FRHSD approves computer
academy at Freehold Boro
Pilot program expected
to have September start
The Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education has approved a pilot program for a computer academy at Freehold Borough High School.
Between 10 and 15 students are expected to begin the pilot program in September.
At the board’s March 4 meeting, teacher Jack DeValue reviewed the history of the district’s computer program from 1976 when terminals were hooked up to Brookdale Community College, Lincroft.
"We had one course in Basic (a programming language)," DeValue said.
In 1978, which was the real beginning of the computer program in the district, the schools acquired three Apple II computers per school.
Additional courses, like Basic 2, were added to the program, and in 1981 it was determined that computer programming and computer science would be included and so Pascal (another programming language) was added. Pascal was specifically designed to teach computer programming.
There were three or four sections of Basic and one or two sections of Pascal, according to DeValue.
In the mid-1980s the computer program was side-tracked by the advent of the medical-sciences program. At that time, DeValue said, Basic was taught to the potential doctors and biologists because "it was a perfect problem-solving class."
"But we never saw the decline in programming for the regular students (those not enrolled in the medical-sciences or science and engineering learning centers)," he said.
A committee was formed to revise the program. The whole philosophy was changed and individual courses which were not tied together were now to become sequential. Computer programming was changed to computer science, and instead of teaching codes and syntax, computer techniques were to be taught.
An advanced computer science class was eventually added to the computer science program.
Emphasizing the program’s success, DeValue said many graduates of the program have gone on to attend the top 25 computer science schools in the country.
"The major question from our students right now is, ‘What’s next?’ " DeValue said.
DeValue told the board that a four-year computer academy is what is needed now, and not a specialized learning center. He said students would be able to "slide in" as sophomores or juniors and can take courses. If the program is set up as a learning center, then only learning center students would be able to take those classes.
"We have a nice program now, and we only want to make it better," he said. "We have the computer labs, and we have the room for it. That’s why it should be here at Freehold Borough."
DeValue said one of the goals of the program will be to give students a strong background in mathematics and problem solving. Course work will include programming language and fundamentals, algorithms, computer graphics, operating systems, and networking.
He said the computer science program may form an alliance with local businesses and a work-study relationship may be created.
DeValue explained that the computer academy would be a four-year program and said students from throughout the district would attend Freehold Borough High School. He asked the board for a pilot program in September.
"The good thing about this is that it will not cost (the district) any money," said DeValue. "Money has been set aside (except for 10 to 12 textbooks). We already have the computers. Just think of how good my computer kids will be now."
After a short discussion in which questions were raised and answered, board members voted 7-0 to approve the plan.