A credit to their school

You really have to laugh a bit at federal regulations known as the No Child Left Behind Act that deem the entire Freehold Regional High School District to be a district in need of improvement.

As acknowledged in a recent letter to the editor from FRHSD Superintendent of Schools James Wasser, the district received that dubious recognition based on the fact that the performance of several subgroups of students did not achieve what is called adequate yearly progress.

We accept the superintendent’s claim that all efforts that can be made will be made to bring all of the district’s students up to the point where they are doing their best work. That still may not be good enough for the federal government, however, which has decreed that all students regardless of whatever physical, mental or socioeconomic limitations they may face, will be required to pass the same tests as all other students.

It is a laudable goal; we will wait to see if it can be met.

Meanwhile, someone should notify the federal government that despite the district’s reported shortcomings, many students are succeeding in ways that could not have been imagined years ago.

The latest example of this is the recent news that two students who are enrolled in the Science and Engineering Learning Center at Manalapan High School were named winners of the Siemens award for 2004-05.

Seniors Ryan Perumpail and Jennifer Yu were honored for their accomplishment at a ceremony at the high school. Their awards from the Siemens Foundation marks the third straight year that two Manalapan students have been chosen as Siemens award winners.

More than 150,000 students from across the United States begin the journey down a long road to reach this goal and only 24 winners are selected from across the nation. The country is divided into six regions, with four winners in each region. Each student will receive a $3,000 scholarship and a plaque from the Siemens Foundation.

Since 1999-2000, Manalapan has had one or two Siemens award winners during five of the past six years. They are: Yuk Yan Lam (1999-2000), William Regan (2001-02), Matthew Meola and Julie Wu (2002-03), Adam Gashlin and Christina Wright (2003-04), and Ryan Perumpail and Jennifer Yu (2004-05).

The fact is that every school district in America needs improvement of some type or another, and not just because standardized tests say so.

The proof is in the accomplishments of students and judging by what we continue to see in and out of the classroom in the FRHSD, this district is succeeding in its mission.