About 700 students in the West Windsor-Plainsboro district take advantage of after-school services.
By: Gwen Runkle
More than 100 parents and students joined a handful of school administrators and government officials Thursday at two elementary schools in the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District to celebrate the Afterschool Alliance’s Lights on After School campaign.
The Afterschool Alliance is a coalition of public, private and nonprofit organizations working to ensure that all children have after-school programs.
About 700 students in the West Windsor-Plainsboro district take advantage of after-school services through its Extended Day Program, which was initiated in 1982, said Janet Ganesan, coordinator of the Extended Day Program.
"Kids come after school and we give them a snack, help them with their homework, give them a choice of indoor or outdoor activities and we also have clubs," she said. "Really we are more than an extension of the school day and are there to help out working parents."
At the Village School in West Windsor, West Windsor Township Mayor Shing-Fu Hsueh addressed a rambunctious group of kindergarten through third-grade students, along with Superintendent John Fitzsimons, state Assemblywoman Linda Greenstein (D-Plainsboro) and Beth Carroll, chairwoman of the Extended Day Program’s parent advisory council.
"As the mayor reminds us all, it takes a village to raise a child," said Dr. Fitzsimons. "As part of that village commitment, kids need a place to go after school. And with the change in society, where today so many moms and dads both work, we are lucky to have such excellent services."
The celebration continued at the J.V.B. Wicoff School, in Plainsboro, where Plainsboro Township Deputy Mayor Neil Lewis addressed parents and children. Ms. Greenstein and Lynn Carr, the assistant principal at Wicoff, joined him.
Seven district schools the Wicoff School, Dutch Neck School, Maurice Hawk School, Village School, Upper Elementary School, Community Middle School and Thomas R. Grover Middle School participate in the district’s Extended Day Program.

