Princeton Public Schools (PPS) is a comprehensive community

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

school district A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...

that serves students in

pre-kindergarten Pre-kindergarten (also called pre-K or PK) is a voluntary classroom-based preschool program for children below the age of five in the United States, Canada, Turkey and Greece (when kindergarten starts). It may be delivered through a preschool ...

through

twelfth grade Twelfth Grade (also known as Grade 12, Senior Year, Standard 12, 12th Standard, 12th Class, or Class 12th or Class 12) is the twelfth and final Educational stage, year of Formal education, formal or compulsory education. It is typically the final ...

from Princeton, in Mercer County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

.District Policy 9110 - Number of Members and Term of Office
Princeton Public Schools. Accessed September 3, 2020. "The Princeton Public Schools District is comprised of all the area within the municipal boundaries of the Municipality of Princeton and receives high school students from the Cranbury Public School District.... The Princeton Board of Education shall consist of ten members, nine of which are elected for three year terms and one from the Cranbury Board of Education." Students from Cranbury Township attend the district's high school as part of a

sending/receiving relationship A sending/receiving relationship is one in which a public school district sends some or all of its students to attend the schools of another district. This is often done to achieve costs savings in smaller districts or continues after districts hav ...

. The district administration building is at 25 Valley Road in Princeton. As of the 2023–24 school year, the district, comprised of six schools, had an enrollment of 3,827 students and 353.4 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a

student–teacher ratio The student–teacher ratio or student–faculty ratio refers to the number of students who attend a school or university divided by the number of teachers or staff in the institution. For example, a student–teacher ratio of 10:1 indicates that ...

of 10.83:1.District information for Princeton Public Schools

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the principal federal agency responsible for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data on education in the United States. Established under , it operates within the Institute of Education S ...

. Accessed February 27, 2025. The district is classified by the

New Jersey Department of Education The New Jersey Department of Education (NJ DOE) administers state and federal aid programs affecting more than 1.4 million public and non-public elementary and secondary school children in the state of New Jersey. The department is headquartered ...

as being in District Factor Group "I", the second-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common

socioeconomic Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J. Residents of

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

's housing complexes for graduate students with families, Lawrence Apartments and Stanworth Apartments, are zoned to the district.

History

The district's high school was constructed in 1927 and the middle school in 1965. The four elementary schools were completed from 1957 to 1962. The district was known as the Princeton Regional School District until July 2012, when the Princeton Public Schools name went into effect. The board changed the name in a February 2012 vote, in which the end of regionalization due to the forthcoming consolidation of the independent borough and township into a single municipality in January 2013 was cited as the reason behind the name change.

Awards, recognition, and rankings

Niche ranked Princeton Public Schools as the 16th best school district in America and the best school district in New Jersey in its "2021 Best School Districts" rankings. Littlebrook School was one of nine public schools recognized in 2017 as Blue Ribbon Schools by the

United States Department of Education The United States Department of Education is a cabinet-level department of the United States government, originating in 1980. The department began operating on May 4, 1980, having been created after the Department of Health, Education, and ...

. In 2000-01, the district was recognized by the

with the Best Practices award for its Jefferson Debates Citizenship / Character Education program for students in Grades 6-8.

Schools

Schools in the district (with 2020–21 enrollment data from the

) are:''2021-2022 Mercer County Charter and Public Schools Directory''
Mercer County, New Jersey. Accessed December 17, 2022. ;Elementary Schools * Community Park School with 332 students in grades K-5 ** Dineen Gruchacz, principal * Johnson Park School with 329 students in grades PreK-5 ** Angela Siso Stentz, principal * Littlebrook School with 342 students in grades K-5 ** Luis Ramirez, principal * Riverside School with 289 students in grades PreK-5 ** Max Actau, principal ;Middle School * Princeton Middle School with 803 students in grades 6-8 ** Jason Burr, principal ;High School * Princeton High School with 1,555 students in grades 9-12 ** Cecilia Birge, principal

Former, renamed and converted schools

* Witherspoon Street School for Colored Children, educated the African-American students of Princeton from 1858 until desegregation in 1948. *Valley Road School educated children in Princeton Township from 1918 until 1980 when it was converted to offices. It was the first school constructed in the former Princeton Township by the regional district and became the district's first integrated elementary school in 1948. *John Witherspoon Middle School was the former name of Princeton Middle School from its construction in 1966 to 2020. The name was changed on June 15, 2020, with a vote of 8-1 from the Princeton Public Schools School Board following the

George Floyd protests The George Floyd protests were a series of protests, riots, and demonstrations against police brutality that began in Minneapolis in the United States on May 26, 2020. The protests and civil unrest began in Minneapolis as Reactions to the mu ...

, due to the school's

namesake A namesake is a person, place, or thing bearing the name of another. Most commonly, it refers to an individual who is purposely named after another (e.g. John F. Kennedy Jr would be the namesake of John F. Kennedy). In common parlance, it may ...

being a slave owner. The school was renamed Princeton Middle School in 2021 after temporarily being named Princeton Unified Middle School for the 2020-2021 school year.

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are: *Kathie Foster, interim superintendent. Foster will replace Carol Kelley, who left the position in October 2023. *Matthew Bouldin, business administrator and board secretary

Board of education

The district's

board of education A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional area, ...

, comprised of nine members, sets policy and oversees the fiscal and educational operation of the district through its administration. As a Type II school district, the board's trustees are elected directly by voters to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with three seats up for election each year held (since 2013) as part of the November general election. The board appoints a superintendent to oversee the district's day-to-day operations and a business administrator to supervise the business functions of the district.Board members
Princeton Public Schools. Accessed September 3, 2020. A tenth represented is appointed by the Cranbury district to represent its interests on the Princeton Board of Education.

References

External links

Princeton Public Schools
*
School Data for the Princeton Public Schools

{{Authority control Schools in Princeton, New Jersey New Jersey District Factor Group I School districts in Mercer County, New Jersey