-- Winter 2005 Edition --

My First Year On the School Board   By Mary Wallace   It has been an interesting and challenging seven months for me as a new board member.  One of the things that surprised me was the amazing amount of training board members receive.     As a new board member, I spent an intense weekend being trained in ethics, school law, the board’s responsibility to support district initiatives, budgeting, etc.  Even the board members who have served for many years continue to receive training.  We attend the School Boards Convention, and recently I attended an all day workshop on the impact on S1701 (the new budget cap law) on school districts.  I went with John Mancinelli who has been on the Board for twelve years.  So the training never ends.  It is the obligation of Board members to be well educated on policy, law, educational trends, and responsibility to the district’s children and taxpayers. The challenges facing education are overwhelming. The legislature passed the new budget cap law, that has placed a tremendous financial burden on the school district, yet when we confronted legislators, some admitted they didn’t really understand the ramifications of the bill when they voted for it...Great, but, we’re stuck with it! Despite the fact that the voters of Fair Lawn passed the school district budget in 2004, the new law required the Fair Lawn school district to return approximately $550,000.  Because of this, the district had to defer critical initiatives including the expansion of the remediation programs required by the federal No Child Left Behind Law and the expansion of the much needed English as A Second Language program. School boards, administration, as well as other school organizations such as New Jersey Education Association, are actively lobbying to amend this bill.  Three years ago, the law to equitably distribute state aid was shelved.  Since then, due to being insufficiently funded, Fair Lawn has lost $3.1 million in state aid.  The district is also challenged by the No Child Left Behind Law that requires yearly testing.  Children need a holistic education that is connected to and prepares them for real life. The challenge is to pass the test without teaching to the test. Now we are entering the building phases.  Successfully enlarging, updating, and repairing our schools while staying within the proposed budget will be another of our challenges.  Over a year ago, the School Board told the public that they projected the referendum bond could have a 4.5% interest rate. We just learned we were able to not only deliver that promise but do better.  Through a competitive bidding process, the district procured a 4.4% rate which translates into a big savings for Fair Lawn taxpayers over twenty-five years.  The Board takes seriously its obligation to be truthful and gain the trust of the people of Fair Lawn.  I couldn’t serve on a Board that I felt was dishonest or untrustworthy. I am surprised by the amount of time Board members put into meeting the challenges facing education. To understand and meet all these challenges, the Board members serve on many committees that meet often during the month with the administration.  Occasionally, there have been weeks where we have met four nights in a row, and we frequently have several committee meetings one after the other.  Some of the board members have done this for many years and I really admire their dedication.  I serve on the Special Education Committee, the High School Student Dialogue Committee, the Education Committee and several other committees that are directly related to instruction and I love that because I am a former teacher. I have so much to learn. This is a whole new aspect of education for me. All this is certainly not the extent of involvement I envisioned for myself as a Board member. The classroom teacher is focused on the actual day to day educational process.  As a former teacher, I was more aware than most of what Boards do, but I have entered a  new world of finance, buildings and grounds, budgets, policies, school law, in addition to the primary focus - the education of children.  I feel as if I am a college freshman again and these are my freshman courses. I am learning all new things...but then isn’t that the very goal of education, to create life long learners??