Princeton School Board Unveils New Renderings Of Local Schools After Bond-funded Improvements

Planned new entrance and covered walkway at Princeton Middle School

The Princeton School Board heard a presentation on Tuesday night from Dan Schittone, a representative of FVHD architects, who are developing the plans for major improvements planned at Princeton Public Schools in the coming years. The improvements are funded by a $90 million bond referendum approved by Princeton voters earlier this year, and builds on previous plans released last year (Report: First Look: Preliminary Site Plans for Additions And Expanded Parking at Three Princeton Public Schools).

In a speedy presentation, Mr Schittone reviewed slides from a presentation that was also emailed to parents of school students by Superintendent Kathie Foster today (linked below). The slides reveal the materials and styles of buildings that are proposed. At the Middle School, a new entrance building on Walnut Lane was shown, which will also house IT space. A new covered walkway extending to the street is also shown. In other slides, a central courtyard area with landscaping is shown.

Plans for new buildings, play areas and bike path at Community Park Elementary School

At Community Park Elementary school, new classroom space and a new gym will be added at the rear of the building. The plans also show new play areas, and a bicycle path connecting Witherspoon Street to the trails in Community Park South behind the school. Issues with traffic circulation that were raised by municipal planners at the Planning Board hearing last year were not discussed (Report: Princeton Planning Department Has “Major Concerns” About Proposed Parking Lot at Community Park School).

New additions to be constructed at Community Park Elementary School

Mr Schittone talked about how current planning aimed to match the materials and scale of the new buildings to existing structures. That approach appears to have been carefully followed, to the risk of creating some aggressively generic architecture. Improvements at Community Park Elementary are also designed around a central ‘courtyard / patio’ area.

View of the proposed renovation of the existing gym at CP Elementary School as a ‘media center’ (aka ‘library’)

Littlebrook Elementary School will also get improvements to add six new classrooms and a ‘much-needed’ parking lot. Princeton High School will also see work, to get three new classrooms, support rooms, and ‘flex space’.

Rendering of porposed new addition at Littlebrook Elementary

School Board President Dafna Kendall asked a question about how the architects would manage costs, especially in the light of increasing tariffs? Mr Ciccone responded that this kind of work had to use materials sourced from the USA, so was less vulnerable to tariff shocks, and that the cost estimates had already built in more than the state-required 5% contingency. Board member Beth Behrend noted that the current presentation focused on buildings, and there was still a lot of discussion happening about what is going on at the exterior of the schools, with landscaping, playgrounds, and bike racks. Former School Board administrator Matt Bouldin advised the Planning Board last year that measures to facilitate walking and biking to school had not factored into the districts plans for the new schools.

Importantly, a timeline for completion of the work was presented. Replacement of the bleachers at Princeton High School will be the first projet to begin, and is planned for the upcoming summer recess. Construction at the elementary schools and middle school is expected to begin in March 2026, and hopefully finish by December 2028. Work at the High School will continue through August 2029.