To the Editor:

I encourage [Newtowners] to vote for Debbie Leidlein for the Newtown Board of Education in November. We have worked together as community service volunteers for over four years now, and I am consistently impressed by her dedication and dependable follow-through.

As president of Women Involved in Newtown (WIN), Ms Leidlein not only ran monthly meetings with unwavering professionalism for two years, but continues to participate in WIN’s annual Thanksgiving Baskets food drive and Easter Baskets for local children in need. She has volunteered as a Newtown PTA member, currently serving as the Newtown Middle School PTA president. She is also an integral volunteer and coordinator for Newtown Youth Football and Cheer (also serving on the board as fundraising chair). Debbie Leidlein has a talent for identifying a need in the community and acting on it in a comprehensive way.

My most recent involvement with Ms Leidlein is on the board of the Newtown Education Foundation (NEF), which she founded this past year. Our group is in its infancy and is actively looking for volunteers to serve as board members, participate in fundraising, donate services, make a monetary donation, or simply be added to the mailing list. NEF will fulfill Debbie Leidlein’s vision of “securing resources that help facilitate educational achievement through innovative projects and programs that fall outside the school budget,” as stated in the NEF mission statement.

Debbie Leidlein is an educator herself, teaching grades six through eight at a private school in Fairfield. Her enthusiasm for education in her classroom has spilled over to our community, as she has taken an active interest in Newtown education and attends Newtown Board of Education meetings regularly.

For the Newtown Board of Education, vote for Debbie Leidlein: an educator, a volunteer, and innovator.

Jennifer Scarangella

Secretary, Newtown Education Foundation

14 Poorhouse Road, Newtown                                   October 11, 2009