After reading articles, editorials and letters to the editor regarding the Freehold Regional High School District and its problems with overcrowding in some of its buildings, I felt compelled to join the fray. I speak as a Howell resident of more than 33 years and as a retired teacher with 29 years in the regional district.
I joined the district when it had just two high schools and watched it grow to its present size.
Over the years, I had the opportunity to work in three of its schools and with students residing in each of the sending districts. I have found few differences that can be attributed to living in a specific community.
One characteristic that I did not see was a feeling of elitism, or colonialism. Students did not need to belong in a specific community.
In fact, based on my experiences within the school and conversations with students that I have had over the years, it ap-pears that the parents object more stridently to redistricting than the students.
The children do not have the "keep me in my own backyard" attitude of their parents. Amazingly, most of our students do not stay in Monmouth County for college. Many go far from their back yards.
The Freehold Regional High School District was created to provide the best possible education for the students it serves. I believe the record shows it has done that.
During my tenure in the district, I have experienced overcrowded conditions, staggered sessions and split sessions in various schools. I can say that these conditions create a very difficult environment in which to educate children.
It is a fact that the FRHSD sending districts are experiencing unprecedented growth which shows no sign of abating in the near future. This growth should not impact on the district’s mission of providing the best education for each and every one of its constituents.
Parents should be working with the schools to provide educational growth and not to produce massive educational plants that can become barriers to effective education.
One of the articles spoke about educational growth being negatively impacted by moving to a different school.
All of the research that I have read specifically points to the first transition being the one with problems. In fact, even if that transition takes place in the elementary grades to a middle school setting, alienation can take place and may interfere with the learning process.
It is also the time when a new need to belong produces the peer influences that may introduce drugs, alcohol and other less-desired behaviors. For more of our students this transition takes place in their own communities, not when students go on to high school.
Perhaps the problem is not with the parents but rather with the leadership of the district, which has forgotten its mission. The appearance of making decisions based upon political opportunism does not serve the best interests of the students.
If we do not have the leadership needed to make the right decisions based upon sound educational practices, then maybe the changes should start there.
Allan S. Halprin
Howell