We at the West Windsor-Plainsboro News not only welcome your comments to our stories posted online at wwpinfo.com, we also read them and sometimes even act on your suggestions. Cases in point this week:
School Violence. The November 5 issue reported on the annual report quantifying incidents of “violence” in the school district. But an online reader wondered about the qualitative aspect of those incidents: “What kind of violence? Was it assault, harassment, terroristic threats, etc.? Any one of those should land you in jail. Did anyone call the police?” Reporter Cara Latham has written a follow-up report on page 18 of this issue.
Achievement Gap. In the events section of the November 5 issue, we previewed the 25th anniversary meeting of the WW-P Africa-American Parent Support Group, and in that story a co-founder of the organization referred to the “achievement gap” between Asian, African-American, Hispanic, and other students. A reader asked for more data:
“It’s great to see wealthy districts owning up to their achievement gap issues but I’m cynical about how this will change anything. What is being done with teacher development? What are the data over the past decade for African American and Latino/a students in these districts in terms of graduation rates from high school and college admissions/ diplomas? Until the districts show us their data disaggregated in these ways, they can do all the weekend workshops for the public they want, but it won’t change policies and practices inside the schools. So let’s see some data in the next article in this series so we have something other than words to go on.”
We have an article on page 1 of this issue that addresses some (but not all) of the reader’s requests.
Plainsboro Police. The November 5 issue reported on another in a long succession of anonymous complaints lodged against the Plainsboro police. An online reader urged the News to “investigate and get to the bottom of this! We need more insiders coming forward. I don’t trust our officials.”
Another reader noted that the chief declined to comment on the letter. “No comment by the Chief? Must be a lot of truth to it. No comment from anyone because they want more tickets so they can get more revenue. I hear around my neighborhood there are a lot more problems at this department.”
Asked another post: “Can all of these complaints, past and present hearings, all be imagined?” We sought comments from both Chief Richard Furda and Mayor Peter Cantu. See page 16 for their brief — very brief — responses.
The online community, perhaps reflective of the community at large, continued to be divided over the resolution of the cyber-bullying case at Rutgers that involved two members of the Class of 2010 at High School North. The following was written in response to the John Hinsdale’s November 5 letter to the editor criticizing Superintendent Victoria Kniewel’s response to the Rutgers incident:
“I am amazed everybody in the media and people like Mr. Hinsdale want to make the school district the scapegoat in this tragedy. It’s very unfortunate what happened. What gives them the right to assume that the school district is to blame? Does it mean that the district did not teach these kids basic decency? Is it remotely possible that some kids don’t learn in spite of the best efforts of the teachers?
“Today in the U.S. everybody wants to blame somebody other than the actual person responsible. It is time to stop pointing fingers at anyone other than the individuals who did the stupid thing.”
But another online reader was less charitable:
“So what WW-P administrator or board member is really finger-pointing? You folks just don’t get it. Your two alumni were likely partially responsible for the death of a young man by their cruel actions. Of course it reflects on the school they most recently attended. What makes this worse is the complete lack of empathy on the part of WW-P administrators. You all look like you could care less.”
Finally, another comment on the proposed Princeton International Academy Charter School, which hopes to use the full immersion approach to the teaching of Chinese.
“One of the best things about living in WW-P is the diversity of our families. I see PIACS as a natural expression of that diversity — if you were to look at the families who signed their kids up, you would have been amazed by the variety of backgrounds represented. This is not just a school for Chinese people. This school represents a choice for families who desire cutting edge education based upon world standards (not just local standards). These parents deserve a say in where their money goes for their children’s education.”
