PRINCETON: New boarding school coming to Princeton

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
   A boarding school, funded by the head of a major Chinese company, is aiming to open in 2014 at the site of the old American Boychoir School on Lambert Drive.
   The Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science will seek to attract high-schoolers from around the world for an education grounded in science, technology, engineering and math.
   The school will start with the ninth grade and then add one grade at a time to reach a maximum of 300 students, said Denise Benou Stires, chief operating officer of the school.
   ”Our goal is to develop capable, confident, committed students who successfully pursue advanced education, achieve their highest aspirations and are devoted to serve their communities, countries and humanity,” she said in an email Monday.
   She said the school is exploring having a pilot program to bring about 50 students, likely from China, to begin their studies here later this fall.
   She said the co-ed school will be a private nonprofit. Once open, it will join an already crowded market of private schools in Princeton and the surrounding area.
   ”While looking for the best location for our new school, we chose Princeton very specifically. The Princeton community clearly respects and supports excellence in education,” she said. “The Princeton International School of Mathematics and Science hopes to become a valued member of the remarkable array of educational institutions in the Princeton area.”
   Ms. Stires said the school is owned by the Bairong Education Foundation. Jiang Bairong, the CEO of a multi-billion dollar Chinese company called the Bairong Corp., is financially supporting the foundation, she said.
   A major investment was buying the former Boychoir School property for $5.9 million. The roughly 17.5 acre tract, once a private estate owned by pharmaceutical businessman Gerard Lambert, became the home of the Boychoir in 1950.
   The Boychoir left Princeton for the former St. Joseph’s Seminary in Plainsboro on Mapleton Road. The BoyChoir, made up of 50 students from 18 states and three countries, is part of a group of two other schools that form the Princeton Center for Arts & Education. The others are the French American School of Princeton and the Wilberforce School.
   Ms. Stires said her school has a partner school, The High School Affiliated to Renmin University, a selective high school in Beijing. Students from there will be recruited to come to study in America.
   The boarding school will seek to have an enrollment much greater than what the Boychoir had. Ms. Stires said more buildings will need to be built.
   The school will have to seek approval from the Planning Board.