Faced with an influx of students and unsure how to accommodate them, the Princeton Public Schools Board of Education has hired an educational consulting firm to help solve the puzzle.
The Connecticut-based firm of Milone & MacBroom will be paid up to $143,605 to prepare a long-range facilities master plan over a six- to seven-month time frame. The consultant will develop a series of alternative scenarios as part of the master plan.
Those scenarios will explore various options for grade and attendance area reconfiguration, as well as possible expansion of the existing buildings to meet existing and future needs.
The consultant will hold several public workshops to gather feedback from the community. The workshops will review the study’s objectives and enrollment projections, as well as how the school buildings may be used.
The vote to hire Milone & MacBroom, however, was split 6-3.
School board President Beth Behrend, school board vice president Greg Stankiewicz and board members Betsy Baglio, Brian McDonald and Michelle Tuck-Ponder and Cranbury school board representative Evelyn Spann voted “yes.”
Board members Debra Bronfeld, Daniel Dart and Bill Hare voted “no.” They questioned the need to hire the consultant now, and the cost for for the consultant.
“Why are we rushing into this,” Bronfeld said.
Dart said he did not approve of awarding a contract, noting that “$140,000 is a ton of money.” The consultant could return with a plan that is not affordable, he added.
Dart pointed out that people are marrying later and having fewer children. The birth rate is “falling off the cliff,” he said, adding that there may be fewer school children in the future. He suggested holding off on hiring the consultant until the 2020-2021 school year.
McDonald, who voted to hire the consultant, said the school district is already experiencing overcrowded conditions. The Littlebrook School is overcrowded with 61 more students than it was designed to handle, he said.
“I don’t think we can wait,” McDonald said.
Milone & MacBroom will look at the studies and engage the community in conversation to consider all possible solutions, McDonald said. Hiring the consultant is cost-effective, he said. The community’s voices need to be heard.
Stankiewicz agreed with McDonald and said that for the last three years, he has been hearing that the schools are overcrowded. “We don’t want to kick this can down the road,” he added.
Spann, who is the liaison between the Cranbury School District and the Princeton Public Schools, said the school board needs to get good advice. Hiring the consultant means the school board is taking a step back to consider its options, she said.
The school board needs a “master plan,” Spann said, pointing out that “by failing to plan, you are planning to fail.”
Tuck-Ponder said she feels better relying on Milone & MacBroom, rather than on anecdotal evidence. She said she does not like spending $140,000 for a consultant, but she would rather spend that money than make a $130 million mistake – which is the amount that the school board initially sought in a school bond referendum.
