Hello! My name is Mark Niedergang, and I am the Ward 5 representative on the Somerville School Committee. Thanks to the voters of Ward 5 and hundreds of other friends and supporters, I am now in my seventh year on the School Committee.
I have lived in Somerville for almost 30 years. I met and married my wife Marya here. Our daughter Rae graduated from Somerville High School in 2010 and is a student at Tufts University. She was well-prepared for college because she received a great education in the Somerville Public Schools.
Since 2006, I have served on the School Committee and represented our schools in and around Ward 5 - the Brown, Kennedy, and Winter Hill. I've also been very involved at Somerville High School, especially during the four years that my daughter was a student there. I've learned a lot about what makes our schools strong and continue to have many ideas for how we can make them even better. I feel fortunate that I am in a position where I can share those ideas with other people who care and work hard to implement them and make a difference.
In January 2010, my colleagues elected me Chair of the School Committee, and I served as Chair for that year. The Chair has additional duties, such as collaborating with the Board of Aldermen on budget and other issues. In 2009, as Vice Chair, I led the Committee through what many people thought was the most difficult budget situation in 20 years. We had to make cuts no one wanted to make.
The School Committee is currently developing the budget for fiscal year 2013. I will work hard to ensure that the budget process is open and transparent and that there are many opportunities for public comment.
Despite the financial challenges of the recession over the past few years, we have continued to move forward in improving our schools. Right now, the School Committee's top goal is to establish a groundbreaking, exciting middle school instructional program for 6th, 7th, and 8th grades. Administrators, principals, teachers, and other staff have already begun to implement the first part of this new program. I will work hard to reach other key goals, such as increasing inclusion opportunities for our special education students, improving after-school programs, and re-establishing foreign language instruction before 9th grade.
The School Committee has been deliberating over the past few months to establish goals for the 2012-2013 term. I expect that we will soon finalize those goals, and I will post them here when they have been adopted.
Thank you to those of you who have contacted me to share your concerns about our schools, your child's education, or other issues in Somerville. I will continue to listen carefully to the concerns and ideas of parents, guardians, teachers, other staff, and community members.
I am grateful for the opportunity to help our students thrive and our schools succeed.
Sincerely yours,
Mark Niedergang
29 Conwell Street
Somerville, MA 02143
P.S. If you'd like to talk, please contact me at 617-629-8033 or mark@markniedergang.com
Updated April 19, 2012
Many thanks to David Crosbie for volunteering to create and manage this website.