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Vol. LXIII, No. 13
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Wednesday, April 1, 2009
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Vol. LXIII, No. 13
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Wednesday, April 1, 2009
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JAMES FLOYD
Harris Road
BETTY WOLFE
Hawthorne Avenue
DUDLEY SIPPRELLE
Nassau Street
DAPHNE JONES
Cedar Lane
To the Editor:
This is to express our sincere thanks to the Princeton community for joining with the Princeton Regional Schools in a meaningful celebration of Black History Month. Each participant, student, staff and community member joined together in broadening the core mission of education to include the richness and diversity of our history. The celebration also afforded the opportunity to reach out to a “sister” educational institution to give them a “hand-up” as they struggle to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Black History Month was an inclusive celebration — regional schools and community. Thanks for your participation.
JAMES FLOYD
Harris Road
To the Editor:
Congratulations to Princeton Day School students and staff for winning the national Green Cup Challenge by reducing their energy use by 22 percent last month. Their efforts were a fantastic combination of common-sense technical decisions (such as finding a way to clean at night without having all the lights on) and a real effort to form good energy saving habits (like turning out the lights when leaving a room). No new equipment was required, and PDS saved more than $5,000 in the process.
Let’s hope all our local schools quickly adopt similar practices. Energy audits have already been conducted at our public schools. OASIS, a group founded by PDS teacher Liz Cutler that enables representatives from all area schools to share experience and collaborate on environmental issues, is up and running. It’s time for action!
BETTY WOLFE
Hawthorne Avenue
To the Editor:
Congratulations to the Princeton High School Environmental Club for taking the initiative in coming up with ideas to promote energy conservation at PHS (Town Topics Mailbox, March 18). I was surprised and disheartened, however, to read that the Club believes they failed to receive a positive reception from the School Board for their conservation suggestions.
Our local community, along with the rest of the State, faces a prolonged period of economic distress demanding that ways be found to cut back on expenses and eliminate waste and duplication in government operations. The Princeton Regional School District is not immune to this necessary budgetary belt-tightening. Energy consumption constitutes an area where significant savings can be achieved without jeopardizing the quality of education.
I am a candidate for a Borough seat on the Board of the Princeton Regional School District in the April 21 election. I pledge that if elected I will welcome practical ideas on how we can maintain and even improve our schools at an affordable cost, and work hard to implement them. The burdens local property taxpayers can bear are at an end. Along with a number of other areas where meaningful savings can be made without harm to core instructional goals, it’s a no-brainer. As a starter, turn off the lights!
DUDLEY SIPPRELLE
Nassau Street
To the Editor:
On behalf of the steering committee, staff, and clients of the Crisis Ministry of Princeton and Trenton, I would like to express tremendous gratitude to the greater Princeton community for the outpouring of food and donations for our fifth annual Valentines for Food drive, in memory of Don Dickason. Together with the Princeton Rotary Club and over 30 organizations, mostly Princeton area schools and congregations, we collected a fantastic 1,420 bags (14 tons) of food. We wish to extend a special thank you to the Princeton Regional Schools who together brought in almost 40 percent of that total.
Thank you also to McCaffrey’s Supermarkets who gave us a generous $5,000 matching grant for donations made in the store, and also donated the numerous grocery bags that were returned to us filled with food.
We thank all the many coordinators who made this a reality. Two juniors at Princeton High School, Joe Capon and Owen Wilson, deserve special recognition for leading the efforts there and collecting 135 bags of food and $1,000 in donations. Congratulations also to Riverside School for collecting over 100 bags of food.
The Crisis Ministry runs two food pantries providing food with dignity and compassion to over 1,400 households a month in Trenton and 150 a month in Princeton. We have seen a dramatic increase in need in the past few months, and are thrilled that the greater Princeton community rallied together to help our neighbors.
To learn more about the full range of services we provide, to volunteer or contribute, or to run a food drive at any time with your organization or workplace, please visit our website at www.thecrisisministry.org.
DAPHNE JONES
Cedar Lane