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Board of Education Urges Support Of 2005-06 Regional School Budget

To the Editor:

On April 19 voters in Princeton Borough and Princeton Township will have the opportunity to vote on the budget for its schools. The Princeton Regional School Board is asking for your support of its 2005-06 budget. Our school community is proud of the depth and quality of the instructional opportunities provided for all of our students. This budget is one that struggles to continue our excellent programs, to maintain our newly expanded and renovated facilities, and to address areas of critical need.

This year's budget is broken into a base budget and a second question. Each will be voted on separately. Our base budget is increasing by 4.5 percent. These include salaries/benefits (+5.2 percent), special education (+2.6 percent), instruction (+4 percent), charter school (+7.6 percent), maintenance/facilities (+26.9 percent), and transportation (+16.9 percent). In order to meet these increases, the Board has made cuts in other areas funded in earlier years. This includes reduced staffing due to attrition or enrollment, no direct funding to community non-profit agencies, and the use of federal and state grant funds to offset salaries and benefits.

The second question covers three very specific areas on our educational mission: academic intervention, enrichment, and safety/school climate, and requests $1,895,000. These areas are a direct response to significant issues that limit our ability to maximize the success and potential of all of our students.

I urge all Princetonians to learn more about their school budget. To help with this, a newsletter is being sent to every household in Princeton describing the budget and the second question. A detailed budget presentation was presented at our March 29 board meeting and is being televised over the next month on Channel 25. Additionally, residents can go to the district website www2.prs.k12.nj.us and bring up the newsletter and second question proposal.

This is a budget that deserves your support. We have looked at each component carefully, we have made some tough decisions, and we have crafted a budget that will directly impact every child in an individual manner. Please go to the polls on April 19 from 2 to 9 p.m. and vote to continue Princeton's tradition of excellence.

ANNE B. BURNS
President,
Princeton Board of Education

Student Thanks Sponsors, Volunteers For Participation in "Princeton Cares"

To the Editor:

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the wonderful volunteers and chaperones who helped to make the first annual Princeton Cares day such a great success.

Princeton Cares was conceived as a community-wide, one-day volunteer effort utilizing high school age volunteers at a variety of sites. On the afternoon of Sunday, April 3, more than 80 people donated a total of 231 hours to help make Princeton a better place.

Special thanks to Mayor Phyllis Marchand and Mayor Joseph O'Neill for their enthusiastic support, Sue Repko (Princeton Day School) and Rachel Cantlay (Lawrenceville School), Linda Meisel, Nancy Lewis, Linda Grenis, Laurie Londoner, Betsy Rosen, Merrye Hudis, Mike Haggerty, Jack Roberts, Katie Herlihy, Steve Kloser at TV30, Candace Braun, Michael Redmond, Cathy Straus, Sheryl Punia, Susan Conlon, Elanor Panelli, Emma Caban, Beth Nagle, Helen Dao, and Lisette Siegel. Also, special thanks to my ever-patient parents, Ricky and A.J. Shechtel.

The day would not have been possible without the hard work of the student captains at each school: Ben Siegel and Charlie Punia at Hun, Andrew Siegel at Lawrenceville, Julie Straus at Pennington, Michelle Soffen and Ricky Grenis at Princeton High School, Margaret Henry and Nina Szemis at Stuart, and Zack Shechtel, Justin Shechtel, and Ellen Cook at Princeton Day School.

I am so grateful to our generous sponsors, Hamilton Jewelers, McCaffrey's, and Target. Special thanks also to Andy Hamlin at Princeton Day School and the Susan G. Moll Memorial Fund.

The biggest thank you, of course, goes to all the terrific volunteers for coming out on a rainy Sunday to give back to Princeton. See you next year!

LEXI SHECHTEL
Princeton Day School '06
Founder, Princeton Cares

Princeton Regional Schools Calendar Upsets Critical Rhythm of Learning

Note: The following is a copy of a letter written by the parent of a Princeton Regional Schools student to Judith Wilson, Princeton Regional Schools Superintendent.

Dear Ms. Wilson:

I appreciate your letter to parents dated March 17 regarding the 2005-06 calendar. Certainly many parents had questions answered by this letter.

You stated that some parents feel the November week off is a "hardship." Unfortunately, in reading the letter, it is implied that the only "hardship" is in the burden parents will have in finding childcare for those days. Nowhere has the issue of academics been addressed. It is this hardship that concerns me and many other parents. This is not an issue of baby-sitting.

Breaking up the first semester into bite-size learning pieces is no good for our kids. Take a look at our calendar. It is completely unbalanced. Bear in mind that in November we already have half-days on Wednesdays. Adding a full week off to a month which already has half-days and Thanksgiving break is not going to do our kids any favors. The rhythm of learning that is so critical to kids, particularly early readers, will just never be established in the first semester with this calendar. Studies have shown that when learning is constantly interrupted there is a price to pay. There is learning time lost in the mental "winding down" before a vacation, and of course, time lost in "gearing back up" after a vacation. I am also assuming a half-day will need to be added to the first week of December to make up for the one lost in November.

Yes, it is true that this calendar neither increases the number of days that parents need childcare, nor decreases the number of instructional days. However, for all the same reasons that you cannot support staff development days in June, these three extra days that our children will attend school at the end of the year are of limited academic value. Everyone is mentally "checked-out" and waiting for vacation, and "there is no option for application of learning." Three full school days in November would pack a much stronger academic punch.

I am very glad you are open to not continuing with this calendar in subsequent years and I urge all parents of like mind to voice their opinions.

VALERIE WALKER
Grasmere Way