By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
The Princeton Charter School got the go-ahead Wednesday from the town to put in classroom trailers that the school needs as it shuffles students around to accommodate increased enrollment.
The school went before the municipal planning board, during a special hearing in the morning, with a proposal to install two temporary trailers that will be used to accommodate fourth-graders beginning in September. The school intends to move two sections of that grade so that it can accommodate new kindergartners and first-graders in the elementary building, part of the overall 54-student increase for this year that will be followed by 22 more students next year.
Charter school board president Paul Josephson said after the vote that the trailers would be installed in time for when school opens.
The board vote was unanimous, with three members, Council members Jenny Crumiller and Tim Quinn and school board member Fern Spruill recusing themselves from the hearing. The Charter School had wanted them off the case given how they have opposed the enrollment expansion in their official capacities as elected officials.
The Charter School will be back before the planning board, either in later fall or early winter, for a still undetermined campus expansion plan, Josephson said. The school has raised the prospect of constructing a new building, adding onto existing buildings or some combination of the two.
For its part, the planning board intends to meet, Oct. 5, to discuss how to handle land use applications from schools. In addition to the Charter School, the public school district is looking to expand its footprint.
