By Wendy Greenberg
There were several “report cards” issued at last week’s September 22 meeting of the Princeton Public Schools (PPS) Board of Education (BOE). One gave Superintendent Michael LaSusa a high grade and elicited kudos from Board members.
And, during the public comment part of the meeting, representatives of Princeton Parents for Black Children (PPBC) and Not In Our Town Princeton (NIOT) offered the Princeton Public Schools Equity Report Card 2026, and called on the BOE to address the report’s assessment on the progress fulfilling the recommendations made in an earlier 2017-2018 report.
While there has been no formal response yet to the presentation, PPBC Co-President Michele Tuck-Ponder said Monday that “our response is to continue to ask.” She said that the groups “must be diligent” in their follow-up. “This is an institutional challenge to everyone in this town,” she said.
Asked if the district planned to follow-up, LaSusa said in an email that the Board or a committee has not had an opportunity to discuss or review the document, but added, “We will do that in the near future and determine next steps.”
Tuck-Ponder, representing PPBC, explained that the district had conducted an “equity audit” eight years ago, which she called a “promising and important document.” This summer, PPBC and NIOT together conducted an assessment of the district’s progress in fulfilling the recommendations of that report, and presented it in the form of an Equity Report Card for the district.
“NIOT and PPBC have examined as much publicly available data that we were able to access in reaching our conclusions,” she said. “We are presenting this Equity Report Card not to bash the district, but to initiate a conversation about how we can work together to get these grades up.”
“We could have played a tape from 1997 and we would have had the same results as we’ve had tonight,” said Tuck-Ponder, referring to testing data given at the meeting from the High School Graduation Proficiency Assessment that indicated minority “opportunity gaps.” “We’re not suggesting that progress has not been made in some areas, but we know that so much more progress needs to be done.”
The executive summary of the Equity Report Card states that “while the 2023-24 New Jersey School Performance Report documents progress in certain areas (suspension rates, Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate participation, chronic absenteeism), other areas (four-year graduation rates, and a sense of belonging) have widened or been ignored.”
NIOT and PPBC are “committed to working with Princeton Public schools so that we can all be accountable and get out of this cycle of failing to meet expectations and failing to be accountable to the black children who live in this town,” said Tuck-Ponder.
Linda Oppenheim, representing NIOT, said the report card “is another instrument that the district can use to communicate the progress it is making towards achieving racial equity or not.”
Before the Equity Report Card presentation, Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Kimberly Tew presented results of the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment, a new assessment in its first year in this format.
She noted some “opportunity gaps,” mainly for Black and Hispanic students, particularly in math. A general overview, she said, showed that English language arts numbers decreased about 1 percent, and math skills were up 3.2 percent. Scores show that some 89 percent of students are graduation-ready, and the district is working in labs with students who will need support to graduate.
Additionally, the Board unanimously voted to approve a new contract for LaSusa, who is starting his second year at the helm of PPS.
Under the contract, he will earn $315,000 for the remainder of this school year (2026-2027), $324,450 for 2027-28, $334,183 for 2028-29, $344,209 for 2029-30, and $354,535 for 2030-2031, reflecting approximately a 3 percent annual raise after the first year.
His contract, which previously expired in June 2030, now goes until June 2031.
“The Board has been blown away by the superintendent and his stewardship of the district this past year,” said Board President Dafna Kendal.
Board member Adam Bierman explained that he voted “yes” “because I think it’s a strong financial investment in you (LaSusa), and a clear vote of confidence…. it gives us leadership stability, which we have not had.”
Bierman had been the lone “no” vote in July of last year when the board gave LaSusa a $10,000 raise. He said that he usually waits a year before approving a bonus.
Among several Board members who voiced strong support for the job LaSusa has done this past year were Board Vice President Susan Kanter (through a statement because she could not attend), Eleanor Hubbard, Mara Franceschi, and Beth Behrend, many reiterating that they were “blown away,” and further commenting on LaSusa’s leadership skills.
Brian McDonald, speaking as a former School Board member and parent of three graduates, not as as a councilman, also spoke in favor of the contract approval.
LaSusa said, “I just want to say how grateful I am to the Board of Education and the people I get to work with every day, as well as so many of the community members and staff in particular who’ve been so kind to me in the past year and a half.
“I didn’t anticipate necessary wanting to extend my career at this point in the game, given the number of years I’ve worked and how old I am, but this community has been so embracing and warm and energizing an welcoming to me that I love being here and I’m going to keep trying to do my best on behalf of the students and the school district as a whole.”
LaSusa, who has been in the field of public education for 30 years, will be 53 in November, he said.
In other Board business, the Board restored the holiday of Diwali to the 2027-2028 school calendar, on October 29, 2027, which was inadvertently left off.
The next BOE meeting is October 27 at 7 p.m.