By Donald Gilpin

It’s back to school this week for almost 4,000 Princeton Public Schools students and staff, and with the Westminster Choir College property no longer available, school leaders are considering options for handling increasing enrollments at all levels.  

Princeton High School (PHS) is already over capacity, and, according to Superintendent Steve Cochrane, in addition to expanding PHS, the district would like to find a space to accommodate a grades five-six middle school, and eventually, an additional elementary school.  The new middle school would help to alleviate overcrowding at John Witherspoon Middle School (JWMS), which is also rapidly approaching capacity.

“While the Westminster Choir College (WCC) campus was our first option to expand our facilities to meet the needs of our growing enrollment,” Mr. Cochrane said, “we have always been developing alternate plans.”  Rider University, WCC owner, announced last month that it had chosen another buyer for the 23-acre WCC property.

The Valley Road building, formerly a school, but currently housing the district’s central  administration, “is one option that we are considering carefully,” Mr. Cochrane said.

“We know the population of the town and the enrollment of Princeton Public Schools will be increasing over the next 10-20 years,” Mr. Cochrane pointed out.  ”As we look at the infrastructure needs of the town and our schools, we are working closely with town officials to coordinate plans that are best for our community.”

Princeton Mayor Liz Lempert noted that “the municipality is here to assist the school district in whatever way we can, and we’re committed to working in a unified way to ensure the children of our community have adequate space for school facilities to meet their needs into the near future.”

Noting the likelihood of a facilities bond referendum in the coming year, Mr. Cochrane said, “Any decision that we make will affect the community and our schools for many years to come; we want to make sure that decision is the right decision for the school district and for the town.

“We are moving forward with a plan for a facilities referendum, and as we do so we want to make sure that we have pursued all options and found what makes most sense in terms of our use of space and our responsible use of limited tax dollars.  We want to make sure we have a plan that best meets the needs of our students and our community, financially and logistically, both now and well into the future.”