[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 57 (Wednesday, May 10, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E697]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      RECOGNIZING PLAINSBORO TOWNSHIP AS AN ``EDUCATION TOWNSHIP''

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                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, May 10, 2000

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, today I recognize the Township of Plainsboro, 
New Jersey, as an ``Education Township.'' It is, in fact, the town that 
schools built.
  Plainsboro was founded on the principle of local education. For many 
years there were only four one-room schoolhouses that served the 
children of this particular area of Central New Jersey. In 1908, a 
large wood-frame two room schoolhouse was built. These schools and the 
teachers who taught in them, were paid and maintained under the Boards 
of Education of Cranbury and South Brunswick townships.
  As the local population increased, the people of the Plainsboro area 
wanted a larger four-room school for their children. The school Boards 
refused. Plainsboro's representative on the Board of Education, John 
Van Buren Wicoff (an attorney at law and a lifelong resident who had 
attended the public schools in Plainsboro) tried to persuade the 
Cranbury Board of Education to build a larger school. When efforts 
failed to provide money for the school, the people of Plainsboro 
petitioned the New Jersey State Legislature to create the Township of 
Plainsboro.
  The legislation to establish the Township of Plainsboro was approved 
April 1, 1919. Among the first act taken was the construction of a new 
four-room school built of stone.
  For many years the 6th grade graduates of Plainsboro elementary 
school attended a 7th and 8th grade Junior High School in Princeton and 
then went on to attend Princeton High School.
  As time passed, it became apparent that Princeton High School could 
no longer accommodate the growing school-age population of the area. As 
a result, Plainsboro and its neighbor, West Windsor, required both 
junior and senior high schools.
  In 1969 a proposal was drafted to create a regional based school 
system that would provide public education from kindergarten through 
the 12th grade for the children of both Plainsboro and West Windsor. 
Voters in both townships overwhelmingly approved the proposal.
  Today, Mr. Speaker, the West Windsor-Plainsboro School System is one 
of the best in the county.




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