On My Commitment to Local Volunteerism and Open Space Grants

I also volunteered extensively in Haddonfield Public Schools throughout the 16 years of my children’s K-12 education. Service includes:  Zone PTA Treasurer; Middle School PTA President; Language Arts Curriculum Audit; Strategic Planning Committee; Principal’s Advisory Committees; Middle School Principal Selection Committee; High School Scholarship Selection Committee; Lights Camera Action Fundraiser; High School Band Booster; Middle School Science Olympiad Tutor; Art Goes to School Instructor; and Junior Great Books and Math Club Leader; Tatem Silent Auction Chair, and a multi-year room parent and chaperone.   

In the community, I supported the Local Open Space Trust Fund referendum by gathering hundreds of signatures on a the 2006 petition for a ballot question. I viewed the matching grants that the local fund could leverage as a means to add to our greenways and enhance quality of life for all residents. I supported grant-purchased, protected land as a preferable alternative to high density, high intensity uses that will strain public infrastructure in a way that would generate property tax increases.  

By the end of 2013, Haddonfield will have contributed about $4 million in Camden County Open Space taxes without having ever received a single land grant.  See what I wrote about those grants in regard to the Bancroft referendum here:  http://sj.sunne.ws/2012/12/05/letter-lower-property-tax-impact-is-better/