To the Editor:

My name is Peter Schwarz, and I’m writing to endorse Laura Miller for the Board of Finance.

Laura is a 20-year resident of Newtown. When she first arrived, she immediately began serving the community. She volunteered at Sandy Hook Elementary, where her three small children first attended school, and she later volunteered at the Family Counseling Center (now Newtown Youth and Family Services). She co-chaired the Holiday Festival for several years while on the NYFS Board of Directors, eventually becoming chairperson.

Over the past ten years, Laura has earned two graduate degrees while working her way from a classroom English teacher to director of a special needs high school program in Bethel. Much of her job is financial and administrative, creating and managing budgets, using those limited resources wisely, and dealing with the unexpected bumps in the road that running any large project brings. Laura also has been superb at balancing the needs of the teenagers in her program, their parents, and the staff at their home school districts. Each of these groups can have very different needs, wants, and opinions, and Laura manages everyone’s expectations very well.

Laura has a great sense of priorities and of process. When demands pull in different directions, or when certain groups loudly demand immediate solutions, sometimes to the detriment of others, Laura hears and listens, and is able to work through the competing interests. She remains mindful of limited resources and works toward resolutions everyone can live with. These are practical skills and great experience that will serve Newtown well.

Please vote for Laura and her colleagues Ned Simpson, John Fletcher, and Erica Sullivan this coming Tuesday.

Peter Schwarz

Newtown