Boards Discusses Contracts, Elections, and Future

Photo by Rachel Wanat

At Tuesday evening’s Regional Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Judith Wilson hailed the long-sought contract agreement with Princeton Regional Educational Association (PREA) and, reported that the agreement is in stages of being ratified by both the Board and the teachers.
 
There was considerable discussion on the issue of moving elections for the Board from April to November. Wilson noted that if the elections were to be in April, candidates must file their petitions by February 29th. The Board members had various positions on the matter. Molly Chrein noted the threat of partisanship in Board elections should they be moved to November. Wilson reminded her that “[board candidates] do not run on a partisan ticket.”
 
Daniel Haughton brought to attention that the members of the Board would serve an extra seven months. He also said that it made more sense fiscally for the Board members to serve at the same time fiscal decisions were being made, saying it would be a better alignment of board members and budget.
 
Charles Kalmbach said he feared moving the elections would diminish school’s accountability. He said, “I am concerned that the diversity we look to see on the Board will be lost in partisanship.”
 
To Kalmbach’s comment, Haughton replied that he would rather see 70-80% of the registered voters come out to vote on issues of education than the 11% typical voter turnout for April Board of Education elections. “I think it’s more democratic, actually,” he said.
 
Discussion was also arose on the issue of renaming the district. The name cannot remain Princeton Regional Schools because after consolidating, the district will only be pulling students from a single municipality. Although Cranbury students attend Princeton High School, it exists as a separate entity.
 
Andrea Spalla offered a strong distaste for the use of the word “public” in the new name. She said the name “should be as simple and as clear” as possible. She said that using “public” might confuse people and make them believe that the Charter Schools are included in the district. They are not.
 
Timothy Quinn suggested the Board refer the question of the word “public” to the PRS Facebook page, to see what opinion the public has on the matter.
 
In the meeting, Superintendent Wilson acknowledged Atul Prashad for his advancement in the US Presidential Scholars Program, which is designed to honor the nation’s most distinguished seniors.  
           
There was also mention of new housing developments, especially those to be redeveloped at the old hospital site. More than 300 units, Wilson maintained, would bring more enrollments in the school district. “We’ll be watching this at the elementary level especially,” she said.
 
During the public forum, a mother of two PRS students mentioned the “growing divide between the teachers and the administration.” She was concerned that PRS was becoming “increasingly more data driven.” She said that PRS “should be taking advantage of things that are unique to us,” as opposed to following the protocol of other districts. She questioned the necessity of the all the standardized testing that falls on PRS students.  Wilson responded by saying that the issue of standardized testing is “one that needs lots of discussion to find that balance.” Wilson also said that “a lot of [her] comments were timely.” Cox concluded the discussion by saying, “eventually, we will find the right balance.”