Princeton High School to Open With Record High Enrollment

Princeton High School will open on Tuesday with the record high enrollment of 1,444 students, according to the district.

“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 the high school, and parents who sent their children to private school through eighth grade often change to public school for high school.

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

More families with school-age children are also coming to the Institute for Advanced Study, she said.

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.

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 recently been shuffled to new locations.  

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