The district held a widely attended community forum on January 25, the first step in a long-term planning process intended to determine how to deal with overcrowding in the schools. The event consisted mainly of a presentation by consultants from the planning firm hired by the district, Milone and Macbroom, with data on the current state of overcrowding in the district’s schools.

“This first [workshop] was really focused on the findings of the consultants, [who] had researched our schools, walked through our buildings, looked at our capacities, looked at how we use them educationally. They looked at all the past history of demographics,” said Superintendent Steve Cochrane. “This was [them] sharing [their] findings [on] what the current state in [PPS is], and then looking to the future and what the enrollment growth will look like.”

The consultants presented new projections for PPS enrollment growth that took into account the finalized data on student enrollment growth, which was based on the recently approved affordable housing settlement. These new projections estimated that K-12 enrollment would grow between 11.6 and 13.3 percent in the next five years and between 11 and 20 percent in the next ten years, relatively consistent with the previous projections generated by the Sundance Projection Report that the district has been using. PPS’ prekindergarten through 12th grade enrollment, by comparison, has grown 14 percent over the past decade.

The consultants also noted that 645 of the new housing units from the affordable housing settlement are going to be built in the Littlebrook area, as opposed to 90 units in Community Park and 40 units in Riverside. According to projections, this uneven distribution of units would exacerbate overcrowding at Littlebrook immensely, while Johnson Park would remain slightly under capacity.

The workshop concluded with an opportunity for community members to leave preliminary written feedback on the current status of PPS’ enrollment and educational programming, and the direction they want the planning process to take.

In anticipation of the forum, the Board appointed over thirty community liaisons, many of whom represent community organizations and interest groups, to spread awareness of and enlist community participation in the planning process. Although the community turnout for the forum surpassed expectations, Cochrane hopes that the turnout for future forums will be more representative of the multiple demographics within the Princeton community.

“Overall, I was very pleased with the turnout. [We] had students; we had community members; we had the parents of current, former, and future students who were [all] there,” said Cochrane. “I do wish we had more of the diversity in our town represented. I think that’s an area where we need to continue to seek out those voices. [It] may be that we have to go to the Witherspoon Jackson neighborhood or to some of the community housing to make sure that we’re actually having conversations with people, [since] not everybody can come to a single event on a Saturday morning.”

Because the previous forum didn’t have as much time for questions from the audience, there was a demographics discussion held on February 27 as an opportunity for community members to ask consultants questions about their projections for future enrollment. The consultants also held a discussion with teachers during their Unconference on February 14.

In the future, Milone and Macbroom intends to hold at least three more official public forums, focused on generating multiple ideas for ways to address the overcrowding and growing student population. The multiple plans to address overcrowding will then be presented to the community for input on which should be selected as the final PPS long-range plan. The planning process will conclude in June, with Milone and Macbroom presenting a final report to the Board of Education.

“As a community, we have an opportunity to work together to identify the most educationally sound, economically viable ways to address that growth, both in the near term and over the next decade. The planning process was designed to give us options,” said Cochrane. “As of yet, we do not know what those options will be. [Certainly,] the planning planning process will produce other options for all of us to consider. The important point is this: having carefully vetted data and a range of viable options will position the board to fulfill its responsibility to make the very best decisions on behalf of our community and the children about whom it cares.”