Princeton French School may bid township au revoir

Growth spurs effort to expand program in Lawrence

By: Courtney Gross
   Part of the Princeton French School’s student body could soon be saying au revoir to Princeton if plans for an expansion and relocation go through by this fall.
   To address increasing demand from Princeton-area residents, the Princeton French School, a bilingual elementary academy located within Princeton Township’s All Saints’ Church, is seeking to open a second campus in Lawrence that would allow the institution to increase its student body by more than 50 percent.
   Currently educating children from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade, Princeton French School’s head of school, Corinne Gungor, said the Princeton facility is approved to educate 85 students only, which has forced it to turn away parents interested in its alternative educational approach.
   Hoping to boost enrollment to approximately 130 students, Ms. Gungor said the bilingual institution plans to eventually expand into a middle school and operate from two separate campuses — relocating the elementary school to Lawrence and keeping the pre-kindergarten in Princeton. The school’s head said she hopes to move part of the student body to a new location this fall.
   "I prefer to go step by step slowly," Ms. Gungor said of the school’s transition. "We are talking about education."
   When touring the current facility Thursday, Ms. Gungor explained students master both French and English, alternating between the two languages throughout the course of the school day. Most instructors, she added, are natives of France.
   Hailing from throughout the Princeton-area, the school’s student body is composed of approximately 50 percent English speakers, while the other half has some French background, Ms. Gungor noted.
   Within the school’s four classrooms, students welcome visitors by both "bonjour" and "hello" — an example of their dexterity even at age 6. Whether studying mathematics in colorfully painted classrooms with yellow radiators or exercising in gym class, the elementary school children are practicing both languages.
   By the conclusion of the curriculum, which has been endorsed by the French Department of Education and is guided by the state’s educational standards, the students are able to read, speak and write in both languages, Ms. Gungor noted.
   "I think they realize how important it is to speak more than one language," Ms. Gungor said of the school’s student body.
   As a parade of students passed through the school’s hallways holding hands Thursday morning, Ms. Gungor explained that the seven-year old institution had previously outgrown another facility at the Christ Congregation Church on Walnut Lane in Princeton.
   After vacating that facility in 2002, Ms. Gungor said the school is now in its fifth year at All Saints’ Church, located off Terhune Road.
   The enrollment growth, Ms. Gungor said, reflects the recognition by Princeton-area residents of the importance of a bilingual education in an increasingly global society. A child’s ability to absorb languages is also much greater than an adult’s, which makes the school even more desirable for early-childhood education, she added.
   Throughout the school’s upcoming expansion, Ms. Gungor said it would remain committed to small class sizes with a maximum of 18 students per room. With tuition rates between $11,130 to $13,000, the school’s head said the intensity of the curriculum requires considerable one-on-one attention associated with the smaller class sizes.
   Currently spread throughout the church — classrooms are on the basement level as well as on the ground level — the new facility, Ms. Gungor said, would keep the elementary school students together. This fall, she added, the pre-kindergarten students are slated to utilize only the top level of the Princeton church.
   Judy Giguere, the parish administrator at All Saints’, said the church hopes to expand some of its own programming when the Princeton French School vacates part of the facility in the fall.
   During the summer months, when the elementary school is out of session, the church is able to rent out part of the building to summer camps and other educational institutions, she added.