The following is a letter from the Plainsboro members of the WW-P Board of Education to the Plainsboro Zoning Board:
As Plainsboro’s elected members of the West Windsor-Plainsboro Board of Education, we write to you to let you know our opposition to the zoning change request from Princeton International Academy Charter School (PIACS). We request that you review our concerns and their impact on the infrastructure of Plainsboro Township and on the regional public school district. We respectfully suggest that the emergency caused by “failure to plan” by PIACS not be used to avoid a full study of the ramifications of the request.
We base our opposition to the request on the following four factors: student enrollment, permanent facility request, traffic, and student transportation and safety.
Student Enrollment: PIACS’s application for the zoning change request uses a different number of students coming from three townships than the numbers provided to the three school districts. For example, the traffic study presented to the zoning board expects 102 students from WW-P, 33 from Princeton, and 17 from South Brunswick. The WW-P District was told to budget for 75 students, and as of June 10, the New Jersey Office of School Funding reported that there are only 40 students with signed registrations –– both numbers much different from the figures used in their traffic study.
Permanent Facility: From its application it is clear that the school is going to be permanently housed in the proposed campus. The proposal that the charter school is looking for limited permission seems misguided considering the difficulty the school has had in finding and securing a school facility. It is therefore imperative that the zoning board require a full zoning plan, not just for 2010-11 but for a full build-out of the school. The importance of insisting on a full zoning plan becomes even clearer once you consider our objection to the traffic study.
As a pertinent example, in 1997 the WW-P district was required to present a full zoning proposal even though we opened High School North on Grovers Mill Road with students in grade nine only. Before WW-P received any permission from Plainsboro Township, we had to prepare and present future plans for the school and facility. What would happen, at a future time, if the school cannot accommodate the number of parent and student vehicles, staff vehicles, and buses requested in this limited presentation? If you set a precedent by granting this request to PIACS then similar requests will have to be entertained from any other entity.
Traffic Study, Safety and Student Transportation: Most importantly, the traffic study as presented shows a complete lack of understanding about how school transportation works. The study claims that all students from Princeton, WW-P, and South Brunswick (total 139) will be dropped off by four buses while 31 students from outside the area will be transported by personal cars. One only has to stand outside any Plainsboro school –– Wicoff, Town Center, Millstone River, Community Middle School, or High School North –– to realize that not every student assigned a school bus travels to school on a bus. A substantial number of students are dropped off by parents for a variety of reasons.
In the case of PIACS, we fully expect the drop off rate by parents to be even higher given the need for buses to make pickups in several developments before heading off to its proposed location at the extreme northwest corner of the district.
It is wishful thinking that in the morning all 102 students from all four corners of Plainsboro and West Windsor can be picked up by only two school buses and dropped off at the PIACS campus in any reasonable amount of time. Since the students are coming from all over two townships such a ride for each bus is expected to take anywhere between 1.5 to 2 hours at that time of the day. Given the long ride on the bus, one can fully expect that most, if not all, parents will be dropping off their children at PIACS in the morning. Thus in addition to 31 students being dropped off by parents outside the district, it is reasonable to assume more than 100 students from the two townships will be dropped off in the morning and picked up in the afternoon at PIACS campus.
The traffic study as presented does not address the impact of having more than 125 cars arriving and departing in a 15-minute window during rush hours in the morning and afternoon. What would the impact be of such a concentrated traffic condition on the safety of the children, the parents, businesses, and residents in the area? When you consider this extreme traffic impact with 170 students it is clear why you should insist on plans for complete build-out from PIACS before any such permission is granted.
We want to respectfully point out that in spite of a thorough study and thoughtful planning, the traffic issues at High School North and Community Middle School are still being worked out. The traffic study as presented by PIACS is less than thorough with limited understanding of how school transportation works in these townships. We urge the zoning board to require a realistic study and proper planning before the school is allowed to open. We cannot expedite the safety of our children and our community.
Ellen Walsh
4 Petty Road
Anthony Fleres
12 Mifflin Court
Alapakkam Manikandan
62 Ashford Drive
Todd Hochman
1 Daisy Court
