Volume LXIX, Number 36
School Open House Section Included Sustainable Princeton Teaching How to Save Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Frank Rich Is Featured Guest at Friends of the Library Benefit . . . . . . 10 Princeton University Hosting Fourth Annual Seuls en Scène French Theater Festival . . . . . . . . . . . 15 PU Men’s Soccer Rallies to Edge St. John’s In Opener . . . . . . . . . . . 24 PHS Football Bringing Swagger into 2015 Season . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Reading Oliver Sacks (1933-2015) on Tolstoy’s Birthday . . . . . . . . . . 11 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Area Exhibits . . . . . . . 14 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 18 Cinema . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Classified Ads. . . . . . . 34 Clubs . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Home Improvements . . 36 Music/Theater . . . . . . 15 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 33 Police Blotter . . . . . . . . 6 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 34 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . . 6
www.towntopics.com
School Year Begins With New Contracts, “New Excitement” The school year may have started on September 8 for Princeton Public School students, but teachers and staff were up and running well before that. On Wednesday, September 2, for example, teachers and staff gathered for an opening convocation led by Superintendent Steve Cochrane. It was a great day,” he reported afterward. “The teachers and staff returned with new contracts, but also with new excitement and a new sense of purpose.” “Last year was what many might consider to be a perfect storm in the life of our district,” Mr. Cochrane observed in his remarks at the convocation. “We had to contend not only with protracted negotiations, but with our initial implementation of PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) testing — a huge undertaking — and then, in the spring, with six separate incidents of what we all came to know as swatting [prank phone calls that summon Special Weapons and Tactics teams]. It was an emotionally and physically draining year.” Standing now “on the other side of the storm,” Mr. Cochrane used the September 2 event to welcome 45 new staff members (including 33 teachers) to the system, and to describe the challenges he foresees in the coming year. “Fueled by a number of factors affecting education nationally,” these include “being pushed to focus narrowly on standardized tests for students and to distill the complex and collaborative act of teaching into a single number on a four-point scale.” The widening academic achievement gap in this country “between those who have and those who do not,” is another source of concern, and race issues, not surprisingly, also figure into the mix. “In a post-Ferguson world, there is an even more undeniable need for schools to talk honestly and openly about issues of race, culture, expectations, and equity,” Mr. Cochrane said. “We owe that to ourselves and to our students.” Technology’s “tidal waves of incredible promise for us as educators” also bring a “host of problems for us to avoid,” he warned, and “unprecedented levels of student stress” are worrying. “A recent American Psychology Study of over Continued on Page 12
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Construction Halted at AvalonBay Site
Construction of the AvalonBay rental community at the former site of Princeton Hospital on Witherspoon Street has been temporarily halted due to the presence of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) on the site. “In response, AvalonBay took additional samples and has sent them out for further testing,” reads a press release from Princeton’s municipal administrator Marc D. Dashield. “The results are expected within two weeks.” Work on the 280-unit apartment and townhouse complex stopped a few weeks ago, and stockpiles of dirt and materials have been covered with plastic sheeting. The site is being wet down each day. “Why is this happening?,” asked neighborhood resident John Armonia. “A few of the residents in the area are really concerned. If there is contamination, neighbors are going to be be breathing some of this stuff now. “ Princeton’s health officer Jeff Grosser and environmental consultant Ira Whitman “have confirmed that these are the measures that need to be taken to safeguard the public’s health and safety,” the statement from the town reads. “Until the results of AvalonBay’s secondary testing are received and reviewed, the municipality will not speculate about the conditions
of the stockpiled materials. Princeton will, however, monitor the site daily to ensure that until such time as more information is available, AvalonBay continues to keep the stockpiled materials covered and continues to wet down the site for dust control.” Mr. Grosser has also confirmed that both the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and the Mercer County Department of Health are aware of the situation and have assigned a case number to the matter. “Mr. Grosser is in regular contact with the county health deparment,” the statement reads. Mr. Armonia said he was driving by the site a few days ago and saw people
walking around, taking some type of readings. “I asked them what was going on,” he said. “After a 15-minute conversation, one guy said we’re waiting for results on the soil for possible contamination. It seems something is going on and no one knows why.” Neighbors of the construction site, organized into the group Princeton Citizens for Sustainable Neighborhoods, were vocal in their opposition to elements of the development plan, which was revised. There was particular concern about potential contamination from the former hospital site, and the way any such contamination would be handled. Continued on Page 8
Princeton Children’s Book Festival Marks 10 Years of Words and Pictures It’s back, and it’s bigger and better than ever. “It” is the Princeton Public Library’s annual Children’s Book Festival, which will be held this year in Hinds Plaza on Saturday, September 19, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., rain or shine. This year is particularly special: it’s the festival’s 10th anniversary, and Youth Services Librarian Allison Santos, who has been its guiding hand since its inception,
“can’t believe it. Over the years the event just continues to grow, and this is our biggest event yet.” Some 105 authors and illustrators will be participating, reported Ms. Santos, coming from as far away as Australia (“we’ve gone international,” Ms. Santos said happily) and as close as Brooklyn, (the “hub of children’s literature”). Sophie Blackall (of Ivy and Bean fame); Caldecott Aware winner Brian Continued on Page 18
CAMPUS COMES TO LIFE: Architect William A. Potter’s Richardsonian Romanesque Alexander Hall looms in the background as students gather for the beginning of a new school year. Students discuss their expectations in this week’s Town Talk. (Photo by Emily Reeves)
DISCOVER MONTGOMERY See page 8 for details.
Wednesday, September 9, 2015
New Showroom 38 East Broad Street Hopewell, NJ (609) 333-0610
See page 19 for details.
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