, and I did all kinds of work, from organizing coffees and playdates to negotiating with the university, to devising an approach for a director search. I am comfortable dealing with data and compassionate when dealing with people, and I can understand and respect multiple points of view. If I'm elected, I'll do my best for our community.

What else would you like to share about yourself or your campaign?

As a parent of three children, health matters very much to me. We need to prioritize physical activity, outside play, friendship, face-to-face socialization, sleep, personal agency, and healthy eating. I don't think our schools do as good a job as we would like. Indoor recess happens more often than it should. I'd like to see intramural sports so more kids can have a chance to play. The food served in the cafeteria includes many sweetened and ultra-processed foods that have been linked to serious chronic diseases. We also need to think hard about the distractions and obsessions of social media. At lunchtime, kids should be chatting, not looking at their phones. And we need to work on making sure our kids aren't subjected to toxic stress -- unpredictable and arbitrary workloads in cold, uncaring environments -- while also giving our kids positive tools like time management and a focus on sleep so they can get the satisfaction of staying on top of their classwork. We want our kids to learn that they are capable and can meet the challenges that life throws at them.

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