Op Ed: Fair Lawn School Board Embraces The Past at Our Kids’ Expense

Picture this. A Fair Lawn High School student, Andrea, is at lunch. She’s enrolled in Mrs. H’s A.P. Chemistry class. She missed the last lesson because yesterday she was sick, but it’s no problem. Mrs. H podcasted the entire lesson and Andrea is listening to it. Mrs. H mass emailed it to the class last night. A.P. Chem is tricky, and the lesson is one that was designed by Mrs. H, so Andrea listens to it…twice. Andrea “gets it,” and next class, she earns the “A.”

Picture this. A student, David, has been home recovering from a serious operation. He’s scheduled to be out of school for three weeks; but he hasn’t missed a minute of class at FLHS. He’s been teleconferencing via Skype into class with all of his instructors and carries on as usual. Upon his return, he’s ready to take the final exam, on time, and fully prepared. 

Picture this. Nelson, a junior, just got a challenging assignment in English class concerning The Great Gatsby. His English teacher, Mr. M, has assigned Nelson a 5-7 paragraph essay on the Art Deco Style. Nelson fires up his laptop and, using Bergen County’s already free access to the New York Times Historical Database, he finds articles from the paper dated from 1930 on two new art deco buildings in Manhattan. When he checks Nelson’s essay, Mr. M simply cannot believe the legwork that Nelson has done. A student using those kinds of primary sources…it’s nearly unheard of! Nelson gets the “A.”

Picture this. Students in Mrs. A’s Algebra class are having a tough time understanding how to factor trinomials. The desire to succeed is there, and standardized tests are coming up, but the kids just cannot seem to “get it.” So in addition to tonight’s homework on factoring, Mrs. A assigns a short YouTube video that specializes in alternate instructional methods for Algebra students. The students watch it, twice, some three times. They get it. Standardized test scores improve rapidly…across the board.

Picture this. The FHLS administration is getting tired of one dress code violation after another. Students are arguing over its interpretation, and parents are calling. Something needs to happen, and fast. No problem. The administration sends out a mass email within 12 hours detailing the exact dress code and the penalties for violating it.

All of these examples are not from the school of the future. It is what could have been, had the Fair Lawn School board made a single different decision. Earlier this year the . This is in addition to the hundreds of thousands of dollars the district already spends on athletics and cheerleading in the form of uniforms, travel, instruction, coaches, insurance, medical care, and publicity. With that same $600,000 the school board could have purchased a Dell networked laptop for every student, teacher and administrator at Fair Lawn High School. It would have opened the school up to nearly endless instructional and research opportunities for student and teacher alike. But the board made a different decision. A poor decision based on the antiquated notion that sports is the epicenter of the high school experience, that everything that’s important gravitates around it, around the games and the social buzz resulting from them. In 1964, this might have been true. But today it’s just a ridiculous notion.

Our students are going into one of the most globally competitive job markets in history. The knowledge-based economy is here. The football and cheerleading economy is out.

We need the board to make better choices. Not in the future. Now.