To the Editor of the Somerville News:

(The opinions and views expressed in the commentaries of The Somerville News belong solely to the authors of those commentaries and do not reflect the views or opinions of The Somerville News, its staff or publishers.)

Since the subject has been raised publicly, I want to confirm for your readers that this summer I have been laying the groundwork to run for the Ward 5 Alderman seat in 2013.

My top priority continues to be to serve Ward 5 as its representative on the School Committee, which I have done for 6 1/2 years now.  I will continue to work hard and do everything I can to improve our schools in that role through the end of 2013.

This summer I have been spending a lot of time working for the election of three terrific candidates, Denise Provost for State Representative, Elizabeth Warren for U.S. Senate, and Maryann Heuston for Register of Deeds.

I did not think it appropriate to speak publicly about my interest in running for Ward 5 Alderman because the next municipal election is 15 months away in November 2013 and there are two extremely important elections coming up on September 6th and November 6th, 2012.   But since the subject has been raised, and rumors are flying around which may affect some of my colleagues on the School Committee, I wanted to clarify things.

Yours,

Mark Niedergang

Ward 5 School Committee Representative