To the Editor:
Polls In the Schools
Good Civics Lesson##M:[more]##
I’m a parent of two Hawk students as well as a PTA member and understand the concerns of the parents who are taking the lead on this issue [of using schools as polling places, The News, June 13]. That said I think we are getting ahead of ourselves.
My husband and I vote at our kids’ school, which is down the block from us. The main reason we bought this house is because it is walking distance to the elementary school. The “strangers” we’re thinking to protect our kids from are our neighbors. They are the parents and grandparents of the students.
When I voted in the recent primary I took my first and second graders with me. It was a sort of a civics lesson, which went down all the easier since it was taking place in a such a familiar environment. With voter turnout the way it is in the U.S. I don’t think we need to throw up any barriers to voting.
Where exactly would the polls “go” if barred from the schools? I would not have been motivated to respond to this opinion letter if it had been the first I had heard of it. Unfortunately it hasn’t been: a letter came home in my son’s backpack warning of “strangers” wandering the halls at election time. There have also been regular postings on the PTA Yahoo group in search of PTA members to volunteer for monitoring duty at the school during polling hours.
My sons’ grandmother in Indiana works as a poll watcher, and so far the PTA there hasn’t felt the need to post parents outside the school to “watch” her.
When we have gone to vote in WWP it was through a side entrance separate from the classrooms. It’s important to complement the natural parental drive to protect our children with a healthy awareness of what we are teaching them day to day by our actions.
Megan Daily
Penn Lyle Road,
Princeton Junction
School Gardening Clubs Get Raves
I’m writing to tell you about a wonderful movement I’m seeing in the WW-P schools. More and more I see flowers and plantings by our schools. There are now gardening clubs in some of the schools, and thanks to Superintendent Victoria Kniewel, we can hope to see more than just clubs. I’ve attached my correspondence with her, and as you can see, Ms. Kniewel sees the importance of having students take ownership of their surroundings, contribute to the health and well being of their environment, and learn the invaluable satisfaction that comes with working with your hands. Ms. Kniewel knows that by students taking responsibility now they’re more likely to become responsible adults.
I’m so very impressed with Ms. Kniewel’s approach to enriching the whole child, rather than just instilling basics. She tells us that she will bring up the idea of more extended gardening in and around the schools with the principals of each school, and has even suggested the possibility of having something in place for next year! I’m looking forward to my children and I taking part in such a community-building, morale raising endeavor.
I hope your paper continues to watch and report on this subject.
Mrs. Marie Levine
115 North Post Road,
Princeton Junction
Below is Levine’s letter to Kniewel:
I was at Grover Middle School yesterday and saw that some of the children have formed an environmental club and were planting flowers at the front entrance of the school. I was so pleased! What a wonderful gift for the students and the neighborhood.
It got me to wondering if we couldn’t take this even further. There are many moms (and a few dads) in the area who would love to help beautify the schools. Many of us tend large gardens ourselves, and several of us are Master Gardening graduates.
I can see that there’s a need here, and would love to help. Is there currently a larger movement working toward making the schools more attractive through gardening?
Kniewel’s response: I, too, enjoyed seeing the students and staff planting flowers and taking responsibility for the grounds outside the school.
Your idea about gardening clubs at each of the schools is very exciting, as the activity of gardening combines a number of important lessons for students — as well as the importance of taking care of the environment. As you might know, there is a community garden at Dutch Neck Elementary School, which is a combined activity of the school and community residents. We are considering having additional school gardens at other school sites.
I have shared your suggestion about an environmental and/or gardening club with our 10 principals. I hope they will consider the suggestion and possibly have an activity for the upcoming school year.
Victoria Kniewel
Superintendent of Schools
Public Funds Fo r Private Property?
There is a sign on the Plainsboro Road entrance to the Brittany/Deer Creek pedestrian path that says: Private Property. No Soliciting. No Loitering. No Trespassing. Violaters will be prosecuted. How can state funds be used for “Private Property” (if it really is) and why should it be widened two feet when it has minimal traffic now? Why not apply for a grant to install a traffic light at the Ashford and Tennyson Drive/George Davison Road intersection, where a child was killed in 2006?
Charles Shimalla
Plainsboro
Editor’s note: The above letter references points discussed in an article in the June 13 edition of the News, titled “Plainsboro Applies for State Grants.”
Plainsboro has applied for four state grants, one of which is the “Centers of Place” grant. There were four projects township officials discussed as possibilities for the application. One option was the upgrade and widening of an existing pedestrian path that connects Plainsboro Road to the Lenape Trail, which goes between the Brittany and Deer Creek developments. Right now, the path is six feet wide, and it is proposed to go to eight feet wide.
The Township Committee ultimately chose to go with another option — construction of an asphalt pathway along Grover’s Mill Road, which would link the Cora Lane area to the existing path constructed with the Grovers Mill Estates development — for which it will be applying for the grant.
Still, Les Varga, the township’s director of planning and zoning, says the existing bicycle path connecting Plainsboro Road to the Lenape Trail is a public trail, and that “it’s been a priority in our own bikeway plan to invert our bikeway sytstem to be in compliance with NJDOT regulations, which call for eight-foot wide plans. That’s really all that was — to bring that existing path on part of the Lenape Trail up to NJDOT compliance.”
Still, he says, “it really is kind of a dead issue because the committee chose another project to make applications to,” he said.
With regard to the George Davison Road issue, the township has designed sidewalk improvements on the road from Ashford Drive to Plainsboro Road to be completed this summer.
Referendum For Transit Village?
The WW Transit Village means different things to different people. Given its complexity, one cannot distill the points into a simple “yes” or “no” question/answer.
However, to ensure the community’s future reflects the financial expenditures (current & bonded) and commitments made by the WW Council and Mayor, township voters should have an opportunity to vote to either support or reject five basic elements to define the Transit Village:
1. Housing numbers; 2. Commercial office space; 3. Retail; 4. Township commuter parking; 5. Development of a Main Street on Route 571.
In the time leading up to the November election, developer proposals and explanations by Township Council will address the fiscal impacts on school taxes, infrastructure improvements, and zoning changes.
Would you support a township referendum at the general election on November 4 to provide guidance on how to proceed?
West Windsor Council could take a leadership role by proposing the referendum. In the absence of this action, a requisite number of signatures must come from among registered West Windsor voters to place the questions on the ballot.
Peter R. Weale
144 Fisher Place
Community Thanks
Thank you for the press you gave our recent production, “Perceptions,” at the Plainsboro Public Library (The News, May 16). The response we received from the audience was positive and encouraging and we are already gearing up for production number two (probably sometime this summer), and production number three, (hopefully for the holiday season.)
Victoria Kelleigh
On May 31 the Plainsboro PBA-Superior Officer’s Association and the WW-P Alliance for the Prevention of Substance Abuse held a youth fishing derby in Plainsboro. The event was attended by more than 30 boys and girls ages 7-12. The event would not have been a success without the support of Harry’s Army/Navy Store, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Asian Food Market, Superfresh, and all the volunteers and parents.
Lt. Chris Weidman
PBA-SOA Local 319A
