PRINCETON: School officials consider delaying bond referendum

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The school district raised the prospect this week of pushing back a facilities bond referendum to next September, as officials ponder their options to accommodate more students in the near and short term.
Superintendent of Schools Stephen C. Cochrane, in a statement Wednesday, touched on some of the considerations officials have in mind, both now and in the long run, given how enrollment and the town’s population are projected to grow in the next two decades.
“Our immediate need is to move forward with a plan to expand Princeton High School, which is already over capacity, and to find a space in our town to accommodate a 5-6 middle school that would also allow for additional athletic fields,” he said. “Down the road, we will likely need another elementary school, so we want to be mindful of that as we consider our options. The Valley Road building, which as many know was formerly a school, is one option that we are considering carefully. We are also coordinating closely with the town to explore alternatives that would allow for long-term growth.”
A new school for fifth and sixth graders would free up space at the elementary schools, where fifth graders attend, and John Witherspoon Middle School, where sixth graders attend. Cochrane also has talked of having an addition to the high school.
The district, based on report by its demographer, is forecast to top 3,920 students in 2023, up from the 3,339 it had in 2011.
In part, the district is looking at its plan B options for space needs. Officials had eyed acquiring Rider University’s Westminster Choir College. But Rider announced last month that it was pursuing talks with another suitor to take over the music school and keep it in Princeton.
“While the Westminster Choir College campus was our first option to expand our facilities to meet the needs of our growing enrollment,” Cochrane said, “we have always been developing alternate plans.”
The district, in terms of its internal timing, had indicated that it would look to go before voters with a bond referendum in March. That appears to be in doubt, with officials, for the first time publicly, talking of delaying the ballot question.
“It’s not finally decided yet,” school board President Patrick Sullivan said Wednesday, “but it’s probably more realistic to push the referendum back a bit so that we have a unified plan.”
“As we work to finalize a plan, “ Cochrane said, “we are considering a referendum either in March of 2018 or in September of 2018.”
Yet as they plan, officials are cognizant of the impact their decisions will have for students — and the taxpayers who will have to foot the bill. In a community where school taxes account for half the property tax bill, officials would look to increase the size of the district, in terms of staff and additional school buildings, that would have both short and long-term costs associated with them.
“Any decision that we make will affect the community and our schools for many years to come,” Cochrane said. “We want to make sure that decision is the right decision for the school district and for the town.”
“So whatever we do, we want to do in the best interests of students and the taxpayer, and that’s because it’s going to be an additional expense,” school board Vice President Dafna Kendal said Wednesday. “And we’re very mindful of that.”
Sullivan said officials want to schedule a meeting with municipal representatives “so that we can have a unified plan for how we deal with our respective development needs.”
For her part, Mayor Liz Lempert said Wednesday that the town is “committed to working in a unified way with the district to ensure they have adequate space for any facilities they might need to build.”
She said the district is weighing its options, and “might be able to build what they need to build on the lands that they currently own.”
“But if some reason that’s not the case,” she said, “then the town planning staff can sit down with them and think about what other options might be available.”
Mayor Lempert, last month, signaled her willingness to consider swapping properties with the school district, the current Monument Hall municipal building for the Valley Road building.
Mayor Lempert favors having municipal departments in the same geographic area.