State grants awarded to schools for audio, visual upgrades

By: centraljersey.com
Stephanie Vaccaro
Staff Writer
The New Jersey Schools Development Authority has awarded two state grants to the Princeton Regional School District for classroom audio and visual system upgrades.
The schools involved are John Witherspoon Middle School and Princeton High School. The state estimates the total funding for the project at around $637,300, $254,920 is from the state and $382,380 from the district.
"The money will pay back the district for the funds spent this school year to fund infrastructure of audio/video wiring/cabling for the high school and middle school," said Stephanie Kennedy, business administrator and board secretary for Princeton Regional Schools. "Some equipment such as installed document cameras and screens were also part of this project."
"This is the final approval of SDA grant funds which were approved last year," said Ms. Kennedy. "The projects were completed over this past summer. The district fully funded the projects so we would refund the capital reserve account used to fund the projects with any SDA grant funds paid to PRS."
"We hope to be able to recoup the full amount of the grants," said Ms. Kennedy. "It will not be until all of the documentation is sent to the state for review that I will know whether the grant sums will be fully funded."
The district applied for the grant Jan. 26, 2010, said Ms. Kennedy.
SDA Chief Executive Officer Marc Larkins, in cooperation with the Department of Education, announced the resumption of the grant program in May 2010.
Since then, the SDA has executed 432 grants.