Volume LXXIII, Number 49
Pages 24-25 “Secret City” is Theme of Mill Hill House Tour . . . . 5 Sustainable Princeton “Takes Action” with New Logo, Website, Initiatives . . . . . . . . . . 11 Over and Under the Bus with Susan Sontag, Mickey Mouse, and F . Scott Fitzgerald . . . . . . . . . . 15 PU Women’s Volleyball Facing Penn State in NCAA Opener . . . . . . . 30 Bensky Making Debut at Helm of PHS Boys’ Hockey . . . . 34
Douglas Martin Opens School with Former Ballet Colleagues . . . . . . . . . 10 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach Realtors . .22, 23 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 20 Classified Ads . . . . . . 40 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 13 New to Us . . . . . . . . . . 29 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 38 Performing Arts . . . . . 16 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . 6 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 40 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Wednesday, December 4, 2019
PHS Takes Steps to Combat Student Stress
PPS Seeks State Aid To Expand Preschool For 15 More Students
Teachers, administrators, and parents are hoping to see drops in students’ high levels of stress and sleep deprivation and increases in levels of joyful engagement with learning, as Princeton High School students participated Tuesday in a threeyear update of a survey originally conducted by Stanford University researchers in December 2016. PHS Principal Jessica Baxter, as assistant principal over the past two years before taking the reins as principal this fall, was a leader in implementing and following up on the survey. “We were a strong school academically, but we weren’t so healthy,” she said in an interview last spring. “We were trying to focus on wellness, and our kids were not feeling well. They were feeling over-scheduled, overworked, and stressed out. It was manifesting in different ways. We were seeing kids missing school, kids not enjoying classes, and lacking engagement in the learning process.” The Challenge Success survey reported three years ago that of the 1,417 PHS participants, 81 percent were often or always stressed by schoolwork, 47 percent stated that a stress-related health or emotional problem had caused them to miss more than one day of school, and
An application to expand preschool, with the addition of a general education class of 15 3- and 4-year-old children, was prominent on the agenda at last night’s Princeton Public Schools (PPS) Board of Education (BOE) meeting. At the special Board meeting, which was to take place after press time Tuesday night, PPS Superintendent Steve Cochrane was scheduled to recommend that the BOE submit a one-year preschool plan for 2020-2021 to the Early Childhood Division of the New Jersey Department of Education. The district’s plan is a targeted preschool program for “at risk” children. “”High quality preschool is one of the most powerful, research-based ways of closing the achievement gap,” Cochrane wrote in an email, noting that his slide presentation for the BOE would indicate some of the positive effects. “We are tremendously excited to be expanding this opportunity to advance the learning for the youngest members of our community.” If the expansion is approved by the state, the new class would be held at the YWCA. The district is also considering moving the preschool class that is currently at Community Park to the YWCA, which would make a total of three preschool classes at the YWCA and two in district. The district currently educates 60 preschool students in the general education classes. If the state approves the application that number would jump to 75 general education students in 2020-21, with $1M in state aid. PPS received $770,000 in state aid for this year’s preschool program. The preschool is free to families, and students are selected through a lottery. Currently more than half of the students in PPS preschool qualify for free or reduced lunch, and next year, Cochrane stated, “we are hopeful that percentage will be closer to 80 percent.” The recent allocation of state aid for preschool, Cochrane added, applies only to the general education classes, not to the district’s three classes for students receiving special education services. In a presentation planned for the BOE meeting, Cochrane wrote that “high quality preschool advances equity and combats poverty, producing students
41 percent had experienced exhaustion, headaches, and difficulty sleeping in the past month. Students estimated spending more than three hours a night on homework, getting less than six-and-a-half hours of sleep each night, with 64 percent usually going to bed later than 11 p.m. Only 15 percent of students reported “full engagement” in their schoolwork, while 41 percent of the participants in the survey said they often or always work hard, but rarely if ever find their school work interesting, fun, or valuable. In the area of extracurriculars, however, 73 percent reported choosing those activities for pure enjoyment, not resume building.
The survey measured students’ experiences with 12 different topics, including stress, academic engagement, perceptions of homework, extracurricular activities, use of free time, teacher care, parental expectations, sleep, academic integrity, and overall health and well-being. Baxter pointed out a number of changes at PHS over the past three years to help alleviate student stress and heighten engagement. “We have done a lot of work with our schedule, assessments, school climate, and educating staff, students, and parents on the importance of balance,” she said. Continued on Page 7
Newcomers and Friends Club Still Going Strong After 60 Years
On March 18, 1959, 50 women who had lived in the Princeton area for two years or less gathered at a dessert tea, seeking community. At that event, the Newcomers and Friends Club of the Princeton YWCA was born. Sixty years later, the club still provides a warm welcome and a sense of belonging. An anniversary celebration of the Newcomers and Friends Club was held
this past October. Earliest member Kay Yoder, who joined in 1961, was there, and so were more than 100 women of all ages, many of whom say they found friendships that lasted far beyond their time as true newcomers. Past president Betty Dominick, who was 60th anniversary celebration committee chair, joined the club after moving from Charlotte, N.C., in 2012. “The club Continued on Page 9
SINGING IN THE SQUARE: The Princeton High School Choir, with help from Santa, helped kick off the holiday season at the annual Palmer Square Tree Lighting on Friday evening . Princeton School of Rock also joined in the festivities . Participants share what they’re looking forward to this holiday season in this week’s Town Talk on page 6 . (Photo by Charles R. Plohn)
Continued on Page 8
WILLIAM H. SCHEIDE LECTURE ON RELIGION & GLOBAL CONCERNS
Mandela’s Dream Democracy in South Africa 25 Years On NICO KOOPMAN
Vice-Rector for Social Impact and Transformation Stellenbosch University
RSTOCK.COM
Sound Planning for Difficult Times
www.towntopics.com
Thursday, December 5 7pm at CTI Henry R. Luce Hall 50 Stockton Street, Princeton, NJ 08540 609.683.4797 • ctinquiry.org