By Wendy Greenberg
The Princeton Board of Education (BOE) said it believes it will not be out some $178,000 after it was caught up in a theft by deception email scam, and that it would be up to the vendor to recover lost money.
The theft by deception occurred in September 2024, when the district “was the victim of a compromised email scheme in which an unknown individual fraudulently impersonated a security vendor,” according to a Princeton Police Department press release dated December 30. “As a result, three wire transfers totaling approximately $178,803.57 were sent to an unauthorized bank account. There are no known suspects at this time, and the investigation remains ongoing.”
The Board reported the incident to the Princeton Police on December 19, 2025. It was addressed during the January 6 School Board reorganization meeting. At the meeting, School Board President Dafna Kendal stated that she wanted to “discuss briefly an item that appeared on the police blotter … a $178,000 wire fraud.
“What happened with that is we were doing referendum projects and in September of ’24, we were asked to wire three separate payments” as a result of an email that apparently appeared to be from the vendor. The Board wired those payments, she reported.
“It was early in December ’25 when the vendor called looking for payment,” said Kendal. At that point we realized something untoward had occurred.”
Board counsel advised the Board to file a police report. Kendal added at the board meeting that they “can’t get into any additional details” but “the Board is confident we are not out those funds, the vendor is out those funds.”
The Board’s position, said Kendal in an email, “is that the district will not make any additional payments to the vendor, and it is the vendor’s responsibility to take action against the bad actor. This will likely take some time.”
At the same January 6 meeting, the Board reelected Kendal as president, and Susan Kanter as vice president. Kendal, Kanter, and newcomer Erica Snyder were sworn in, as all were unopposed in the November 2025 elections and won their Board seats. The official election results read at the meeting were Dafna Kendal, 6,885 votes; Susan Kanter, 6,809 votes; and Erica Snyder, 7,404 votes. Kendal is entering her fourth term and Kanter her third, and Snyder is new to the BOE.
At the December 16 board meeting, it was decided that general board meetings now begin at 7 p.m., to let administrative staff get home earlier. The next one is on January 27 at 7 p.m. at 25 Valley Road. Meetings are usually on the fourth Tuesdays of each month.