From the April - May  2001 Edition 

Lisa Yourman    1. Do any of your children attend (or have they attended Fair Lawn public schools)?  Two children at Radburn school. In addition, my husband and I attended Fair Lawn Schools   2. Professional Background  - Professional photgrapher.   - Worked at Fair Lawn High School Library for 7 years.   3. Do you think Fair Lawn Schools are better than they were a few years ago?  No, I think we can do better. Fair Lawn's demographics and unique needs have changed over the last few years. As a Board we would need to address those needs and explore news areas to develop the unique needs of each individual student. We must aim to not only help children with learning disabilities but develop programs for average youngsters and gifted children to bring them to their highest potential.   4. What issues does the Board of Education need to focus on? - Security in schools, related to kids as well as staff. - Safety of kids, staff and Fair Lawn residents. - Overcrowding - State of the art education programs that brings out the highest educational potential of every Fair Lawn student   5. Are you pleased with recent results of standardized test scores?  We could have done a lot better. We should maybe focus on more grammar based skills then mostly literature based skills. We should also provide programs as other towns have done to help the children better prepare for standardized testing.   6. What would you like to accomplish?  Better communication between the Board, Administrative staff, parents and most of all, the children to better handle the needs of our children.   7. What should the priorities be for fixing and expanding buildings and facilities?  We need to look at the new census numbers. There have been decisions in the past couple of months that have been based on 1990 census. We should look into public-private partnerships and then develop a plan looking at the present enrollment and planning for the future.   8. Are the schools preparing students for the new economy? We need to focus more on new programs than we have been. New Jersey and other states have prepared models that Fair Lawn can take under its wing.   9. Anything else you would like to say? It's important for the community as a whole to help educate our children. Educating our children and providing the best school district helps all Fair Lawn residents. Many residents have seen their children succeed in Fair Lawn Schools, seen their property values rise because of our past high rankings, etc. Now we must do the same for the children of today, while not ignoring the costs associated with their education. This would mean creating a tight budget to properly educate all, but protect residents with the rising costs of maintaining this standard. One of the many ways to do this is to look into public/private partnerships whenever we can. We must explore all options!