Princeton High School to Open With Record High Enrollment

Princeton High School will open on Thursday with record high enrollment- 1,444 students.

“We will open with at least 375 freshman,” Superintendent Judy Wilson said. We thought 340 was our peak last year and only seven years ago we were at 300.”

There are several reasons why enrollment is up, Wilson said.

More families are moving to Princeton in time for their children to attend Princeton High and parents who sent their children to private school through eighth grade often change to public school for high school.

And more families with school-age children are coming to the Institute for Advanced Study.

In order to maximize space the high school, district officials are hoping that voters will approve a $10.9 million referendum on Sept. 24. If approved, money would go for many upgrades throughout the district, including a project to renovate classrooms at the high school, where instructional facilities are at 95 percent capacity.

About 70 of the incoming freshman at Princeton High School are from Cranbury, which sends its students to Princeton after eighth grade.

It’s not just the high school that’s seeing higher enrollment. There are record numbers of students in the pre-kindergarten, from 35 total students last year to about 55, Wilson said. The district will open two additional sections of Pre-K.

“They keep coming through the doors, but we are eager to greet them,” Wilson said.

Enrollment is down at Riverside Elementary School and up at Johnson Park Elementary School, partly because families living in Princeton University housing have been shuffled to new locations recently.