“Good schools” is the common refrain used to describe West Windsor, and indeed the WW-P school district has lured many a resident to the township. If the school system justifies the high taxes, makes them tolerable even, then what makes some parents spring for private school?
The school district’s reputation and the township’s other crown jewel, the commuter train station, drew Megan DeCore and her husband, Dennis, to settle here. Though they intended to go the public school route, their two boys, one in second grade and the other in kindergarten, currently attend Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart, an all-boys K-8 Catholic school.
Megan has helped organize a Catholic schools open house hosted by St. David the King Catholic Church on Thursday, January 15, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Six area Catholic schools will participate. Mercer County Catholic schools that will be present include Stuart Country Day School, Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart, Notre Dame High School, Villa Victoria, and Trenton Catholic Academy. Holy Ghost Preparatory School, in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, will also be present.
The DeCores are Catholic and attend St. Paul’s church in Princeton. Dennis grew up in nearby Pennington and studied at Princeton Day School. Megan grew up in Fairfax, Virginia, and she attended public school growing up. In addition to their two boys at Princeton Academy, they have a three-year-old daughter, and the family has not yet decided where she will study.
Megan says the original intention was to stick with the local school district. However the DeCores wanted a full-day kindergarten program for their oldest son, and so they started looking at private schools.
They were initially amused that every Princeton Academy parent they talked to gave such effusive praise for the school. Yet she says the community and faith-based aspects of Princeton Academy, as well as the all-boys school’s gender specific learning has been a great environment for her two young sons.
“For me it was a cost issue. We pay high taxes in West Windsor, so what’s the benefit of paying that extra money going to private school?” Megan says. Tuition at Princeton Academy is around $26,000 per year. “I saw the school building my son to be a gentleman, a well rounded man of the world. Paying that was worth it to build him such a strong foundation, and maybe down the road, we would have many more foundations.”
The school’s faith-based education promotes and instills values such as respecting others and social awareness, values that Megan says she tries to teach at home. Heavy family involvement also creates a community that Megan finds gratifying.
“You’re not just dropping your kid at the bus stop but incorporating the family into the kid’s education process,” Megan says. “I’m very, very close with the teachers. I feel I have put together a very good team for my child’s education.”
Megan is involved with the Princeton Academy’s parent association, spending a lot of time at the school.
“I’m walking in and the librarian knows who my boys are, what books they like to read. She gives me advice. My second grader is a reluctant reader, she told me the other day, here’s a book of jokes. Everyone knows my kid, it’s just so small.”
Her son’s second grade class has two classes of nine, while her second son’s kindergarten grade totals 17 children, also divided into two classes.
Catholic schools are commonly associated with uniforms, and Princeton Academy allows parents to swap uniforms for larger sizes as boys grow.
“Not only do I think my boys look handsome in the uniform, but it also helps simplify the morning.”
Megan says another reason other parents choose Princeton Academy, in addition to the small size and teaching of values, is the school’s focus on a curriculum based on how boys learn. There is a significant gym program, and mentoring between students from the middle school and the lower school.
One example where the school’s all-boy model manifested into learning opportunity was in the arts. “The fact that there aren’t girls there, the boys have to play female roles in the plays. There’s a freedom in the arts that you notice. They sing and notice when no one’s watching. It takes away from the social awkwardness, there’s this freedom of self, they sing horribly and loudly.”
Preparing for her son’s female role as the sister in Jack and the Beanstalk, Megan researched actors playing female roles with her son.
“We looked up actors who played females, like Dustin Hoffman in the movie ‘Tootsie.’ My son got through it, he wore a wig, and he did a wonderful job. I thought it was a wonderful learning opportunity.”
Catholic School Open House, St. David the King Catholic Church, 1 New Village Road, West Windsor. Thursday, January 15, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. 1 New Village Road in West Windsor. 609-924-8143.
Princeton Academy of the Sacred Heart, 1128 Great Road, Princeton. Junior kindergarten through grade 8 for boys. 609-921-6499. www.princetonacademy.org.
Open houses: Thursday, January 15, 9 a.m., and Sunday, January 25, 1 p.m.
Villa Victoria Academy, 376 West Upper Ferry Road. Pre-K to 12 for girls. 609-882-1700. www.villavictoria.org.
Notre Dame High School, 601 Lawrence Road, Lawrenceville. Grades 9 to 12. Tuition is $11,925 for Catholic students and $12,425 for non-Catholic students. 609-882-7900. www.ndnj.org.
St. Paul’s Catholic School, 218 Nassau Street, Princeton. Preschool through grade 8. Tuition ranges from $4,830 to $7,650 for one child in grades K-8. Preschool tuition ranges from $3,500 to $7,500. 609-921-7587. www.spsprinceton.org.
Open house: Sunday, January 11, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Stuart Country Day School o the Sacred Heart, 1200 Stuart Road, Princeton. Co-ed preschool and junior kindergarten, grades K-12 for girls. Tuition starts at $13,250 for preschool. Junior kindergarten is $22,850 per year. Grades K through 4: $28,250 per year. Grades 5 through 8: $31,900 per year. Grades 9 through 12: $34,350 per year. 609-921-2330. www.stuartschool.org.
Open house: Sunday, January 25, 1 to 3 p.m.
Trenton Catholic Academy, 175 Leonard Avenue, Trenton. Grades K to 12. Lower School tuition is $4,000 for Catholics and $5,400 for non-Catholics. Upper School tuition is $9,900. Upper School: 609-586-3705. Lower School: 609-586-5888. www.trentoncatholic.org.
Open house: Tuesday, January 27, 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.
