Education

Dutch Neck schoolhouse, circa 1910.

Historical Overview

It's no secret that one of West Windsor's main attractions is the award-winning school district it shares with Plainsboro. But how did we get to where we are today?

West Windsor's first school was reputedly built prior to 1760 in the historic community of Penns Neck. This building was purportedly of log construction, erected by members of the community. This "pay school" style institution was funded by local residents, who paid teachers to instruct students. Thus, in essence, West Windsor's first schools were of a private education.[1]

Other schoolhouses were built over the generations. By 1809 (if not earlier), one had been constructed in the community of Edinburg.[2] A deed from nine years later references another already existing in Dutch Neck.[3] The Clarksville schoolhouse was purportedly the fourth one built, in 1822.[4] Some time in the mid-1800s, the "Princeton Junction Parsonage" schoolhouse was erected.[5],[6]

Class at Princeton Junction Parsonage schoolhouse, 1894.

These institutions typically handled Grades 1 through 8. The number of students in each class varied - some may have had as few as one student; others a dozen or more. Farm boys are said to have often attended school only during certain seasons; as a result, some reputedly graduated when they were as old as 25![7]

Students often sat on benches instead of desk seats and wrote upon slate slabs. The schools were heated by a stove. On Monday morning, the teacher would build a coal fire that the students kept alive until Friday. Discipline could be harsh, ranging from the whack of a ruler to monetary fines. And in the nineteenth century, children either walked or rode horses to school.[8]

In the 1820s, West Windsor Township began considering funding a public school system. On April 14, 1828, the Township Committee voted to allocate $300 to employ teachers to serve West Windsor's youth.[9] Twenty five dollars had been raised the year prior for educating the “poor children of the township.”[10] On May 10, 1828, several “scholars” were elected to four districts, each with their own schoolhouse: Reverend Daniel Dewelle (Dutch Neck), John T. Hutchinson (Edinburg), David Dye (Clarksville) and John S. Vandyke (Penns Neck).[11]

Inside the recreated Princeton Junction Parsonage schoolhouse, long since moved to the Schenck Farmstead/West Windsor History Museum.

The Progressive Movement of the late 1800s/early 1900s saw an explosion in the number of schools nationwide, increased attendance, and a focus on standardization.[12] In this era, West Windsor was again starting to grow and its old schoolhouses became to be looked at as increasingly obsolete. In 1917, several of these buildings were auctioned off to locals and replaced by new brick-and-stone institutions - the Dutch Neck School and its long-gone identical twin, the Penns Neck School.[13]

The farming seasons of the early to mid-1900s brought additional growth to the town’s educational system. During certain months, “migrant workers” – predominantly Black and from southern states - moved up the East Coast, working where the harvest season and their contracts took them. In West Windsor, this meant that new children would attend Dutch Neck and Penns Neck Schools (all of West Windsor’s schools were integrated), and familiar faces would come and go with each yearly cycle.[14] Rex Goreleigh – an influential Black artist of the mid-century who, for several decades, lived in his teaching studio in West Windsor  - often depicted the lives and challenges of migrant workers.[15]

Dutch Neck School, probably within a few years after opening.

In 1964, the Maurice Hawk School - named after a longtime town Treasurer and West Windsor School Board member[16] - opened on Clarksville Road.[17] In 1967, it fully replaced Penns Neck School.[18]

Before the 1970s, West Windsor and surrounding towns sent their older students to Princeton High School. However, in the mid-century, Princeton was also growing rapidly, prompting that town to issue an ultimatum: West Windsor and other communities had only a few years to remove their students from Princeton.[19] In 1968, a “Committee of 50” organized to explore West Windsor’s educational future. Our town and Plainsboro soon agreed to split the cost of building a school.[20] On April 22, 1969, voters approved a referendum calling for formation of the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District.[21] Four years later, High School South opened to around 700 students.[22]

Conceptual rendering of Maurice Hawk school, 1962.

Around the same time, two higher-level institutions came to West Windsor. In 1972, Mercer County Community College opened a $22 million, 292-acre campus on Old Trenton Road with an estimated attendance of 2,500 full-time students.[23] Around the same time, the Mercer County Vocational School, straddling the West Windsor/Hamilton border, opened its doors just across 
the road to about 550 students.[24]

​The West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District continued to grow through the last few decades of the twentieth century. In 1976, four public schools served the community – Maurice Hawk, Dutch Neck, High School South, and J. V. B. Wicoff (constructed in Plainsboro in 1919).[25] This number more than doubled by the year 2000, with the addition of Community Middle School (1987), Millstone River (formerly “Upper Elementary School” - 1990), Village School (1995), High School North (1997), and Thomas R. Grover Middle School (1999).[26] The most recent public WW-P school to open (as of 2023) was Town Center, in 2002.[27] Students also learned an expanding variety of subjects. The adoption of more language options reflected a diversifying student body.

High School South, 2018.

Standardized testing became more influential as college attendance rose. Computers became commonplace in classrooms, libraries, and offices. Special education services (which had already been provided since the mid-century) expanded and changed along with an evolution in approaches to neurodiversity. 

​In the 1992-93 school year, High School South earned the U.S. Department of Education’s National Blue Ribbon Award of Excellence. The next year, Maurice Hawk earned that same distinction.[28] Since then, numerous other commendations have been bestowed upon the district and its schools for their rigor and academic excellence - albeit, many argue, at a cost of increased 
competition and stress.

Village School, July 2021.

Growth came with a cost - literally. By 1994, nearly 60% of the tax levy went to schools. Expanded offerings in the curricula and after-school activities – from clubs to sports teams and more – further represented diversifying interests and needs. Parents became increasingly involved in their children’s’ education, uniting to form groups such as the African American Parent Support Group and others. Some also took advantage of an ever-growing offering of adult education – from computer literacy to crafts to English as a Second Language and GED classes.[29]

Grover Middle School, July 2021.

​Demographics have changed dramatically, as well. Whereas the school system - and town in general - was predominantly White for most of West Windsor's existence, a rapid change took hold starting in the late 20th century. In 2023, almost three quarters of children in the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District are of Asian descent. A little over fifteen percent are White. Black and Hispanic students are about five percent each. This profound change within just a few decades competes with the town’s suburbanization to be the main theme of West Windsor’s recent history.[30]

West Windsor's shared school system with Plainsboro is one of the most integral elements of its identity. This historic dynamic will continue to shape our town, well into the future.

COVID-era sign at Grover Middle School, January 2022.

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Bibliography

1. Woodward, Evan Morrison, and John Frelinghuysen Hageman. History of Burlington and Mercer Counties with Biographical Sketches of Many of Their Pioneers and Prominent Men. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Everts & Peck, 1883.
2. Huls, William Jr., Schenck, Eve, Schenck, Jonathan R. “Indenture.” Windsor, 1809. Deed for the Edinburg Schoolhouse. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 8 Page 149.
3. Covenhoven, George, Covenhoven, John R., Fisher, John S., Hooper, Peter, Slayback, Abel, Updike, Levi. “Indenture.” West Windsor, 1818. Deed from Abel Slayback to the Trustees of the First Presbyterian Church of Dutch Neck for the property now containing the Dutch Neck Presbyterian Chuch and the old part of its graveyard at 154 South Mill Road. Located in the New Jersey State Archives, Middlesex County Deed Book 15 Page 290.
4. Lee, Francis Bazley. Genealogical and Personal Memorial of Mercer County, New Jersey. Lewis Publishing Company, 1907.
5. “West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
6. Lake, D J, and S N Beers. Map of the Vicinity of Philadelphia and Trenton from Actual Surveys By D.J. Lake and S. N. Beers. Assisted by F. Beers, L. B. Lake and D. G. Beers. Philadelphia, PA: C.K. Stone and A. Pomeroy, 1860. https://dspace.njstatelib.org/xmlui/handle/10929/34112?show=full.
7. West Windsor Township: People - Purpose - Progress. West Windsor, New Jersey: West Windsor Township, 1964.
8. Ibid.
9. “West Windsor Township Meeting Minutes, 1797-2012.,” n.d. Original Township Committee meeting minute database located in the Municipal Center.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Herbst, Jurgen. The Once and Future School: Three Hundred and Fifty Years of American Secondary Education. London u.a: Routledge, 1996.
13. “Three School Houses Bring Only $1,720.” Trenton Evening Times, November 28, 1917. ​
14. White, Carey C. “Broadside,” 1987. Historical Society of West Windsor newsletter, Fall & Winter 1987
15. “Rex Goreleigh: Migrant Worker’s Witness.” Historical Society of Princeton. Historical Society of Princeton, 2018. https://princetonhistory.org/exhibitions/currently-on-view/rex-goreleighs-field-workers/.
16. "Windsor Township to Name School after Maurice Hawk.” Trenton Sunday Times Advertiser, December 31, 1961.
17. “West Windsor’s New Maurice Hawk School to Open April 6.” Trenton Evening Times, March 3, 1964.
18. “Doors Closed Forever.” Town Topics. December 7, 1967.
19. Snedeker, Dick. “Looking Back: Why Do We Have a Regional School District?” West Windsor and Plainsboro News, August 30, 2013.
20. Ibid.
21. "School Merger Backed.” Town Topics. April 24, 1969.
22. Schnessel, S Michael. “School Bell Is About to Ring Again.” New York Times, September 2, 1973.
23. Greer, Thomas. “Mercer College Opens in ‘72.” The Evening Times. January 25, 1972.
24. Ibid.
25. Know Your Township. West Windsor, New Jersey: League of Women Voters, 1976.
26. “WELCOME TO THE WW-P NEW PARENT LINK OPEN HOUSE.” West Windsor Plainsboro Regional School District. Accessed April 12, 2022. https://cdn5-ss1.sharpschool.com/UserFiles/Servers/Server_3592819/File/SubFinder%20Employee%20Telephone%20Instructions.pdf
27. Ibid.
28. “Schools Recognized 1982-1983 through 1999-2002.” Blue Ribbon Schools Program. United States Department of Education. Accessed April 12, 2022. https://www2.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/list-1982.pdf.
    
29. Know Your Township. West Windsor, New Jersey: League of Women Voters, 1994.
    
30. “West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District (21-5715).” NJ School Performance Report - Demographics. New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed 
    April 12, 2022. https://rc.doe.state.nj.us/2020-2021/district/detail/21/5715/overview.