By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The Princeton Public Schools administration has come up with a contingency plan to avoid having another Princeton High School graduation in the sweltering high school gym if the weather forces the ceremony indoors next month.
The district has scheduled graduation for its traditional location, on the lawn in front of the high school on June 20 at 5:30 p.m. But if the weather wreaks havoc with those plans, the district said this week that it would have the ceremony in the gym — as long as the heat index is manageable.
Superintendent of Schools Stephen C. Cochrane said Wednesday that the cutoff number for what is too hot still has to be determined. But if the number is too high the day of commencement, the ceremony will be rescheduled for June 21 at 10 a.m. on the high school front lawn, he said.
In the past two years, parents and graduates have had to sit through excessive heat inside the gym. Mr. Cochrane was not able to say what the temperature was, but he recalled “sweating” on stage during the ceremony.
Others, however, have been able to watch on a screen inside the air-conditioned Performing Arts Center, also in the high school. That still will be the case this year.
“If Mother Nature cooperates,” Mr. Cochrane said, “we should be fine.”
