Comments on: Princeton School Board: District leaders did not get to provide significant Master Plan input, schools don’t receive money from PILOTs officials negotiated with developers

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 03:48:03 +0000

Thanks to the PPS BOE for speaking up here. I find the disconnect and misalignment between the two major public entity governing bodies in our small town to be disconcerting at best. The Town Council, its Planning Board and its team of external consultants should have known better – they should have taken all necessary steps to ensure strong alignment with Princeton Public Schools leadership in the development of the new Master Plan. Further, these public bodies should be working together to ensure a strong and resilient future for Princeton, which includes ensuring that our public schools are a top priority.

By: Michelle Baxter

Michelle Baxter — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 01:13:18 +0000

Isn’t it true that this master plan is technically not due until 2028 (it was last examined in 2018) but ‘extreme density’ is being rushed now because several members of the planning committee are rolling off in Jan 2024?

By: Olivia

Olivia — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:14:48 +0000

In response to a question from the public on November 9th about meeting our COAH obligations, Planning Board members seemed to think that the town itself funding more affordable housing was too expensive, so they are instead leaving it to the free market…

But as I commented here after that PB meeting, if it turns out we need a new public school due to ramping population, it could cost taxpayers $100+ million. How does that compare versus the town guaranteeing 100% affordable housing directly, in the final analysis?

By: Christine Blumauer

Christine Blumauer — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 00:06:21 +0000

It is extremely concerning that the town did not proactively and intensely engage the Board of Ed in the planning process. There is so much we already know about how PILOTs can really negatively impact schools that I don’t even understand how the town didn’t have any foresight on this issue. What’s more, the town has failed to create an inclusive process for the development of its master plan. Notably, working parents of school-aged children have been direly underrepresented as evidenced by the failure to give the schools adequate attention in light of the anticipated growth. Public meetings were indeed held but no effort was made to reach working individuals with children: these individuals are not available during the work day (4pm) and also need to take care of children in the evening when planning board meetings are held. Instead, the whole process has been skewed towards individuals with no children who are arguably older. Not to mention that lower income residents and black and brown as well as foreign born individuals also seem to have been marginalized from the process. At a time when it’s proven that the black population in Princeton has dramatically declined, this is extremely problematic. Finally, there are best practices for participatory democracy and those usually are not considered by expensive consultants like the ones the town has relied on for this. For example: it is possible to go meet people where they live and work. It is possible to offer childcare and provide simultaneous translation (in Spanish, in Mandarin, in sign language) during meetings.

By: PPS Supporter

PPS Supporter — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 22:05:09 +0000

Princeton Public Schools are a critical component of our town, and yet a new school has not been built since 1962. The BOE will push to continue to make additions to the current schools, packing as many students as possible into the existing buildings instead of longer term options that make far more sense and would benefit our children much more (such as a 5/6 school at the PPS Valley Rd site). These longer-term options (and preferred to many parents), they say, are off the table because they’re too expensive. Instead, many of us will eventually have children in a middle school packed with 1,000 kids and elementary schools of 600+. This is the future with the status quo.

Princeton could and should offer substantial PILOT funds to the public school system to help it absorb the existing growth and accommodate new growth. The new master plan should include a commitment to provide a specific and significant percentage of future PILOT funds to the school system. Other communities in NJ are faced with this same problem and have opted to invest much more in their schools than Princeton (See Frenchtown, which is contributing 50% of the 95% their Borough receives through PILOT agreements to their schools: https://frenchtownboro.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/PILOT-Presentation-Country-Classics-Final-2-29-20.pdf).

Kudos to the BOE for speaking up about this issue and I wish they’d been involved sooner.