Volume LXXIV, Number 41
Education & Recreation Pages 28-30 Environmental Film Festival Goes Virtual . . . . . . . . . 5 Landaus are Retiring After Decades in Family Business . . . . . . . 8 Krugman, Porter Look to Election and Beyond . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Forum on Franklin Avenue Site Draws Design Ideas And Input . . . . . . . . . . 14 Laughing in the Dark With Nabokov and Kafka . . . 19 PSO Presents First in Series of Virtual Performances . . . . . . . 20 PHS Football Falls in Opener as Petrone Hits TD Pass in Debut at QB . . . 35 Sophomore Harlan Stepping Up for Stuart Field Hockey . . . . . . . . 36
Midfielder Jules Romano Starring for PDS Girls’ Soccer . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Berkshire Hathaway Fox & Roach Realtors . .22, 23 Books . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Calendar . . . . . . . . . . 26 Classified Ads . . . . . . 41 Mailbox . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Obituaries . . . . . . . . . 39 New To Us . . . . . . . . . 32 Performing Arts . . . . . 21 Police Blotter . . . . . . . 14 Real Estate . . . . . . . . 41 Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Topics of the Town . . . . 5 Town Talk . . . . . . . . . . 6
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Police Department Promotions Among Actions Approved At Princeton Council Meeting The appointment of Christopher Morgan as new chief of the Princeton Police Department was approved by Princeton Council at its September 30 meeting. Morgan has been captain of the department since 2019. He replaces longtime Chief Nick Sutter, who retired October 1. Former Lieutenant Jon Bucchere was named as the new captain. Matthew Solova was promoted from sergeant to lieutenant, James Martinez from corporal to sergeant, Christopher Craven from patrolman to sergeant, Craig Humble from patrolman to corporal, and Luis Navas from detective to corporal. Morgan spoke to Council about his vision for the department, the development of which he credited to Sutter. “This philosophy and approach to policing in Princeton will remain the same as we advance into a new era,” he said. “But as we look forward, there are several areas we must address.” Most imperative is filling supervisory positions made vacant by recent and impending retirements. “We want to start the recruiting process,” Morgan said. Officers have received body-worn cameras, he reported. In the next few months, the department will receive implicit bias training and will reach out to community partners for input. Morgan also provided details on additional initiatives. “The police department is very healthy,” he said. “We want to be the best we can be and serve the community in the most positive and effective way we can.” Morgan graduated in 1998 from the Trenton Police Academy. He is a graduate of the College of New Jersey and has a master’s degree from Seton Hall University. He also attended the Federal Bureau of Investigations Law Enforcement Development Seminar, and is a graduate of Session 239 of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia. He was acting chief of the former Princeton Township Police Department before the consolidation of the former Borough and Township. Bucchere graduated in 1999 from the New Jersey State Police Academy and the College of New Jersey. He was named sergeant in 2007, and lieutenant in 2016. Before being named captain, he served as patrol commander. The Council meeting began with a moment of silence in memory of Stephanie Continued on Page 9
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Wednesday, October 7, 2020
Youngest PPS Students Go Back to School In Person For the first time in seven months, except for orientation sessions, Community Park, Johnson Park, Littlebrook, and Riverside elementary schools opened their doors to welcome back students, who have been working remotely since the pandemic shutdown on March 13. About 200 special needs students, along with Cohort A students in pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade attended the four district elementary schools on Monday, October 5 and Tuesday October 6, and Princeton Public Schools (PPS) students in Cohort B will return to the elementary schools for classes on Thursday and Friday. Wednesdays are all-remote learning and cleaning day at the elementary schools. “The kids were ecstatic, happy to see their friends,” said Interim Superintendent Barry Galasso on Monday. “It was a fantastic first day. We were able to observe our protocols today, and faculty and principals did a great job.” He continued, “For pre-K it was the first time they’d been to the school, and for the first day of kindergarten, it’s a life experience that we all have, one that the kids won’t forget. We had our entire administrative team working, with multiple administrators at each school, and it was a very smooth process. I am proud of our teachers, our principals, and all of our staff.” In the whole district, about 75 percent
of families opted to participate in the phased-in, hybrid plan, Galasso noted, while about 25 percent have opted to continue to work entirely remotely. Of the 432 students in pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade, there are 328 students who signed up for hybrid learning and 104 participating in remote-only classes. As the phase-in continues, students in second through fifth grade are scheduled to return to the schools next Monday, October 12, and students in the middle and
high schools plan to return in person for hybrid learning on October 19. Last Friday, October 2, a Community Park (CP) teacher tested positive for COVID-19 and is self-isolating for 14 days. The teacher had been at CP earlier in the week and had had limited contact with other staff members. No students were present. The teacher had contracted COVID outside of school, Galasso said. The Princeton Health Department was Continued on Page 7
Health Dept. Emphasizes Two Weapons To Beat COVID: Mitigation, Contact Tracing With COVID transmission rates rising in New Jersey and case numbers spiking in various spots in the state and throughout the country, the Princeton Health Department is offering advice on the importance of mitigation measures and contact tracing. The Health Department reported on Monday, October 5, that there had been six new cases of COVID-19 in Princeton in the previous seven days, eight cases in the previous 14 days, and no increase from last week’s totals. Grosser noted, however, that two or three additional cases that have not been confirmed are pending and will likely show up in the October 7 report. Monday’s report noted six
active positive cases in Princeton and 200 cases recovered with isolation completed. The New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) reported on Tuesday, October 6, that the COVID transmission rate had risen to 1.27, significantly above the benchmark of 1 that indicates the virus is spreading. “The way we are seeing COVID affect our daily lives continues to evolve,” said Princeton Press and Media Communications Director Fred Williams in an October 6 email, “but the one constant is our ability to mitigate the transmission of the disease. We have had success through diligently adhering to COVID mitigation Continued on Page 10
LEAVES OF FALL: Visitors near Princeton University’s Nassau Hall enjoyed the crisp weather on Sunday as well as the vibrant colors of the changing leaves . (Photo by Charles R. Plohn)
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