From the January 1978 Archives - A last look at the PJHS fire » Pieces from Princeton's Past

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December 22, 2012

From the January 1978 Archives - A last look at the PJHS fire

by Ginger Boyles Princeton Times The Zope Gazette Sat Dec 22, 2012, 05:00 AM EST

PRINCETON — A last look at the consequences of the PJHS fire regards the split schedule the junior and senior high schools had to deal with.

A special session of the Board of Education was called and Superintendent Clinton Lilly announced to 20 parents the dawn-to-dusk split schedule for the schools. From 7:30 to 11:53 a.m. the combined Princeton and Oakvale high school students would attend classes at PSHS (now the Princeton Middle School); from 12:15 to 5:21 p.m. the Princeton Junior High students would attend full classes.

Parents of the Oakvale School Preservation Committee were denied a private meeting with the superintendent to discuss the possibility of re-opening OHS in order to alleviate the overcrowding the split schedule would cause. Parents were also concerned that the fire hazards at PSHS would not be corrected as those at the junior high were not corrected.

A 13-year old male student of PJHS was charged with second degree arson in conjunction with setting a the fire on the third story of the school. The name of the student was withheld from the Times (as all juvenile crimes are). The charge came after an extensive investigation by the Assistant Fire Marshal Frank Ubeda, arson investigator, W. R. Dyer, and several members of the Princeton Police Department.

The cost of the structural damage was estimated at $3,174,266. Cost of the contents of the school had not been determined as of Jan. 19, 1978.

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From the January 1978 Archives - A last look at the PJHS fire

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