Princeton High School Graduation Date

Candace Braun

Due to several unexpected problems at Princeton High School over the past two months, the last day of school has been moved to Friday, June 18. The rest of the school district will conclude its school year on Wednesday, June 16. All classes will conclude at 1 p.m.

The change of date is a result of lost school days due to a gas leak at the end of April and a power outage caused by lightning strikes to the school in early May.

Graduation for high school students will take place on Friday, June 18, at 5:30 p.m. It was previously scheduled for Thursday, June 17.

After the power outage at the high school on May 7, the Princeton Regional School Board considered holding either an examination day or class day on a Saturday to make up for lost class time. State law requires all students to attend school for 180 days, and graduation may not be held until the 180th day of class for high school seniors.

The Board decided against making up class time on the weekend, as the state would not count the day as a full school day unless the required number of high school faculty were able to come in, said Lew Goldstein, assistant superintendent for human resources, public information, and community relations.

"Rather than risk it, we figured the best course of action ... is to have graduation on Friday night," he said.

Mr. Goldstein said that barring any more natural disasters that would result in closing the school another day, the new graduation date won't change again.

Other activities at the high school have also been changed as a result of school closings this year.

High school examinations will take place Monday, June 14, through Thursday, June 17. There will be a 12:35 p.m. dismissal on all four days, with a 12:35 bus pick-up. Former examination dates were June 11, 14, 15, and 16.

The annual "Art Show Key" will take place on Thursday, June 3, from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at the Suzanne Patterson Senior Center behind Borough Hall. On Friday, June 4, the high school's band concert will take place from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the high school auditorium.

On Wednesday, June 9, the senior awards banquet will take place. Dinner will be held in the cafeteria at 5:30 p.m., and the awards ceremony will take place at 7 p.m. in the auditorium. The banquet was previously scheduled for May 25.

The senior barbecue will take place on Friday, June 11.

The Gold Key Awards ceremony, which was scheduled for Thursday, June 3, will be rescheduled to a date that has not yet been determined, said a high school faculty member.

For more information on schedule changes, visit http://www2.prs.k12.nj.us/.