Some 25 students will attend West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North next year.
By: Shanay Cadette
Some 25 special-education students who attend West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South will move to High School North next school year.
The West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional Board of Education voted 8-1 Tuesday to transfer the special education LARKS program, mainly because the enrollment has outgrown the facilities at High School South.
The board initially considered a proposal that called for the transfer of about 75 students in the LARKS and English-as-a-second-language bilingual programs. But officials said the ESL transfer would not work well with the school culture at High School North.
Lack of space makes the LARKS move necessary, officials said, especially since the program is expected to gain more students next school year. There are even some LARKS students who are taught in a janitor’s closet, and that’s not an appropriate learning environment, officials said.
"I don’t know any parent that wants their child to be taught in a closet," said board Vice President Linda Geevers. "I think it’s better educationally to move this program to North."
While the move of about 25 students won’t make a real dent in the overcrowded situation at High School South, Jon Cosse, assistant superintendent for pupil and personnel services, said it frees up additional teaching periods.
Board member Henry Wieck, who was the lone member to vote against the transfer, said the administration should have offered other options. This move doesn’t offer a true fix for the overcrowding problem, he said, and it forces one of the most vulnerable school populations to move. Rather than disrupting the LARKS students, the board should have considered moving other students to free up a classroom for the special-education students at High School South, he said.
Mr. Cosse said he has proposed plans for redistricting the entire system over the years but, "It went down in flames twice."
Because the board already opposed such plans in the past, Superintendent Robert Loretan said it did not make sense to reintroduce them as options. If the board wants the administration to bring a plan for redistricting to the table in the next few months, members need to tell the superintendent that’s what they want, he said.
"I think the board has the responsibility to say ‘Dust (the redistricting plan) off’" and bring it back, Mr. Loretan said.
The board also continued discussions on the proposed 2004-2005 budget Tuesday. Several residents cautioned the board that economically depressed times call for depressed budgets. They suggested the board reconsider some of the capital projects proposed in the budget.