As a parent, my top priority is ensuring my children receive the best education possible. The current practice of scheduling the 3 extra half days for professional development disrupts routines, reduces critical learning time, and creates challenges for working families.

Eliminating these half days would provide an additional 6 hours of instruction, benefiting students, especially the 20% who are not yet graduation-ready in our district. 
Moreover, with teachers already receiving approx. 60 hours of professional development annually (with only 20 hours NJ state requirement), there is ample opportunity to ensure professional growth without sacrificing valuable classroom time.

I urge the Fair Lawn School District to eliminate these 3 half days from the 2025-2026 academic calendar. This change would improve educational outcomes and minimize disruptions for students and families, as well as ensure that the most vulnerable students will not miss the hot lunch provided by the district on those 3 days.

Please sign this petition to show your support. Let’s bring this issue to the Fair Lawn Board of Education.

Thank you for your support!