Volume LXXI, Number 4 Montessori Teacher Michelle Jacob Is This Week’s Profile in Education . . . . . . . . . 10 Reading Obama on the Morning After . . . . . . 14 Bedlam’s Saint Joan Opens at Berlind Theatre. . . . . . . . . . 17 Continuing the Journey Through Beethoven’s String Quartets . . . . . 18 Former Men’s Squash Star Osborne Enjoying Coaching Role. . . . . . 25 PHS Girls’ Swimming Going After Fifth Straight County Crown. . . . . . 27
Halo Pub’s Jeremiah K. Reilly, 88, Dies. . . . . . 32 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Classified Ads. . . . . . . . 34 Mailbox. . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Music/Theater . . . . . . . 17 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . . 32 Real Estate . . . . . . . . . 34 Service Directory . . . . . 29 Sports. . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Topics of the Town . . . . . 5 Town Talk. . . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Trump’s Plans to Cut Arts and Culture Funds Have Local Implications Among the Trump administration’s planned budget cuts are the elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities. While this isn’t the first time these two agencies have been targeted, the current threats have culturally-minded citizens concerned. The NEA and NEH, which at 0.02 percent represent only a small slice of the Federal budget, help fund locally-based arts and cultural organizations. The Princeton Public Library; People & Stories, Gente y Cuentos; McCarter Theatre; and Trenton’s Passage Theatre Company are among those that have received support. But landing a grant from the NEA or NEH isn’t only about finances. “It’s the symbolism of it as well,” said Emily Mann, artistic director of McCarter Theatre. “We not only get the money from them, we have the imprimatur. And that can be leveraged.” Only last month, McCarter received a $35,000 grant to support a year-round creative incubator for writers in all stages of their careers. Ms. Mann is “very alarmed,” she said last week, at the current threats. “The NEA has been so supportive of McCarter. I think what is really important is that people understand that the arts are not a luxury. They are essential to a healthy democracy, the heart and soul of a community and a country. When you look at history, the great civilizations are remembered for their arts and humanities. The destruction of the arts and lack of understanding of the essential side of the arts to a nation is the beginning of the downfall of a nation.” Stanley Katz, a professor of public and international affairs at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School and director of its Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, is concerned. But he doesn’t necessarily see doom for the NEA and NEH in the near future. “It’s too soon to tell. We really don’t know what is going to happen,” he said last week. “I think it’s very unlikely that they will completely abolish or defund the two. There has been enough support for a long time to keep them alive. The real issue is whether there will be additional cuts to their annual budgets, which are at a low level now.” Mr. Katz said it is likely that there will Continued on Page 4
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Wednesday, January 25, 2017
Council Votes Against Charter School Expansion
Before a standing-room-only crowd of more than 100 outspoken community members the Municipal Council voted 4-1 on Monday night to approve a resolution urging the State Department of Education to deny Princeton Charter School’s (PCS) recent application to expand. In responding to a conflict between PCS and Princeton Public Schools (PPS) supporters, who have claimed devastating effects to their budget if the expansion is approved, the Council members discussed the issue at some length and listened to a range of opinions from the public before casting their votes on the resolution. Council member Jo Butler recused herself from the proceedings on the grounds that she works for a consulting firm that has been employed by PCS in the past. The lone nay vote was lodged by Bernie
Miller, who proposed tabling the issue so the Council could fully examine the “unintended consequences” of breaking with precedent to interfere in the business of other institutions in the community. The Council resolution will serve as a non-binding recommendation to Acting New Jersey Commissioner of Education Kimberley Harrington, who will make the final decision on the Charter School proposal, probably by early March. Citing a significant potential impact on Princeton taxpayers if the expansion is approved, new Council President Jenny Crumiller stated, “I believe we have an obligation to do what we can. The Charter School expansion would have a negative effect on the rest of the community.” The issue of lack of local control of charter schools also concerned Ms. Crumiller, who cited the need to “have a hearing
because people in town feel they have no other place to go.” Lance Liverman, along with others on the Council, emphasized that his vote was “not against the Charter School. It’s about fairness in the community.” He predicted that in the current political climate more and more citizens will be turning to the local government for support in cases like this. The Council members noted that they had received many compelling emails from constituents on both sides of the issue, though most in support of the Council resolution. Council member Heather Howard noted the “tremendous pride” manifested in community support for both PPS and PCS, “How proud people are of our schools, how they want to maintain what is so Continued on Page 13
Council Members In Saturday’s Marches From Trenton to L.A.
KEEPING IT PEACEFUL: The diverse crowd of more than 6,000 women, men, and children who showed up in Trenton on Saturday to march for women’s rights, civil rights, and other causes threatened by the new administration was upbeat and positive. Princeton Council members were among those marching from the War Memorial to the State House. (Photo by Emily Reeves)
Among the millions taking part in the women’s marches Saturday, January 21 in several corners of the globe were members of Princeton’s governing body. Council members Lance Liverman, Heather Howard, and Tim Quinn joined marchers in Trenton. Jo Butler was in Los Angeles and participated in that city’s event. While Mayor Liz Lempert was under the weather and could not attend, and Councilwoman Jenny Crumiller was not able to take part, both professed to be with the marchers in spirit. Bernie Miller did not take part, but his wife rode one of the two buses from Princeton to Washington to march there. The Trenton event began with speakers and musical guests inside Patriot’s Theater at the War Memorial, continuing with a march to the nearby State House. Speakers included Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, Congressman Donald Norcross, Assemblywomen Pamela Lampitt, Elizabeth Muoio, and Shavonda Sumter, civil rights advocate Edith Savage-Jennings, and many more including representatives of Planned Parenthood and Garden State Equality. Mr. Liverman said he was asked by people why he was taking part in the Trenton march, which is estimated to have attracted upwards of 6,000. “The answer is simple,” he wrote in an email. “With the administration in place at the Federal Continued on Page 13