Mark Niedergang, 57, came to the Boston area to attend Tufts University in 1975 and stayed because he loved Somerville. Originally from New York City, Mark graduated from Tufts with a B.A. in Psychology. In 1984, he went to Washington D.C., and got a master’s degree in International Relations at the Johns Hopkins Paul Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, specializing in international economics and American foreign policy. He returned to Somerville in 1987 and rented a third-floor apartment on Liberty Avenue by Powderhouse Park for 12 years.
While living on Liberty Avenue, Mark met and later married Marya Axner, who had moved to Somerville from Portland, Oregon, to attend the Harvard Graduate School of Education. They will celebrate their 20th anniversary this November. Mark and Marya’s daughter, Rae, attended the Healey School from kindergarten through eighth grade, graduated from Somerville High School in the spring of 2010, and now attends Tufts University.
In 1997, Mark and Marya bought their two-family home on 29 Conwell Street, near Somerville Hospital, up the hill from the firehouse on Highland Avenue. They don’t mind the trek up to the house and appreciate the close-knit, friendly neighborhood at the top of the hill. The family loves the big backyard and watching the squirrels and birds in the large maple trees. Mark enjoys gardening and grows vegetables in the front yard.
Mark models his life in part on that of his father, Murray, a World War II veteran and Harvard Law School graduate. Mark’s father had a strong sense of social responsibility and was a leader in many community organizations. Mark’s mother, Florence, was a bookkeeper by profession and taught Mark and his siblings the importance of properly managing money. She also taught them to cook and bake, both of which Mark enjoys. Mark has a close relationship with his younger brother, Paul, who lives in Portland, Oregon, and his younger sister Eve, who lives in Princeton, New Jersey.
Mark’s grandparents were all immigrants from Poland or Russia. Like many newcomers to this country, they worked hard at demanding jobs and struggled to make ends meet so that their children could have better lives. Frank Niedergang, Mark’s paternal grandfather, was a waiter and messenger. Ray Niedergang, after whom Mark’s daughter is named, never learned to read or write English but was literate in her native language, Yiddish. Mark’s maternal grandparents, Sam and Rose Resnick, owned a small paper and twine shop in Brooklyn, NY.
Mark has played baseball and been a baseball fan most of his life. He was co-captain of his high school team, participated in the Babe Ruth League as a teenager, and played shortstop on a local, co-ed softball team, the Peace Action Warriors for 20 years. He is a Red Sox fan and especially enjoys watching the games on TV after getting home from meetings.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Since 1990, Mark has worked as a consultant to non-profit organizations. He assists groups with fundraising, organizational development, program management, and long-range planning. Clients have included Cambridge and Somerville Legal Services, Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Council for a Liveable World, Council for Responsible Genetics, Institute for Peace and International Security, Jobs for the Future, The Right Question Project, the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts, the Schnieder Insitutes for Health Policy at Brandeis University and the Unitarian Universalist Association.
From 1995-98, during the administration of then Mayor, now U.S. Congressman, Michael Capuano, Mark worked as the Grants Manager at the Somerville Police Department and as a Planner in the Mayor’s Office of Human Services. Mark raised more than $1.5 million in grants for multiple programs including: community policing; domestic violence prevention-training; computer and technology upgrades for the Police Department; and youth programs such as Cops and Kids, an after-school collaboration between the Somerville Police Department and the YMCA .
During this time, Mark co-founded the Somerville Grantwriters and Fundraisers Group, a collaboration of staff from social service agencies and City government that continues to meet. He also created the Somerville Conversations project, and wrote a grant to the National Endowment for the Humanities to fund it. From 1996 to 2003, the Somerville Conversations engaged hundreds of residents in a series of small-group discussions to talk about social issues and concerns in Somerville, such as building strong neighborhoods, education, racial and ethnic identity, and what brings people together in the City.
From 1990-96, Mark was a consultant and Program Director for the Study Circles Resource Center, now called Everyday Democracy, based in Hartford, Connecticut. He developed, tested, and marketed study circles -- small-group discussion programs on social and political issues --what he used in part to shape the Somerville Conversations. Mark wrote issue booklets on a variety of topics including education and youth issues.
For two years in the early 1990’s, Mark taught civics to immigrants working toward their citizenship at SCALE, the Somerville Public Schools’ adult learning center.
From 1990 to 1992, Mark served as the part-time Executive Director of Congregation B’nai Brith in Somerville, the synagogue on Central Street. While Mark was Director, the budget tripled and membership doubled. Mark also helped re-establish the Sunday morning Children’s School that had been closed for 17 years. Mark has been a teacher in the Children’s School since 2000 and served as interim Education Director in 2002-03.
From 1980-83, Mark worked at the Institute for Defense and Disarmament Studies (IDDS) in Brookline, MA. Mark helped develop the Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign, a national and international movement initiated by IDDS. Mark worked closely with the offices of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy and Representative Ed Markey to pass a resolution supporting a nuclear-weapons freeze in Congress in 1983.
One of Mark’s first jobs was as a dishwasher and then cook at Ahmed’s, a Moroccan restaurant once in Harvard Square. In the early 1980’s, he was also a carpenter’s apprentice, helping a father-son team build 100% solar-heated homes in Bedford and Carlisle.
Later, Mark worked at the For Love of Children (FLOC) Wilderness School in West Virginia, a residential school and treatment program for boys with emotional and behavior problems.
SCHOOL INVOLVEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
Mark has been involved with the Somerville Public Schools since 1997, as a classroom volunteer, a tutor, a parent leader, a community activist, and a School Committee member.
Like many parents, Mark’s involvement in the Somerville Public Schools began with wanting to be directly involved in his child’s education. “I can play a little guitar, and I can lead singing,” Mark told his daughter Rae’s kindergarten teacher in the Choice Program at the Healey School. He became a weekly volunteer, leading Rae’s classes in songs for six years.
Mark served as Secretary of the Choice Council at the Healey and as a parent representative on the Healey School Council.
In 2005, Mark helped create and coordinate the Superintendent Search Action Group. This parent organization formed to provide community input in hiring a new Superintendent of Schools. The group transformed into Somerville-4-Schools, an active on-line listserv with more than 300 members that discusses education policy issues in Somerville.
In November 2005, Mark was elected to the Somerville School Committee from Ward 5, which runs through the heart of Somerville from Porter Square to Winter Hill. Since 2006, Mark has served on the School Committee as the representative from Ward 5, which includes neighborhoods in and around the Brown School, Kennedy School, and Winter Hill Community School.
Mark has been re-elected twice to represent Ward 5 on the School Committee, in 2007 and 2009.
One of the first things that Mark accomplished as a School Committee member was convincing his colleagues to engage in a strategic planning process that would establish several long-range goals for the Somerville Public Schools. In 2007, the School Committee adopted five long-range goals, which continue to guide and drive major initiatives in the Somerville Public Schools today.
In 2007, as chair of the Personnel Subcommittee, Mark managed a number of important hiring processes, including those for an Assistant Superintendent of Schools and for Director of Special Education.
In 2008, Mark chaired the Education Programs and Instruction Subcommittee. He held hearings and focused attention on a number of key issues, such as the homework policy, the college guidance program at Somerville High School, and health and sexuality education.
In January 2009, Mark’s colleagues elected him Vice Chair of the School Committee, which brings with it serving as Chair of the Finance and Facilities Subcommittee. Mark led the School Committee through the budget process this year and worked closely with both Mayor Joe Curtatone and the leaders of the Board of Alderman on budget issues.
In January 2010, Mark was elected Chair of the School Committee. In 2010, the School Department was one of the few parts of City government to get a budget increase. Mayor Joe Curtatone and the Board of Aldermen voted an additional $1 million for the school budget in the spring of 2010. Their confidence in the school department was, in part, due to the strength of the School Committee. Mayor Curtatone remarked several times, in public, “…this is the strongest School Committee I have served on.”
As Chair of the School Committee, Mark led the process that resulted in the vote to restructure and unify the Healey School under the progressive philosophy and practices of the Choice program. This was a challenging issue that aroused strong passions. Many parents feared that the special qualities of the Choice program would be lost, but it is clear that the new, unified Healey School will be a progressive, innovative and exciting school. The engagement and commitment of parents, teachers, and staff working together to design the new Healey has truly been inspiring.
Mark has been a math tutor for 3rd and 4th graders. He has volunteered at both the Winter Hill Community School and Kennedy School.
Mark’s wife, Marya Axner, shares his commitment to quality public education and worked in the education field for 25 years. Marya was a professional artist and art teacher at Portland (OR) Community College for a decade. For five years, she worked for the Somerville Public Schools, first as Director of a state-funded parent involvement program, and then later as Site Coordinator for the 21st Century after-school program at the former Powderhouse School. Marya is currently the Regional Director of the New England Jewish Labor Committee.
COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT
Mark is an elected member of the Ward 5 Democratic City Committee and has served on the Committee since 2006.
Mark has served on the boards of many local non-profit organizations.
From 1996 to 1999, Mark was a Board member of the Somerville Community Corporation (SCC). In 1998-99, he served as Board President. SCC builds affordable housing and operates the award-winning mediation program at Somerville High School and in the elementary schools.
From 1999 to 2004 Mark was on the Board of Eagle Eye Institute, an organization based in Davis Square that provides environmental education to urban youth.
Mark has been a leader and member of Congregation B’nai Brith, the synagogue on Central Street in Somerville, for 20 years. From 1992-2000, he served on the Board of Directors. He has been a teacher in the religious school since 2000 and was interim Education Director in 2002-03. This past year, he taught a class of 1st and 2nd graders as well as a class of 3rd and 4th graders.
This spring, Mark helped organize and lead Congregation B’nai Brith’s team in the Save our Homes Walk, which raises funds for emergency assistance to Somerville residents who might otherwise become homeless.
Mark currently serves on the Development Committee for Project Aliyah, Congregation B’nai Brith’s campaign to raise $2.5 million to make its 87-year-old building accessible for people with disabilities and mobility issues.
Mark participates in Community Cooks, which provides home-cooked meals to people living in group houses and shelters. Once a month for the past six years, Mark has baked brownies for a local family shelter.
Current memberships include:
• Somerville Garden Club
• Somerville Community Corporation
• Ward 5 Democratic City Committee
• Progressive Democrats of Somerville
• Congregation B’nai Brith
• Parent-Teacher Associations (PTA's) at Somerville High School and at the Brown School, Winter Hill Community School, and Kennedy School
Updated May 6, 2011