By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
West Windsor-Plainsboro school district officials are expecting an influx of more than 500 additional students in the schools, based on several recently approved housing developments., But additional housing developments in the pipeline – mostly in the proposed stage – means the number of new students could approach 3,000 within the next few years., The question that is nagging at school district officials is how to accommodate those students in the district’s existing school buildings. The current enrollment is 9,668 students., Superintendent of Schools David Aderhold outlined the issue for the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District Board of Education Tuesday night., In West Windsor, three developments could generate nearly 500 new students, Aderhold said. Two of the three developments have been approved, and approval for the third one may come later this year., A developer who is leasing land from the Princeton Theological Seminary may seek approval later this year for a 443-unit development. It would generate 327 students, Aderhold said., Two developments off Old Bear Brook Road and Bear Brook Road, to be built by Toll Brothers and Project Freedom, respectively, could produce more than 100 students., Ellsworth Center, on the corner of Princeton-Hightstown Road and Cranbury Road, is expected to send about a dozen students from the 20 apartments that have been approved for the site., Those developments will affect enrollments at the Maurice Hawk Elementary School, the Village School, Grover Middle School and West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, Aderhold said., In Plainsboro Township, 394 housing units at Princeton Forrestal Village means 58 more students to be educated. Additional developments may be in the works, but it is not known how many students would live there., The impact of the Princeton Forrestal Village development will be felt at the Wicoff Elementary School, the Millstone River School, the Community Middle School and West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North., This is not the end of development in the two townships, Aderhold said., The proposed Transit Village development, near the Princeton Junction Train Station, could yield as many as 320 students, he said., Proposed developments behind the Lowe’s big-box store, the Thompson property on Old Trenton Road and the Ellsworth II property will generate an unknown number of additional school children, he said., But it is the proposed Howard Hughes Corp. development, on the site of the former American Cyanamid property, that has caused the most concern for school district officials, Aderhold said., The property has frontage on Route 1 North and Quakerbridge Road, and also spans both sides of Clarksville Road. It is zoned for offices, light manufacturing and research and development uses., If the land is rezoned to permit a mix of commercial and residential development, it could add as many as 1,740 students, spread across the K-12 grade span, Aderhold said. For perspective, that is more than the enrollment at West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South, he said., “It is significantly concerning,” Aderhold said., While the Howard Hughes Corp. proposal calls for setting aside land for a school or community facility, there is no guarantee that a school would be built there, he said. If a school is built on the property, the next question is which grades would be housed there., Overall, there are a lot of considerations in play, Aderhold said. The immediate concern is how to prepare for the 500-plus students within the existing school buildings. There may be room for expansion at some schools, but not others., “The longer term (issue) is how to accommodate student growth, and the impact on the structure of the district,” Aderhold said. He pointed to the grade level configurations in the schools, the instructional programs, class sizes, student-teacher ratios and transportation., The schools are divided into grades K-3, 4-5, 6-8 and 9-12., Some audience members echoed Aderhold’s concerns, and asked school district officials to do whatever they can to represent the interests of the children over the interests of the developers., Township Councilwoman Linda Geevers, who is the council’s liaison to the school board, attended the meeting and thanked Aderhold for the presentation. The more that people are aware of the numbers and the growth, “the better for the community,” she said., Geevers suggested reaching out to state representatives to let them know about the impending and “explosive” growth in the school district to influence the amount of state aid that the district receives., “Something has to give,” Geevers said.
