President, Farmingdale Federation of Teachers

For nearly a year now, Operations S.O.S. (Standards of Success) has widened the circle of those involved in helping our young people achieve academic success. Along with students, teachers, parents and administrators, the business community has played a vital educational role by offering real-life opportunities through internships for students to practice skills they learned in school.

The creation of tougher new state regents standards was the impetus for the creation of S.O.S., but its lifeblood has been a wider desire to help our children achieve academic success through the involvement of the entire Farmingdale community.

The Farmingdale business community has gone out of its way to give our students a taste of post-school life. Without their involvement, Farmingdale students would be missing out on a change to flex their intellectual muscles in the real world.

Of course, the business community benefits in turn from the creation of a pool of future employees who know what is expected of them. Farmingdale teachers emphasize the joining of fundamentals of reading, writing and math with skills like computer literacy that cross over all disciplines. In addition, teachers prepare lessons that explore the relevancy between classroom material and the real world.

The community benefits from the final 'living product' of the school district and they also enjoy the school facilities themselves through offerings of a broad range of adult education courses, as well as the availability of free swimming. Community groups, such as Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Brownies, and the Farmingdale Youth Council all bring life to our buildings long after the school day ends.

There is a continuity here of teachers who have served in the district and taught several generations of families. Because of this feeling of community, young families and teachers alike are attracted to our district. The high level of community involvement in S.O.S. is just one more example of how the Farmingdale community values its schools and the teachers who make learning happen every day.