To the Editor:

The courageous move on October 9 by the vote of the BoE to scale back the expensive old proposed Referendum and replace it with a new doable Referendum was brilliant. The BOE is asking the public to approve, on December 11, the sale of a $27M bond to pay for the security needs and needed repairs and refurbishments to the school infrastructure. A MUST-do-now undertaking.

The Board also suggested that there is no rush to do the other projects now. It will invite the public to participate in the reviews of the committees to bring new ideas and suggestions and create a new Referendum to be voted upon in November 2019.

It is hoped that the public will support the December Referendum so that work can start on the infrastructure ASAP.

To get the ball rolling, I would like to suggest the following ideas to the Board for its consideration:

1. First, commission a new demographics study of the future numbers of PPS students. Any good demographer will agree that a forecast for more than five years is a mere speculation. Most of the numbers that drove the old referendum to its high costs are already more than four years old.

2. Commission a feasibility study to determine if any and all K-5 schools could structurally be expanded to accommodate sixth grade classes, and could they be converted to a K-6 school.

3. Create teams of three-four people from PPS, BoE, and the public to work together on specific projects.

4. Always look for a second opinion. Princeton is blessed with an abundant number of smart people; ask for their help and opinion, they surely will give it.

We all want to give our students the best education that we can, but PPS is not an isolated entity. It is part of what makes Princeton great. PPS must consider what will be the effect on the town’s middle class. Can we afford a Taj Mahal?

Ralph Perry
Random Road.